Boris Liješević

Sunday, 17 May - Keynote conversation on arts, democracy, cultural rights and beyond

Boris Liješević was born in 1976 in Belgrade and grew up in Budva. He graduated from the Department of Serbian Literature and Language at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad. In 2004, he graduated from the Directing Department at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, where he still teaches Acting as an associate professor. He was a triple scholarship holder of the Goethe Institute in Belgrade. 

He is an associate of the ZagrebActing Studio, where he teaches the Strasberg Method. In his directing work, he worked with different titles, authors and directions. 

A significant part of his work is dedicated to documentary theatre, where authorial projects are created by recording topical conversations with selected anonymous interlocutors who reveal their authentic experiences. 

A large and growing part of his director’s oeuvre consists of plays based on dramatisations of the novels: “Municipal Child” by Branislav Nušić, “A Goat in Milk” by Yuri Polyakov, “Elijah’s Chair” by Igor Štiks, “Lazy Days” by Erlend Loe, Sándor Márai’s “Peace in Ithaka”, “Blue Moon” by Damir Karakaš, “The Use of Man” by Aleksandar Tišma, “Mephisto” by Klaus Mann in Ujvideki Szinhaz… 

For his work he has been awarded many national and regional awards, including three Sterija Awards (for the author’s project of the play “Waiting Room”, for directing the play “The Wizard” and for the best play “Drunks”), two awards of Sarajevo magazine “Dani” - Brave New World within the MESS Festival, “Mira Trailović” Award - Grand Prix of the Bitef Festival, “Ljubomir Muci Draškić” Award, “Bojan Stupica” Award, City of Belgrade Award for Theatre Creativity - “Despot Stefan Lazarević”, “Anđelko Štimac” Award for Best Director at the International Small Stage Theatre Festival in Rijeka, “Petar Kočić” Award at the Banja Luka Festival, Grand Prix at the Brčko Festival, “Ardalion” Award at the Užice Festival, “Spark of Culture” Award presented by the Institute of Culture of Vojvodina, awards at the “Vršac Autumn” Festival, awards at the Festival of Premiere Performances in Aleksinac, “Budva Theatre City” Award. He is also the recipient of annual awards presented by Atelje 212, Serbian National Theatre, Belgrade Drama Theatre and the Yugoslav Drama Theatre and some others. 

Boris lives and works today between Belgrade, Novi Sad and Budva.