Arts and culture

The Harpies' islands and the lord of the sea

11/01/2018 -  Fabrizio Polacco

An exceptional trip to the Strofades islands, regarded as home to the mythical Harpies, and the breathtaking beauty of an ancient hermitage that risks disappearing

Not only Erasmus. Where and why European students move abroad

13/10/2017 -  Marzia BonaLorenzo Ferrari

Many South-East European students enroll in foreign universities, but for most of them leaving the region remains only a dream

Drawing the War: Bosnia 1992-1995

10/08/2017 -  Claudia Zini Sarajevo

Before the war, Ekmečić was an academic painter whose subjects ranged from nudes to landscapes and panoramas. In 1992, in a time in which an artist was not allowed to keep silent, he became a war artist for the urge of documenting the destruction of his country

Macedonia, the sun sets on Skopje 2014

08/08/2017 -  Giovanni Vale

Skopje 2014 was the trademark project of former PM Gruevski, aimed at transforming the capital and celebrating nationalism. With the change of government, the art of colourful protest has risen to power and tries to de-aestheticise the old regime

The House of European History

03/04/2017 -  Marco Abram

A museum that seeks to project a transnational vision of European history. An ambitious project that has not escaped controversy and criticism. An interview with director Taja Vovk van Gaal

Hürriyet daily censors Orhan Pamuk "No" to constitutional referendum

15/02/2017

Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk confirmed that Hürriyet newspaper censored his interview in which he declared that he would vote “no” in constitutional amendment referendum

The curves of the Georgian alphabet seduce UNESCO

09/01/2017 -  Monica Ellena Tbilisi

After evolving in parallel for centuries, thanks to UNESCO, the three Georgian alphabets became intangible cultural heritage of humanity. A living and charming heritage, but one to be protected

The Nativity Church in Arbanasi

20/12/2016

Recorded inside the Church of the Nativity in Arbanasi, Bulgaria, by Piergiorgio Pescali

Rajko Grlić: "Films are like acupuncture"

20/12/2016 -  Sven Milekić Zagreb

Director Rajko Grlić is the author, together with writer and columnist Ante Tomić, of a film that has become a smash in southeast Europe. Four characters and an exam on the Constitution. Interview

Serbia: the Babylonian spirits of Viminacium

07/10/2016 -  Dragan Janjić Belgrade

A few miles from Požarevac, in the archaeological site of Viminacium, an archaeologist known as the “Serbian Indiana Jones” has made some surprising discovers

Turkey, theatre after the attempted coup

09/09/2016 -  Emre Yalçın*

How can art react to the serious political crisis in Turkey? An interview with Semih Çelenk, theatre professor at the Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir

Opera in Azerbaijan

29/07/2016 -  Natalia Kawana

Azerbaijan can hardly be considered a typical opera destination. But the country has a lot to offer opera lovers: performances of Western and Eastern European masterpieces, its own compositions, which are a unique mixture of musical traditions, and excellent singers

Istria: being young in the 70's

14/07/2016 -  Davide Sighele

A documentary portrays the life of the Italian community in Istria through the eyes of children and teenagers. An interview with its director, Sabrina Benussi

Durres, the Albanian port

07/06/2016 -  Fabrizio Polacco

A walk through the streets of old Durres, where past and present are inextricably entwined

Izolyatsia, the Ukrainian cultural factory

19/05/2016 -  Matteo Tacconi Kiev

Izolyatsia promotes artistic and cultural events. Its headquarters were in Donbass before war broke out, now they are in Kiev. However, their values have remained the same: to guarantee freedom of opinion

Akram Aylisli, a writer under restrictions

31/03/2016 -  Simone Zoppellaro

Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli was expected to take part to the “Incroci di civiltà” International literature festival today in Venice, but the Baku authorities blocked him at the airport. Our interview

Mile Kekin: it is time for people to remember

14/04/2016 -  Božidar Stanišić

Songs by poet and musician Mile Kekin, front man of the punk-rock band from Zagreb "Hladno pivo", should be included in textbooks. Not just in Croatia, in all of Europe

Ilinca Călugăreanu: the story of Chuck Norris vs. Communism

24/03/2016 -  Nicola Falcinella

Pirate tapes of the most popular American movies circulated in Romania throughout the Eighties, challenging the communist regime. Now, a film tells this story. OBC interviewed the director

Sarajevo, ERMA hijacked by local politics

08/02/2016 -  Rodolfo Toè Sarajevo

The ERMA master's degree in human rights and democracy, flagship programme of the Universities of Sarajevo and Bologna, is not receiving the funds made available by the EU and the Italian Government because of internal feuds in the Bosnian University

Slow Food Bulgaria: the “kiselo mlyako” of the Strandzha

14/12/2015 -  Francesco Martino Malko Tarnovo

In the Strandzha mountains, on the border between Bulgaria and Turkey, proud, obstinate producers carry on making “kiselo mlyako” (sour milk), a thousand-year-old tradition

The Kurdish Storytellers

07/10/2015 -  Dimitri Bettoni

The Dengbêj represent the collective memory of the Kurdish people, having resisted the Turkish government attempts to assimilate them

Lost birds

14/08/2015 -  Simone Zoppellaro Yerevan

The first movie produced in Turkey on the Armenian genocide has been directed by Ela Alyamac e Aren Perdeci. Our interview

Genealogy: Armenia’s Eurosong

19/05/2015 -  Simone Zoppellaro Yerevan

A group of youth coming from the four corners of the world is representing Armenia at the Vienna Eurovision Song Contest. Meet Vahe Tilbian, Armenian of Ethiopia

Alan Ford, a Yugoslav hero

12/12/2014 -  Andrea Oskari Rossini Sarajevo

An exhibition in Sarajevo sheds light on the most celebrated Italian comic strip translated in Yugoslavia and the new republics

Edith Durham, Albania's Mountain Queen

28/11/2014 -  Elizabeth Gowing*

Edith Durham, an author, aid worker and Edwardian traveller in the Balkans, has left an enduring legacy in South East Europe, namely in Albania. A review of the latest Marcus Tanner book on the first British woman to become Vice President of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Quieter than water

05/11/2014 -  Giuliano Geri

Berislav Blagojević (1979) is one of the most brilliant and versatile voices in the new literature from Bosnia­-Herzegovina, and the author of Quieter than water [Tiši od vode, 2013]. Interview

The traditional music of Ulaş Özdemir

21/10/2014 -  Gianluca Grossi

His last piece of work was produced with the Forabandit, a musical ensemble that contaminates traditional Turkish music with the lyrical and musical experience of the Provençal troubadours and Persians rhythms. Interview

The hill of stars

19/08/2014 -  Federico Sicurella Belgrade

Belgrade's Astronomical Observatory, a jewel of modernist architecture, houses amazing instruments and magical stories, like that of a mysterious “comet seeker”. Today, the question is how to do justice to what once was a symbol of the city. An interview

Gla, the island that is no more

30/07/2014 -  Fabrizio Polacco

A journey in Boeotia, the land of Pindar, Dionysus, Heracles, and the Muses. Few tourists frequent this plain, between Athens and Delphi. Yet, every two or three miles, you can spot the remains of a once powerful polis, a sacred temple, a legendary fortress

Watching Bosnia in New York City: "May 31st" and "Trnopolje, a forgotten summer"

30/05/2014 -  Caterina Bonora New York

The Bosnian Herzegovinian Film Festival in New York City recently premiered a documentary movie on the White Armband Initiative, the event taking place in Prijedor each year on May 31st. Transitional justice experts Refik Hodžić and Eldar Sarajlić discussed the process of dealing with the past in the country