What does exile feel like today, in the middle of Europe? What remains when language, identity, or a sense of safety becomes fragile? When home is no longer a place of comfort? And how is Berlin changing — this city that has long been a point of departure and a destination for exiles from all over the world? From 19.06 to 28.06.2025, the Berliner Festspiele’s Performing Exiles festival explores these questions through theater, performance, dance, and talks — spread across three venues: Haus der Berliner Festspiele, HAU – Hebbel am Ufer, and Ballhaus Ost. The festival focuses on diasporic artists and their perspectives on identity, displacement, resistance, and memory. Some works are autobiographical, others experimental, but all are rooted in the urgency of experience. Among the program highlights is a world premiere by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled Iran and now presents Destination: Origin, a piece exploring the elusive idea of home. From Kyiv, theater maker Tamara Trunova brings a new work developed between war and everyday life.
Mario Banushi, born in Tirana and raised in Athens, presents the wordless piece Goodbye, Lindita, a production widely discussed on the international stage. In a collaborative work, Lina Majdalanie and Rabih Mroué reflect on their experiences of exile and interweave them with texts by one of Germany’s well-known exiles, Bertolt Brecht. A standout format within the festival is 100° Diaspora, a mini-festival inside the festival. Three days, five stages, 45 projects, and no jury, no curation, no gatekeeping. First come, first perform. From readings to performances, installations to circus, low to high. Among them, Rodrigo Zorzanelli’s solo performance Multiple Memberships (26.06.) is one not to miss. In its second edition, Performing Exiles once again brings urgency to the stage — without sensationalism. What does performing exile feel like? Open, sometimes uncomfortable, often moving.
Text: Hilka Dirks / Photos: Christophe Berlet, Fabian Schellhorn & Theofilos Tsimas
Performing Exiles Festival 19.–28.06.2025
The festival takes place in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele at HAU and Ballhaus Ost. The entire program can be found here.
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