24th International Festival of Children’s Theatres- Banja Luka 2025

05 Oct 2025 - 11 Oct 2025

Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The International Festival of Children’s Theatres in Banja Luka has been a prominent cultural event for the past 23 years, organized by the Children's Theatre of the Republic of Srpska. This prestigious festival features a competitive program, with performances evaluated by an esteemed International Jury made up of leading experts in puppetry and theatre. Held annually in October, the festival draws around 10,000 attendees, with visitors from Banja Luka and neighboring towns across Bosnia and Herzegovina coming together to celebrate the art of children's theatre.

We are pleased to invite you to submit your application for the 24th International Children's Theatre Festival - BANJA LUKA 2025, which will take place from October 5 to 11, 2025, in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina..The Festival organizer invites interested professional theatres to apply with their puppet performance by June 15, 2025.

To be considered for selection in the competitive program, please submit the following:Completed application form, Video recording of the performance, 5 photographs, Synopsis of the performance, Technical requirements. The application form is available for download on our website at https://djecijepozoristers.ba/.Kindly send your completed application materials via email to: festival.dprs@gmail.com.

Festival organiser

Children`s Theatre of Republic of Srpska

Djure Danicica 1, 78000
Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

https://djecijepozoristers.ba/en/

Main contact

Ms Jelena Vukcevic

festival.dprs@gmail.com

Read more about the organiser.

Children’s Theatre of Republic of Srpska from Banja Luka is a public institution, established on 30th December 1955. The first puppet show which was combined of two one-act plays Forest Tsar and Goldfish were performed by actors-puppeteers on 14th October 1956. During the last sixty years of its existence in Banja Luka, the Children’s Theatre of Republic of Srpska has produced and performed 305 premieres which have been seen by more than 3 million visitors. In the Children’s Theatre of Republic of Srpska from 1995 till 2016 the shows for children and for adults were directed by many respectable directors: Biserka Kolevska, Slavcho Malenov, Bonjo Lungov, Petar |Pashov, Todor Valov, Ljubomir Ralchev (Bulgaria), Jaroslav Antonjuk (Poland), Hartmut Lorenz (Germany) Robert Waltl (Slovenia), Alexei Leliavski (Belarus), Teresa Durova (Russian Federation) as well as numerous Serbian directors Branislav Kravlјanac, Zivomir Jokovic, Kokan Mladenovic, Jug Radivojevic, Nenad Bojic, Luka Kecman and others.

As a part of the theatres, since 16th April 2013 there is a Museum of theatre puppets the only one of the kind in the South-East Europe. The Museum contains about five hundred theatre puppets form the shows of the Children’s Theatre of Republic of Srpska which present different puppet systems: marionettes with long and short strings, guignol and other forms of hand and glove puppets, javaikas, flat puppets, and shadow puppets which were created in the most famous puppet and sculpture workshops of Prague, Sofia, Varna, Berlin, Minsk, Warsaw, Banjaluka and other European cities. The Children’s Theatre of Republic of Srpska has been for fifteen years now, organizer of the International Festival of Children’s Theatres in Banjaluka.

Thanks to the Festival organization Banjaluka and Republic of Srpska were visited by more than a hundred professional theatres for children from all over the world. The Festival is of a competitive character and it is judged by an International Jury consisting of the most eminent theatre and puppet experts. Each year, in October the puppet shows are visited by more than 10000 spectators not only in Banjaluka but in other towns of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well.

Other editions

International Festival of Children’s Theatres- Banja Luka 2024 [13 Oct 2024 - 19 Oct 2024]

Practical info

Pricerange per day

Under 10 euro

Accommodation

Partner hotel

Food

Snack bar , Resto , Veggie/vegan , Gluten-lactose free

Main target group

Under 12 y/o

Directions & transport

Car park , Train/tram/bus , Airport (max 20km)

Surroundings

City center

Average attendence per day

2000 to 10.000 attendees

Art disciplines

Theater

Support for disabled people

Yes

24th International Festival of Children’s Theatres- Banja Luka 2025