“WakEUp!” Festival Favorite 

Festival “WakEUp!” (organized by “Heartefact”) happened at several locations, and included film and exhibition program. Festival originated from the need for a reaction to the present moment refugee crisis and the situation in the world, began on the 7 th of December at Gallery “G12 Hub” in Belgrade with two days performance that was dedicated to the current problem of refugees and their historical destinies. Calling for solidarity, humanity and action, festival WakeUp ! opened a graphic designer Mirko Ilic (migrant himself, leaving Yugoslavia in 80’s for New York, and playwright Biljana Srbljanovic, whose first drama play: Belgrade trilogy dealt with destiny of three refugees from Belgrade). They were first participants of the 48-hour long public reading performance – where citizens of Belgrade read personal testimonies of refugees, as well as the texts about exile and asylum seekers destinies in history. Public reading of the refugee testimonies had been broadcasted live via website, thus reaching far more people than the Gallery space could host. The participation in the performance was open, few prominent people have been invited, but they were joined by many citizens and passers-by, by all who felt it was necessary to send another call for solidarity to the worlds, waking-up and asking for reaction. It`s important that this call came from Savamala neighborhood, Belgrade old transit district through which all these years have passed thousands of people hoping for a better life. At the Cultural center “Parobrod” people could see films that have illuminated the fate of refugees in recent decades in various ways, and in the Gallery “Stab” had been held an exhibition of photography by Marko Drobnjaković, photographer from Belgrade, who in recent months recorded extensively everyday life of refugees from the Middle East on their way to Europe.