Ex-Yu What's On In London

In lieu of a proper post this half-week, a rushed-off-its-feet Gazette has just about got time for a round-up of some ex-Yugoslav-type events in London over the next month or so.

The Blue Elephant Theatre in Southwark is presenting an 'Art in the Balkans' season all month, including three plays, an art exhibition plus a handful of new films from Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia. Arsen Ostojić's three-strand Ta divna splitska noć (look out for Mr Gangsta's Paradise, Coolio, as an American sailor, plus Croatian singer Dino Dvornik as more or less himself) on 20 November; Srđan Vuletić's Sarajevo thriller Ljeto u zlatnoj dolini the next day, and Svetozar Ristovski's Iluzija on the 27th. Not to mention a documentary double bill on 7 November which includes Igor Mirković's Sretno dijete on the Yugoslav new wave scene.

Newish Serbian cinema is being covered by the Institute of Contemporary Arts' No Exit season - four Serbian films from the late 90s onwards, including Srđan Dragojević's Rane, which the ICA wants us to think of as a Belgrade predecessor of City of God.

Musically, Croatian musician Darko Rundek and his Cargo Orkestar are in town on 19 and 20 November to play at Pizza on the Park as part of the London Jazz Festival. On the folk side of things, 27 November will see Halid Bešlić at the Café de Paris.

The amount of things like these going on is probably one reason why I haven't had time to post...