The first edition of Kestenburg International Festival of Student Theatre will gather young talented artists from three continents, who will be performing on six permanent stages in four different locations in Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Each show deals with social issues young people are facing in their countries the 21st century.The purpose of the festival is to gather theatre students from the all around the world, in order to create an environment for experience exchange and cooperation between local and international art students and theatre enthusiasts. The festival also aims at promoting intercultural communication and understanding of social problems encountered by young people in different countries, in order to break stereotypes and prejudices.In this first edition of the festival, there are sixteen shows in the competitive programme and eight shows in the off programme. The competing shows will be judged by an International Jury, the Audience Jury and the Jury composed by the theatres' representatives and the participants of the festival. Since the official symbol of the city of Banja Luka is a chestnut, the awards are The Golden Chestnut, The Silver Chestnut, The Brass Chestnut and a special award ,The Chestnut Leaf.