The first festival of Monodrama and Mime was held in 1973 and was established by a group of theater artists and art activists. The festival had great support from various theater workers, the public and cultural activists from both Zemun and Belgrade, and was a place of growth for many future theater experts.

The festival had the support of the National Theater, and was held on its stage in Zemun, and it also had major support from the Puppet theater "Pinocchio". Each year, the festival is held in the first week of July on the stage of the Puppet Theater "Pinocchio", as well as other locations.

The three-member jury bestows two awards: the gold medal "Maja Dimitrijević" for best monodrama and the gold medal for best mime. The jury awards the gold medal of the audience "Sinisha Dashic" to the most successful participants of the festival. Each year the festival issues a catalogue which contains all the information about the competition and support programs, as well as other important information about events related to the festival.

During the Festival, a daily newsletter is published which contains current service information related to the program of the Festival. The necessary funds for the Festival are given by City Assembly of Zemun, as the founder, the Secretary of Culture of the City of Belgrade and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia. However, large financial aid to the festival is provided by charity. From 1993 to 1996 the Festival of Monodrama and Mime was not held. The reason for this was the general social, political, financial and economic crisis in Yugoslavia, which broke up that year. In 1995, a group of theater enthusiasts launched the initiative to restore the Festival. This group managed to revive the Festival in 1996, and in spite of many difficulties, managed to improve and develop it, and to incorporate it into the international family of monodrama and related festivals, and to ensure appropriate media coverage.

Management and labor bodies of the Festival are: The Festival Council, headed by its president, Festival director, coach and selector for the monodrama pantomime.

Statistical data shows the following: Since the renewal of the festival, and ending with the 2011, there was a total of 500 premiers in the selection, and 26 plays out of competition and as a part of the accompanying program. 36 exhibitions were held. The publishing program was expanded and in addition to the regular catalogue, 10 books were published in the field of theater arts with a circulation of 4,800 copies, which have been promoted in the restaurant "Old Custom". More than 1000 performances have applied to participate in the Festival, and out of all of them which were selected just one play was canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. In the festival program we've seen artists from 32 countries, and, of course, from Serbia. The performances were seen by about 28,000 spectators.

Festival representatives visited Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, Albania and the Republic of Serbia, as guests of the local festivals or as participants in the competition part of the program.