One day after the start, the Ibero-American Theater Festival announced changes to its programming

This Friday, April 1, will start the 17th edition of the Ibero-American Theater Festival of Bogotá -FITB-. The curtains of dozens of stages will be open for the public to choose from among the wide selection of works that make up the program of this cultural festival and for which the capital of the country is known as the 'world theater'.

'Victus' will be the play in charge of inaugurating the festival at the Teatro Colón. It will be unprecedented, because in the same scenario, former FARC combatants, former paramilitaries and victims of the internal armed conflict will meet to reflect on the war and forgiveness that can be achieved despite the scars left by more than 50 years of violence, the same one that is still being experienced in many parts of the country but with other actors .

This production, made by the mind and pen of Alejandra Borrero, has already been presented in cities such as Cali and Medellín, receiving good public acceptance, not only because of the fact that her name appears in the credits, but also because of the theme of the work, focused on forgiveness through the voices of the victims themselves.

For her part, Alejandra Borrero indicated that this work is unmissable because of its meaning and because of the very fact that it will open the 2022 edition of the FITB. “It is a clear sign that reconciliation can be done, that love changes things. If we've put something there, it's love. They have to see them, they have learned to embrace, to love. You have to see them enter 'Victus' and give the audience a hug without the public knowing them,” said the director and writer.

Now, with one day left before the festival starts, the official website has a new program due to the cancellation of some plays. Frankestein, Museum of Fiction I, Empire; Nomad and Raphaelle, among others, no longer appear.

In the most recent programming are El perdón, from Spain; Pinochio, from the United Kingdom; Song of the North, from the United States; Origin of Tale, from Lebanon; The Water Bunde (co-production with France), and Brief Encounters with Repulsive Men, from Argentina. In addition, there are great Colombian works worthy of being in this version of the Ibero-American.

According to information from the newspaper El Tiempo, these works, which are no longer on the sheet, have not been canceled. “Within the festival process we were defining the programming, which is changing. Some works came in and others came out. There were montages that were rescheduled and we are analyzing each particular situation. This is how we will have performances in July, August and September, as our interest is that the festival has significance over time and that is why we are reorganizing the dates,” said Lia Heenan, member of the FITB Transition Committee.

And he added that there are groups that reported that they were not going to be part of the cultural event, such as Japanese, due to the travel restrictions that this country imposed due to the covid-19 pandemic. “Another company could not come because the delivery of the cargo was not guaranteed and one more because the lead actress fell ill.”

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