Internationally acclaimed theatre director, Haris Pašović, made his name in the late 80s with his landmark production in Belgrade of Wedekind’s “Spring’s Awakening”. He remained active throughout the war period, directing plays and also creating the first Sarajevo Film Festival themed as “Beyond the End of the World”. Pašović produced now legendary “Waiting for Godot” directed by Susan Sontag. He led the Sarajevo Festival Ensemble on tour in France with the shows “Silk Drums” based on the Japanese classical theatre Noh and “In the Country of Last things” by Paul Auster. His “Class Enemy” by Nigel Williams was a part of the program of the Edinburgh International Festival, Singapore Arts Festival and many other festivals. His documentary “Greta” about Greta Ferušić, a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp and the Siege of Sarajevo, was shown on the documentary film festivals across the world.
In 2012, “Sarajevo Red Line” commemorated those who were killed in the city’s siege twenty years earlier. In 2013, “The Conquest of Happiness”, Pašović’s spectacular theatre event inspired by the writing of Bertrand Russell had its World Premiere in the UK at the Derry/Londonderry City of Culture. In 2014, Pašović directed a massive multimedia event “A Century of Peace After the Century of the Wars” in Sarajevo on the very site of the Sarajevo Assassination for the 100 years anniversary since the beginning of the First World War. He directed at the Shanghai Drama Art Centre and was a founding member of the Lincoln Centre Global Exchange in New York. His play “Rosas for Anna Teresa” was performed at the Royal Opera Stockholm. In 2016 Pašović wrote and directed the plays “What Would You Give Your Life For?” (Sarajevo/Bosnia and Herzegovina, Novi Sad/Serbia) and “Uncovering a Woman” (East West Centre and National Theatre Sarajevo). He also took a part at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. The video of his show “Football, Football” was a part of the “Halftime” exhibition at Cité du design, Saint-Etienne, France. In 2017 Pašović directed his play “Uncovering a Woman” as a co-production of East West Center and National Theatre Sarajevo. Haris Pašović is a director of Mittelfest and the East West Centre Sarajevo and a professor of theatre and film directing at the Performing Arts Academy Sarajevo. He teaches at the universities in Slovenia and Serbia and gives the lectures and workshops internationally too. He also writes the plays, essays and articles. His essay “Divine Uncertainty and Fall of Nationalism” opened the BBC World Service series “Great War.” He won a number of the awards including Best Director at the BITEF, Best Yugoslav Director, Best Director in Bosnia and Herzegovina and many others.