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{{Article
| status       = PHOTO COVER
| maintainer   = Katja Kosi
}}
{{Infobox
| name                = Borštnik Theatre Festival
| local name          = Festival Borštnikovo srečanje
| logo               = Borstnik Theatre Festival (logo).svg
| street              = Slovenska 27
| town                = SI-2000 Maribor
| telephone           = 386 (0) 2 250 6227, 386 (0) 2 250 6100
| fax                 = 386 (0) 2 250 6228
| email               = borstnikovo@sng-mb.si
| website             = http://www.borstnikovo.si/
| organised by        = Slovene National Theatre Maribor
| frequency = annual
| dates and duration  = October, 10 days 
| duration weeks      = 40,41,42 (2012) 42,43 (2013) 42,43 (2014)
| festival dates      = 15.10.2015 - 25.10.2015
| contacts = {{Contact
| name                = Alja Predan
| role                = Festival Director
| email               = alja.predan@sng-mb.si
| telephone           = 386 (0) 51 675 251
}}{{Contact
| name                = Aleš Novak
| role                = President of the Borštnik Festival Council
| email               = 
}}{{Contact
| name                = Daša Šprinčnik
| role                = Producer and Public Relations
| email               = dasa.sprincnik@sng-mb.si
| telephone           = 386 (0) 2 250 6148, 386 (0) 31 342 178 
}}{{Contact
| name                = Špela Lešnik
| role                = International Programme Producer
| email               = spela.lesnik@sng-mb.si
| telephone           = 386 (0) 41 743 485 
}}
|accounts=
http://twitter.com/festivalbs
http://www.facebook.com/FestivalBorstnikovoSrecanje
http://www.youtube.com/user/festivalbs
https://instagram.com/festival_borstnikovo_srecanje
}}



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{{Image|Borštnik Theatre Festival - 2010 - 16.jpg}}

Every Autumn since [[established::1966]], various Slovene theatres have met in Maribor at the [[Maribor Theatre Festival]], organised by and held at the [[Slovene National Theatre Maribor]]. This most prestigious theatre event is the largest annual review of Slovene theatre production. On its 45th anniversary it was reorganised and internationalised. In addition to the selected Slovene performances by repertory theatres from Maribor, Ljubljana, Nova Gorica, Celje, Kranj, Ptuj, Koper, and Trieste, as well as by the independent theatre producers, the festival's programme features also international performances. 

The festival awards the [[Borštnik Ring Award and Borštnik Awards|Borštnik Ring Award]], the highest award for lifetime achievement in Slovene theatre, which is given to an actor or actress who has left a major legacy to the Slovene stage.
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{{YouTube|sP_EsZL3EYs}}

==History==
The festival took place for the first time in 1966 under the name Slovene Drama Week and was re-named Borštnik Meeting in 1972 (today its Slovene name still being ''Boršnikovo srečanje'', but it has lately come to be known as the Maribor Theatre Festival in English). Prior to 1990 the festival was also held in other Slovene towns; in the 90s there were several unsuccessful attempts to move the festival from Maribor to Ljubljana. Until 1992 all professional Slovene theatres presented at least one production at the festival's competition programme, with independent productions appearing only in the off-programme. Subsequently, the selection became more rigorous, including only the most representative theatre productions. The 1990s saw the protest of numerous independent theatre producers and makers, arguing that with the festival's existing conceptually-closed orientation, it did not present the actual theatre production nor acknowledge the variety of aesthetics, poetics, approaches, and procedures. 

Since 1994, the selector of the festival has been given a two-year mandate. The jury usually comprises four to five persons (critics, directors, writers, theoreticians, artists, etc.). The [[Borštnik Ring Award and Borštnik Awards|Borštnik Ring Award]] recipient is selected by a different jury. 

The festival is named after [[Ignacij Borštnik]] (1858&ndash;1919), director, actor, playwright, translator, and the founder of the Slovene artistic theatre. He was the first Slovene theatre director in the modern sense of the word, and a master craftsman of the most demanding roles, especially from turn-of-the-century modernist realism.

==Programme==
Each year, around 10 new performances are presented in the selected competition programme of the Maribor Theatre Festival (recent selectors were [[Gregor Butala]], [[Primož Jesenko]], [[Amelia Kraigher]] and [[Petra Vidali]]). These stagings compete for the following awards: best performance, best director, best actor, best young actor, other achievements (set design, costume design, light design, musical score, and other artistic categories), plus a special jury award, and the [[Dominik Smole Award]], awarded for best original dramatic text or best translation, dramatisation, or adaptation. At the festival an award of the [[Association of Theatre Critics and Researchers of Slovenia]] for best performance is presented, too. 

Along with an accompanying non-competitive programme consisting of interesting performances of the previous season, a selector and the festival director [[Alja Predan]] select also the Slovene performances for the ''Showcase'', addressed to an international professional audience. The ''Bridges'' section presents invited international performances. Maribor Theatre Festival presents also the annual young production of the [[Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT)]].

The 2010 edition offered for instance 47 performances, 35 other events, 500 artists, 40 experts, and over 8,000 visitors.

{{YouTube|WtZfMaECazA}}

==International symposia and conferences==

In 2014 the conference programme was dedicated to the opus of [[Vitomil Zupan]], the ''Silent Character(s) in Dramatic Literature, on Stage and in Reality'', and the ''Theatre of Resistance'', in 2013 the ''EX:pert Table'' on media and culture was organised, and an international conference on theatre archives organised by the [[Centre for Theatre and Film Studies, Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT)]]. In 2012 the ''4+4+4 Contributions on the Visions of Theatre'' were presented at the ''Vetrinjski dvor''. The ''Literature in the Streets'' programme was presented in Maribor as well as inthe partner cities of the [[Maribor, European Capital of Culture 2012]]. 

In 2011 the [[Association of Theatre Critics and Researchers of Slovenia]] organised the symposium ''How Much Politics, How Much Fascism?'', Maribor Theatre Festival hosted the 6th research workshop of the European Festivals Research Project (EFRP) to tackle the issues concerning artistic festivals and continuously operating cultural organizations. Young theatre critics from around the world were invited to Maribor to engage in critical writing at the Young Critics’ Seminar.

In 2010 the [[Association of Theatre Critics and Researchers of Slovenia]] co-organised in collaboration with the international network of theatre critics AICT/IATC a conference on ''Inter-Criticism''. The International Theatre Institute (ITI) prepared a symposium on ''Dramaturgy Between the Reality and Vision: Role of Dramaturgy – The Key for Theatre-making Process''.

In 2009 the festival hosted the first two international symposia, namely, ''Art, Culture, City'', organised by the [[Association of Theatre Critics and Researchers of Slovenia]], which focused on the role of the city in the context of its artistic production, highlighting the forthcoming project [[Maribor, European Capital of Culture 2012]], and the symposium co-organised with the Slovene Centre of the International Theatre Institute (ITI) entitled ''The Intertwining of the Festivals of the Western Balkans'', featuring 15 international panellists.

== Contemporary European Drama book collection ==

In 2011 the Focus programme section was introduced: each year special attention is devoted to one country's playwriting and theatre. In 2011 it was the Slovak drama and theatre: three contemporary Slovak plays were published in Slovene language. In 2012 the ''Contemporary Czech Drama'' translations were published, in 2013 the ''Contemporary Dutch Drama'' featured the four plays selected by the two Dutch experts, while in 2014 the ''Focus Spain'' resulted in the ''Contemporary Drama in Spain'', edited by [[Alja Predan]].

== See also ==
* [[Borštnik Ring Award and Borštnik Awards]]
* [[Slovene National Theatre Maribor]]

==External links==
* [http://www.borstnikovo.si/ Maribor Theatre Festival website] 
* [http://www.sng-mb.si/ Slovene National Theatre Maribor website]
* [http://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacij_Bor%C5%A1tnik Ignacij Borštnik on Wikipedija] (in Slovenian)
* [http://ms.sta.si/2010/10/borstnik-meeting-head-takes-prominent-theatre-festival-international Interview with the festival director Alja Predan] from [[Slovene Press Agency (STA)|''Misli slovensko'' STA website]]
* [http://scottishstage.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/801/ Article by Mark Brown about the 2012 festival, originally published in the Sunday Herald]

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[[Category:Festivals]]
[[Category:Festivals in October]]
[[Category:Theatre festivals]]

[[Category:Theatre]]