FOLKTALES STORYTELLING FOR CHILDREN IN ROMANES

Storytelling in Romanes will be performed on livestream for children under ten years old. This program will be organized with learning centers in Kosovo with Balkan Sunflowers Kosova and Voice of Roma Ashkali and Egyptian in Fushe Kosova, Gračanica, Plemetina, Prilužje and Preoce, Gnjilane, Novo Brdo, Prilužje, Kamenica for Roma children. The facilitators of the learning centers will coordinate with the festival organizers to make sure that the children actively participate.

The Storytellers are Nedjo Osman, a Theatre actor and Director and Alija Krasnići a Roma writer from Obilić/q who moved to live in Serbia after the Kosovo war.

DAY 4 & 5 MONDAY & TUESDAY ONLINE

NEDJO OSMAN
Nedjo Osman was born in 1958 in Skopje, Macedonia, in former Yugoslavia. After studying at the Film and Theatre Academy in Novi Sad (formerly in Yugoslavia, now Serbia) he began his acting career at the Roma Theater Pralipe in Skopje. He worked as an actor in the National Theatre KPGT in Subotica (Serbia) and appeared on stage at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad and the Jugoslovensko Dramsko Pozorište (JDP), the Yugoslavian Drama Theatre in Belgrade. Since then, he has played leading roles in more than 40 productions, from classical to modern, and has received numerous awards for his work. After the outbreak of the war in the Balkans he went to Germany, to the Theater an der Ruhr in Mülheim an der Ruhr, as a member of the Theater Pralipe ensemble. Since 1995 Osman has been artistic director of the TKO Theater Köln / Theater Kokotovic–Osman, together with Nada Kokotovic. Working as a freelance actor, director, poet and journalist, Osman also directed and moderated radio programmes in Romanes – between 2000 and 2002 at Radio Multi-Kulti in Berlin and between 2002 and 2014 at Deutsche Welle in Bonn. In recent years he has been working in Cologne and many other German cities as a social worker and mediator on various Roma projects. As a long-time activist and translator, Osman aims to raise further interest in the art of the Roma as one of the most important elements of their culture and identity. He further strives to utilize his work to provide access to their culture and theatre for non-Roma – and thereby to challenge widespread opinions and prejudices regarding Roma. Nedjo Osman is also a translator into Romanes and a poet. Already in his early youth he discovered his passion for writing. He finds his inspiration on the street, in the neighbourhoods of Roma people, in his experiences with non-Roma and in love as a source of beauty. His poems have been published in Turkey, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, Croatia and Germany. Awards Nedjo Osman has played at various international festivals in Europe and won numerous prizes, among them the Superlative Critique, the Golden Laurel Wreath. The latter awarded to him for his role as Leonardo in Lorca’s Blood Wedding at the International Theatre Festival MESS in Sarajevo in 1991. He was further honoured for playing the leading role in Anita Berber at the Festival Vojvodjanski susreti in Sombor (Serbia) in 1997. In 2003 the Yul Brynner Prize was awarded for the first time in Berlin. Here Osman was honoured twice: for directing the play Medea and as a Roma actor. In 2017 he received the Šaip Jusuf Award in Zagreb (Croatia) for lifetime achievement. It is awarded for important contributions to promoting the participation of Roma in education and for protecting the Roma language and culture.

NEDJO OSMAN

Nedjo Osman was born in 1958 in Skopje, Macedonia, in former Yugoslavia. After studying at the Film and Theatre Academy in Novi Sad (formerly in Yugoslavia, now Serbia) he began his acting career at the Roma Theater Pralipe in Skopje. He worked as an actor in the National Theatre KPGT in Subotica (Serbia) and appeared on stage at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad and the Jugoslovensko Dramsko Pozorište (JDP), the Yugoslavian Drama Theatre in Belgrade. Since then, he has played leading roles in more than 40 productions, from classical to modern, and has received numerous awards for his work.

After the outbreak of the war in the Balkans he went to Germany, to the Theater an der Ruhr in Mülheim an der Ruhr, as a member of the Theater Pralipe ensemble.

Since 1995 Osman has been artistic director of the TKO Theater Köln / Theater Kokotovic–Osman, together with Nada Kokotovic. Working as a freelance actor, director, poet and journalist, Osman also directed and moderated radio programmes in Romanes – between 2000 and 2002 at Radio Multi-Kulti in Berlin and between 2002 and 2014 at Deutsche Welle in Bonn.

In recent years he has been working in Cologne and many other German cities as a social worker and mediator on various Roma projects.

As a long-time activist and translator, Osman aims to raise further interest in the art of the Roma as one of the most important elements of their culture and identity. He further strives to utilize his work to provide access to their culture and theatre for non-Roma – and thereby to challenge widespread opinions and prejudices regarding Roma.

Nedjo Osman is also a translator into Romanes and a poet. Already in his early youth he discovered his passion for writing. He finds his inspiration on the street, in the neighbourhoods of Roma people, in his experiences with non-Roma and in love as a source of beauty. His poems have been published in Turkey, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, Croatia and Germany.

Awards

Nedjo Osman has played at various international festivals in Europe and won numerous prizes, among them the Superlative Critique, the Golden Laurel Wreath. The latter awarded to him for his role as Leonardo in Lorca’s Blood Wedding at the International Theatre Festival MESS in Sarajevo in 1991. He was further honoured for playing the leading role in Anita Berber at the Festival Vojvodjanski susreti in Sombor (Serbia) in 1997.

In 2003 the Yul Brynner Prize was awarded for the first time in Berlin. Here Osman was honoured twice: for directing the play Medea and as a Roma actor.

In 2017 he received the Šaip Jusuf Award in Zagreb (Croatia) for lifetime achievement. It is awarded for important contributions to promoting the participation of Roma in education and for protecting the Roma language and culture.