[PRESS RELEASE, CIVIDALE DEL FRIULI, 8 JULY 2020] 

With 25 artistic projects, 10 world/Italian premieres, 3 Mittelforums: the theme of Mittelfest 2020 is Empathy: the vision of a new possible world after the pandemic, conveyed through music, theatre and dance, with open questions.

Maintaining an international dimension, European collaborations and nurturing the dialogue between its border territory and Central Europe, this year Mittelfest supports Italian artists in particular with 17 shows.

Special attention goes to new digital languages and new technology, in a surprisingly human form, and their increasingly leading role in the present and as bridges for the future. YET how much do they interfere in an empathic relationship and in the perception of reality?

Will really the dawn of a new way of living arise after the pandemic that united the whole world in a common challenge? And will EMPATHY, the ability to share someone else's feelings, become the launching pad for a common future? And how much respect for specificities is a wealth not to be lost? Then, what are the boundaries that bring value and those of fear? These are some of the inevitable questions on the reconstruction of the world to come, after the world we knew was shaken to its foundations by COVID-19.

Hence Mittelfest 2020 - festival of music, theatre and dance from the countries of Central Europe and the Balkans - is dedicated precisely to the theme of EMPATHY. Moved from the traditional month of July to September, in order to guarantee a prestigious programme, with international guests and shows all in closed COVID-19-free spaces, the festival will be on stage in Cividale del Friuli from 5 to 13 September once again under the artistic direction by Haris Pašović, multiple award-winning theatre and cinema director from Sarajevo, in the last year of his three-year tenure, and led by a new Board of Directors, chaired by Roberto Corciulo, that has set itself an ambitious goal: not only to strengthen Mittelfest, but to build a new Central European platform that synergistically manages to combine the performing arts with relationships, business and cultural tourism, to be an active part of a process that leads to a rebirth not only of culture but of Italy.

Among major national and international guests, in numerical terms this year Mittelfest has 25 artistic projects - 14 musical, 9 theatrical, 2 dance projects - and 3 forums. These stunningly include 10 world and Italian premieres. And from August 21, important collateral events will lead up to the actual festival. 

Empathy

So the artistic director Haris Pašović explains the choice of the theme of Mittelfest 2020: “If you get injured and bleed, you would prefer to have your dear friend by your side at that critical moment who faints when he sees blood or a competent doctor who can stop the bleeding , acting professionally without any feeling? " This question, posed by the late American scientist Carl Sagan, and some related ideas brought up for discussion by the famous Italian psychoanalyst Massimo Recalcati, sharpen our thoughts on the meaning of empathy. What is empathy? Is a world without empathy possible? On the contrary, is a world with too much empathy - so Pašović still says  - completely useless, full of infinite feelings and blurred minds? This is why we have chosen empathy as the main theme of Mittelfest 2020”.

Download the full version of the press release, including the programme of this 2020 edition!

Tickets 

Online www.mittelfest.org or in Vivaticket stores from 15 August 2020 
Info 0039 432 734316, biglietteriamittelfest[@]gmail.com