28 Jun REPORT FROM THE THIRD EVENING OF THE KROKODIL FESTIVAL 2024
On the evening of June 23, it started with an important announcement: the renowned actor and writer Feđa Štukan would not be performing in the program. However, it was announced that he would attempt to join the program and greet the audience via call, receiving a great applause and support from fans of culture, literature, and justice.
Next on stage were the official participants of the third and final night of the KROKODIL festival, starting with the enchanting, witty, sharp, and eagerly awaited women and “Pičprič!” Oral and moral, the theme of the Belgrade edition, featured Jelisaveta Blagojević, Monika Herceg, Markiza De Sada, Jana Jakimovska, Lila Milić, and Mima Simić, coordinated by Macedonian writer Rumena Bužarovska.
Markiza De Sada, one of Serbia’s first drag queens and a historical figure in this performative art, began the narrative. She connected oral, moral, and revolution in her characteristic, eccentric, and culturally broad style.
Rumena then introduced her next speaker as synonymous with courage; when you think something can’t be done, think of fearless, outspoken Lila Milić. As a trans woman, her topic focused on moralizing around sex workers—elite, escorts, and ‘ordinary’ ones—as well as men who orally treat their frustrations, prejudices, and misogyny.
The next storyteller was Monika Herceg, a Croatian poet, dramaturge, screenwriter, editor, social activist, and feminist. After participating in the festival’s debate on Courage – produced in Ukraine, she logically and naturally transitioned from geopolitics to “Pičprič” storytelling about the female orgasm. She drew attention to the stigmatization of female pleasure, her own journey to orgasm, which, like many women, was long and thorny, and the insufficient awareness and education of young girls about relationships. She also recommended Dora Šustić’s book “Dogs,” which we will hear more about later, featuring beautifully described hot scenes.
Jelisaveta Blagojević, a writer, philosopher, and political scientist engaged in gender studies, queer theory, and cultural studies, brought a new perspective on the theme of Oral and Moral, delighting the audience by discussing – food. She recalled childhood memories related to food, some traumatic, some comical. She believes that no one has the exact measure in food… Pleasure is always excessive! And that’s one of the reasons why oral is never moral.
Her next association was oral history, as she believes that what happens at “Pičprič” is history, the female voice that is nowhere written down, and finally touched on her favorite philosopher, the Frenchman Derrida, and vegetarianism. He spoke about the key problem of oral consumption, pleasure, that when we feed on each other’s death, we speak pleasantly to each other, and for him, it’s an ethical question.
Rumena introduced her next speaker as a revolutionary artist and professor at the Faculty of Arts who performs as a drag queen in her spare time. Jana Jakimovska introduced us to her story with humor; the audience followed with laughter intelligent puns and analogies, however, through the story of oral sex, she actually deepened the issue of toxic relationships, slowly introducing us to issues no one was indifferent to. She held the incredible attention of her audience and introduced us to the statistics of the consequences of smoking and then the statistics of the consequences of a toxic relationship. She finished the topic in a humorous tone and received ovations from the audience, although we must note that such a reaction was after each story from “Pičprič.”
At the end of the night, Mima Simić, the host of the Krokodil Festival, but this time in the role of storyteller, Rumena introduced as a great writer, famous LGBT activist, and much-loved storyteller at “Pičprič” specials. This story is true and has no sperm in it, the words with which she began her story about participating in the show “Do you want to become a millionaire?” In 2007, she won 125,000 kuna and autosaved as a lesbian. The show takes place at Easter, with her father, a professor teaching in Zadar, sitting in her audience, the only one who wanted to go with her, knowing her intention to publicly say she was gay. In addition to representing the invisible lesbian community, I also have to represent dad there… The stigma on the parents of a gay child is greater than on the child… In a sea of jokes, we actually heard a lot of positive examples, good experiences, everyone would want to be auto-tuned after Mima’s story. The audience greeted the performance with a wide smile and these brave women, full of impressions, with thunderous applause.
The star of the evening appeared on stage, Iraqi writer Hasan Blasim, who traveled to the festival from Finland. With his modest and gentle appearance, he warmed the hearts of those present, talked about his childhood, life, about his two films, Gardenia and White Clay, whose political and critical tones attracted the attention of Saddam’s regime informants at the Academy. After several arrests, his professors advised him to leave Baghdad. He fled and finally settled in Finland in 2004, after years of illegal travel through Europe as a refugee. Hasan’s works have been translated into over 20 languages.
Dasko Milinovic, the festival’s host, asked him if he still has hope when it comes to the Middle East and believes that some normalcy and peace will be seen in his lifetime, to which Hasan responded that after all these years, it’s okay to live everywhere, there are fine people everywhere, especially in cultural circles. He said that exile is not always a tragedy for a writer; it is, in a way, a gift, a kind of knowledge. He expressed hopes and desires for improvement everywhere but acknowledges that the problems of Israel and Palestine affect the entire Middle East. Nevertheless, he continues to hope. He then read an excerpt in Arabic from his short novel Sololand and thus closed the first part of the evening.
This was followed by the performance of talented multimedia artist Ana Paška, who in her musical performance used various media of art, played the piano, accordion, and sang with her accompanying vocal. An extraordinary performance that stimulates many senses and evokes deep emotions, accompanied by visuals that thematically complemented her musical performance. She held a mini-concert and told us that we would have the opportunity to attend a full performance at Parobrod in September and thanked the wonderful audience.
The second part of the evening began with the presentation of the work of KROKODIL and the civil initiative Free the Streets Free the People!
Vladimir Arsenijević and Tamara Marković presented 10 murals, which, according to Tamara, were created with the idea of providing a civic response to overwhelmingly aggressive right-wing and nationalist content that contaminates our daily lives. The appearance of waves of stencils with the likeness of Ratko Mladić after the demolition of the same, then the arrest of Aida Ćorović for throwing eggs at the murals, all anti-LGBT, anti-migrant, fascist messages have resulted in the determination of the Krokodil Association to articulate its activities in three directions: networking citizens around street art interventions, transforming public spaces, and advocating publicly with creators of public policies at local and national levels, with the aim of changing legal solutions regarding the public expression of hate speech.
Tamara told us about the wonderful action they carried out in an elementary school in Padinska Skela, which stood out for its pronounced fascist messages, so they contacted people from the school administration and successfully created four murals and a fifth one made by the students themselves. The idea and point were to offer an alternative to the kids who live there. Tamara emphasizes that these are not just canvases but essential work with the community, children, neighbors.
The long-awaited part of the evening was Feđa Štukan’s inclusion; festival visitors did not have the opportunity to see him, but they heard him, as he heard them, and a large number of attendees supported him with loud applause and loud greetings. The mood was high, even though Feđa called from the border police premises.
He said he was quite satisfied, wonderful people work there, they took pictures, hung out, brought him food. From the explanation of why he cannot enter Serbia, he received a solution stating that he poses a security threat; the ban is not limited by time, meaning indefinitely. He hopes that now that he has this paper, a lawyer will find a solution to the ban.
He expressed his love for Belgrade, loves spending time there, and regrets not being physically present. Of course, Mima asked him in her own way if we readers would get something out of this, if this situation inspires him. He, of course, laughed and mentioned that he received a similar message from Serbian theater director Kokan Mladenović: “What do you care, you’re gathering material for a new book!” He said his nerves are steel, after all, he is a parachutist, nothing can unsettle him. He talked about his love for writing. Until recently, I was a tough nationalist and I have not cured myself! , the messages are what he receives from people after reading his novel. He is not currently writing; he is waiting for strong enough inspiration that will tie him to his chair, but he is in no hurry anywhere. He believes that changes in society happen through promotions, gatherings. With a smile, he greeted all 15,000 people in the audience, as Draško Milinović told him he could!
The finale of the third night was marked by the announcement of the attendance of the KROKODIL Literary Festival by more than 15,000 visitors.
The end of the evening drew near, marking the closure of one of the largest regional literary festivals, which this year carried the inspiring and symbolic name “Gimme Shelter.”
The festival was inaugurated by the young Serbian writer Nađa Petrović, and in similar fashion, it was closed by Dora Šustić, a young writer from Rijeka. Dora is a novelist, screenwriter, and film director, recognized with the Drago Gervais Award for her debut novel “Dogs.” Currently on the KROKODIL residency in Belgrade, she describes feeling at home here. Her first novel is characterized as a journey, an exploration into the art of writing. The plot follows a film student who becomes entangled in a complicated obsession, a romantic relationship with an older widowed photographer, witnessing the dissolution of illusion and her disillusionment. To conclude, she read an excerpt from her book, briefly transporting the festival’s audience into Prague and the room where her protagonist spent much time. Undoubtedly, after the evening concluded, the audience departed with awakened minds, full of impressions, inspiration, contemplation, and love, ready to continue their lives.
KROKODIL’s Journalist of the Day, Nikolina Đorđević
Photo credit: Alex Dmitrović
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