FIAT — Festival of International Alternative Theatre

FIAT — the Festival of International Alternative Theatre — is Montenegro's longest-running theatre festival, founded in the 1980s and still the defining stage event of Podgorica's autumn. Every September it gathers alternative and experimental productions from across Europe and the wider region, and in 2025 it marked its fortieth edition with ten days of programming from 5 to 14 September. The 41st edition returns from 4 to 13 September 2026.

The anniversary edition packed 31 programmes into the city: seven productions competed for the festival's awards, while the French choreographer and director Josef Nadj opened the festival with "Full Moon" on the stage of the Montenegrin National Theatre. Performances spread across the KIC Budo Tomović cultural centre — its Great Hall, the Dodest stage and the terrace — as well as the CNP and the Kuslev House.

What sets FIAT apart is everything around the shows. Film screenings, music and literary side programmes fill the days, and every night the KIC terrace turns into the festival's living room with live music, where audiences, critics and performers mingle long after the curtain falls.

Ticketing is mixed — some performances charge entry while many accompanying events are open to all. The full schedule is published each year at fiat-montenegro.org.