Zijah Sokolović receives Golden Laurel Wreath for contribution to MESS Theatre Festival

(Patria) - Zijah Sokolović was presented with the Golden Laurel Wreath for his contribution to the art of theatre at the MESS Festival, the most significant festival award bestowed by the Directorate, at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo tonight.



While presenting the Golden Laurel Wreath, MESS Festival Director Nihad Kreševljaković emphasized that it is not an award "only for contribution to the art of theatre, but for endurance, for the courage of existence on stage, for loyalty to acting as a life vocation".

- Zijah Sokolović has been one of the most recognizable and enduring faces of our theatre for over half a century. His career is not only impressive in numbers but also in what those numbers mean: perseverance, curiosity, faith in theatre, and faith in humanity.

His plays always address the essential question: what does it mean to be human, what does it mean to be an actor, and how to defend the dignity of life through performance.

Whether standing alone on stage or sharing the space with an ensemble, Sokolović always builds a bridge between art and the audience, between humor and pain, between irony and tenderness - said Kreševljaković.



- I embarked on this interesting journey back in 1978 with the idea that an actor is the master of illusion, and for 46 years now I have been actively performing this play, and the audience still clearly wants to watch it.

This is proof that theatre is the origin of uniqueness, and an actor is a person who should seek that origin. Remember, it is never too late for a person to start a revolution - said actor Zijah Sokolović.

On this occasion, Zijah Sokolović's book "Glumac… je glumac… je glumac" (An Actor... is an Actor... is an Actor) was promoted, which also inspired the play that has been performed more than 1,600 times in the past 46 years.



- Zijah Sokolović conceived, dreamed, wrote, and created a dramatic text. For the theatre, for the audience, it doesn't matter whether that text was created before the play or written after years and years of performance.

It is a dramatic text that pretends to be a monodrama and about a man who pretends to be alone on stage. A wise dramatic text leaves room for different interpretations and performances.

That is why this drama perhaps most resembles jazz, and Zike's acting mastery resembles a perfect musician enjoying the performance, who knows well that improvisation is allowed only to the best, confident in the score, in the basic theme, the idea, of course - said dramaturge and writer Almir Imširević at the book promotion, among other things.



Zijah A. Sokolović is one of the most significant figures in film and theatre in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and for over five decades he has been continuously active in theatre, film, and television, building an extensive, diverse, and permanently relevant artistic opus.

In his exceptionally rich career, Zijah Sokolović has achieved over 150 theatre roles, 28 television series, and 57 film productions, many of which have marked Yugoslav, post-Yugoslav, and BiH cinematography.

He has won a total of 104 awards, including more than 22 Grand Prix awards, seven lifetime achievement awards, three Golden Medals, two Golden Arenas, and four Golden Laurel Wreaths at the MESS festival.

Through his rich international career, from Sarajevo and Vienna to Ljubljana, Zagreb, Skopje, and Belgrade, he has left a strong mark as an actor, director, and professor, passing on knowledge to generations of students in Linz, Osijek, and Belgrade.

Zijah Sokolović is an artist whose work transcends the boundaries of theatre. He lives where theatre and art are.



The Golden Laurel Wreath for contribution to the art of theatre has been awarded to many prominent domestic and regional artists such as Ines Fančović, Nermin Tulić, Radovan Marušić, Nada Đurevska, Zoran Bečić, Mustafa Nadarević, Tvrtko Kulenović, Kaća Dorić, Sead Bejtović, Oskar Danon, East West Center Company, Mirjana Karanović, Žarko Mijatović, Katarina Kocka, Ljubica Ostojić, Vanja Popović, Rade Šerbedžija, Fabrika Agency, Josip Pejaković, Jasna Diklić, Nijaz Alispahić, posthumously Dragan Jovičić, Tomaž Pandur, Milka Podrug Kokotović, Gradimir Gojer, as well as prominent European and world names such as: Susan Sontag, Bibi Anderson, Petar Schumann, Massimo Schuster, Frank Castorf, Paolo Magelli, Jan Lauwers, Giorgio Ursini, Chris Keulemans, Herve Loichemol, and Lee Delong.