Sibiu International Theater Festival (FITS) kicks off today, June 24, with a drone light show replacing the traditional fireworks that marked previous events.

The show, designed by EVSKY, is meant as an environment-friendly alternative to the fireworks. It is inspired by the festival's theme this year, Beauty, and will be integrated with a laser show. 

"As we always do, we have listed to the Sibiu community, who suggested that fireworks are a popular show but not very friendly with the environment. More than this, FITS always brings the public the newest technologies serving the performance arts. We have VR, we have virtual museums and many more, so it was natural to take this step from the light of the fireworks to the magic of the 200 drones in the show #findBEAUTY," Constantin Chiriac, the president of FITS and the director of the Radu Stanca National Theater (TNRS), explained.

The festival runs until July 3, with a program encompassing some 800 events and bringing in participants from 75 countries, the organizers said.

For this year's edition, FITS runs a partnership with TikTok under which it will showcase five events on the platform. The first one is #acedesiguranță@tiktok, directed by Bobi Pricop from a text by Ionuț Suciu.  It is a coproduction of Marin Sorescu Theater in Craiova, Andrei Mureșanu Theater in Sfântu Gheorghe, State Theater in Constanța, and Nord Theater in Satu Mare. The performance takes place at Gong Theater as part of FITS, and live on TikTok on July 3.

Other performances that will be shown on TikTok are the concert of Puerto Candelaria and Connexio, a coproduction Carré Curieux and Cirque Vivant! streamed from the city’s Habermann Square. 

OUKTAPÜNAWAA, a performance by AAINJAA, directed by Homero Cortés Ordoñez, will also be shown on the platform, streamed from the city's Grand Square. OUKTAPÜNAWAA is a word of the Wayuunaiki language, from the Colombian indigenous Wayuu tribe. It means "lose consciousness."

The fifth event to be streamed is Dance of the Flying Fire, a flare performance directed and choreographed by Markus Kapeller and Irene Schuberth.

The FITS program is available here.

(Photo courtesy of FITS)

simona@romania-insider.com