Before you started making films, you had been a photographer? What attracts you to the photography so much?
Photography is simply a picture. It is an integral part of the film and there the artist has a much bigger possibility in a production sense to make some bigger things than in a film. For a film a much bigger organization is needed, but as far as the aesthetics of the picture is concerned, it is very, very similar, but, I repeat, the control in the photography itself is much bigger than in a film.
You have already done two documentaries... read complete text

The main character in your film is a young boy who is remembering his childhood. He is artistically closed within his own world, and the reality is there, somewhere around him and only occasionally he reaches it for a moment. What were your directorial instructions to the boy playing this role and dominating the film?
The subject is not autism, it is just an phenomenon. That is what the character has as the main staring point. The film is happening in two parallel times; one is, taken conditionally, the present, and the other, so to say, the past. That “conditional past” makes 90 percent of the film and it is a reminiscence of the childhood... read complete text

With a restriction that I have not seen all the films, I have noticed a tendency to go more to a marketing, advertising approach to the film. In fact, the films are now packed in a way to have a presentation form, rather than to have the authors working on a film aesthetics or structure. In the documentary genre, it seems to me that the tendency is that the authors turn towards the topics from their nearest surroundings, they don't deal anymore with the political, socially engaged themes, with the exception of these specialized programmes such as Kosovo or the films, in the official competition, such as the film RUSSEL TRIBUNAL. Those are the documentaries that have... read complete text

JANKO BALJAK, a director is finishing his first festival in the role of the President of the Council. What is the Festival like looking from the “other side”?
We have made a step forward and the people feel that, the audience and critics as well as the authors themselves, can notice that some “fresh blood” has entered into to the Festival. I don't say that I am to receive the credit for that. A good sequence of steps was made, we were working on preparation of the Festival for almost a year and we tried to change some big things and consolidate the whole Festival story, especially its international part. It is rather difficult, this is only the second year... read complete text

- The young are irrepressible! At least, as far as the talent is concerned, we will not be in need. About other things, out of that context we could discuss. That is the old issue of how much is invested in film, in culture and how little we should change our relation to what we are presently doing. I am very happy. So far, I would not single out anything of what I have seen. I am pleasantly surprised by the selection of the films from the faculty of Drama Arts, and not all the young come from that faculty. No hardships can stop them; they show unbelievable vitality. It is another issue, and it requires a serious and longer discussion, up to which extent the thematic and problem films correspond to our (I like that word) REALITY. And to the environment in which these films are created.

VLADISLAVA VOJNOVIC, the screenwriter of the short feature film "PAPER PRINCE", by the director Marko Krstic
Is this your first realized screenplay for a short feature film?
I am one of the best-known unknown screenwriter in this town. This is my thousandth screenplay for both a short and a full-length feature film. In some way, this is the first screenplay and in many ways it is not. I worked for FRZ "Belgrade" as soon as I graduated, which was twenty years ago, I have sold different screenplays to "Centar-film" for famous directors, the late Žika Pavlovic, Misha Radivojevic... read complete text

It is very good that the Festival is international, as we have go the opportunity to see an excellent selection. All foreign films that I have seen are interesting and I am simply glad, it is impressive that Belgrade can see that. However, i don't know what has happened that there is no audience. To all the shows that I went to, although I could not manage to go to all of them, meaning the morning, the afternoon and the evening ones, only few spectators came. For example: two evenings ago, an Oscar winning feature-length documentary film was on, and in the theatre there were only about 40 people. I think that the problem lies in the presentation of the programme. It is true... read complete text

Domestic authors that confirmed their presence: Snezana Spasojevic, Flying Fishes, animation, 2004, 1' 20'', Branko Sujic, Moon Light, experimental, 2005, 6' 9'', Jelena Tvrdisic... read complete text

You identify the concept of the independent film with the concept “self-financing”. Why did you choose exactly these twenty films?
My idea was to present the films that were made mainly in the past few years. My task was to make the programme selection of an hour and a half and at the beginning of my work I realized that I would like to include in that selection a few classical film not just of the New York, but the American animation, as well, the films that have also marked the history. That is how I decided about some a bit older films, and the oldest film is the “Sundae in New York ” by Jimmy Picker from 1983 and I wanted to... read complete text

Goran, you studied the law, archeology, finished the Film Academy . With the film “Imported Crows” you won awards at the festivals in Motovun, Sarajevo , you were in Tirana, Rotterdam . How do people in different part of Europe (in the Balkans, I presume, they all understand the things in the same way) understand what the film is about and what the massages of your heroes are?
When we made the film, the editor and I knew that we were doing something very ‘strong”. We were afraid to edit the material, as we knew that we can mess up the thing, since the material was offering many things. We knew... read complete text

Ivica, until now you have done mainly feature length documentaries, and your film of this year lasts 16 and a half minutes. Did you make a concession to the requirements dictated by this Festival in respect to the length?
This film lasts that much,16 minutes, as such is the form, as well. That film is all made of the atmosphere, a film made in the plain. I come from Belgrade and somehow I have always gravitated towards the regions of Sumadija, Raska, that are wavy and full of hills. Only recently I got acquainted with the plain and to tell the truth I fell in love with it. It has some other kind of peace and... read complete text

RED LIGHT FOCUS consists of the films that I selected at IDFA Festival in Amsterdam , in November. The selected films, in different and very interesting ways, deal with the problems of sex-trafficking and prostitution in various parts of the world. The program consists of four films, made mainly by women authors. It will be interesting for the audience to see them as they are to be shown in Belgrade now and never again. When I watched and selected the films for our Festival, I did not even imagine that the film “Born into Brothel: Calcutta Red Light Kids” would get an Oscar for the feature length documentary film and here is the opportunity for our audience... read complete text

The film „Russell Tribunal“, which is in the programme of this year's Festival, was produced in 2003, although its production began already in 1967.
- For almost forty years my film was lying in different cellars. It was dispersed in the stables throughout Sweden . I had to do a detective's job in order to trace al the rolls. It took years. It is interesting that the film was in an excellent condition. The film ended up in a bunker as it was dealing with a court process, the Rusell Tribunal, and with it we wanted to express our protest against the war in Vietnam and to condemn the American side in it. That was an attempt to show to the world in a symbolical... read complete text

When a student gets a professor that teaches him a specific craft and introduces him into the secrets of art, he is unaware of how big is the influence that he has on his creative personality.
We learn the trade. Discovering to us the book by Daniel Eridgone “The Grammar of the Film Language” he facilitated our first step, the one full of fear, to be able to master the space, the actors and our own selves. To know how to beat the fear of direction. To make a contact with the actors, to know exactly what we want and to communicate it to the crew in a proper way. That, how to... read complete text

At the traditional gathering “BREAD AND FAT FOR VLADA BUNJAC”, the representative of the Festival in Clermont Ferrand, we addressed Mr. Georges Bolon, with the kind assistance of Mrs. Olja Iva from the French Cultural Centre. We asked him if he knew what it was all about.
- I arrived at the very end of Mr. Paramentic's introductory word. I understand that it is a traditional and symbolic gathering, characteristic for your country, dedicated to your colleague Vladimir Bunjac. I see myself in that story in as much as we all have our roots in the village. When you visit someone in a French village... read complete text

Boris Mitic, who is going to present the programme "Kosovo" and DVD editions of the documentaries Pretty Diana and Unmik Titanik.
Dana Budisavljevic, the author of the film Straight A's!, Croatia
Staffan Lamm, the author of the film The Russel Tribunal, Sweden
Goran Devic, the author of the film Imported Crows, Croatia
Nena Redzic Tot, the author of the film Blindness, Canada
And the authors of domestic films.
Iranian film "Prostitution behind the Veil", that... read complete text

It is our great pleasure to see at the Festival the films awarded by the European Film Academy (PRIX UIP) as the best ones in the past year, altogether at 12 film festivals.
- It is our pleasure to have that opportunity and we hope that this cooperation will become a practice in the years to come.
How was this contact made?
- Stefan Arsenijevic proposed to my colleague Bettina Schwartz, who organizes PRI UIP, and she concluded with our Editor Marjan During, that it would be good to include the films awarded by the Academy into the programme of... read complete text

Your film has already been screened, and awarded as well at the international festivals, to mention now the award of the Festival «Black Box Balkan», held in Berlin . You were preparing this film and were working on it for more than two years, and it is a story about a young run-away from a prison, who became an assassin killing the people according to the list that he made. How did it happen that you, being a young woman, are interested in such, maybe even pathological, phenomenon?
That story happened in my hometown, Gevgelija, one of the most peaceful towns in former Yugoslavia in 1998... read complete text

We see RADA SESIC regularly on our Festival. Last year, a programme of the films from India /Bolywood in Belgrade / was shown in Belgrade and this year Mrs. Sesic is here as a representative of the JAN VRIJMAN FOUNDATION:
- As this is a Festival of Documentary and Short Film and I personally, as an author, make this type of films, for me this is an interesting place, where I can see what is going on in the region. This year, in fact, I have come with a programe that I have composed myself and I am presenting it to you; that is the Programme JAN VRAJMAN Foundation from Holland. We support the creative documentary... read complete text

After studying Dutch literature she started studying Film and Theater S cience at the University of Utrecht . From 1995-1997 Ally Derks was coordinator of Festikon, a yearly educational Film and video festival in Hilversum . In 1988 she started with help of the Netherlands Film Institute - The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). Since 1989 she is the director of IDFA. Besides the selection of the yearly competition program she was responsible for different retrospect's focused a/o on Cuban, Kazakh, Lithuanian, Palestinian/Israeli and Polish documentaries.
Ally is director of the Jan Vrijman Foundation... read complete text

VESNA DOVNIKOVIC, the Secretary General of ASIF and the President of ASIF in Croatia : - I hope to meet here in Belgrade the representatives of ASIF for Serbia and Montenegro , which is one of the national ASIF (International Association of Animators) groups out of 37 ones worldwide. ASIFA Serbia and Montenegro is one of the oldest and highly respectable groups. I hope to meet the President Nikola Majdak in order to talk about the themes of ASIF. I would like to know what your problems are, how they can be overcome, and if there are any talks about organizing a festival, I will be glad to help... read complete text

“Bread and fat” for Vlada Bunjac gathered his old friends, colleagues, and admirers, who remembered both his film critics and his films (“Poets at the Court” 1963, “A Distant Sky” 1982... read complete text

PROGRAMME VIP EVROPA-PRI UIP (United Internacional Picture) that the Art director, Vera Vlajic named VIP Europe, found its place on the Festival upon a recommendation of... read complete text

The director Miomir Miki Stamenkovic who is the winner the Life Achievement Award, opened last evening the 52nd Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival. Addressing especially... read complete text

Our author Goran Radovanovic won in the past fifteen years numerous awards worldwide while with us almost nothing was known about this. In that sense, his most successful film is... read complete text

First of all because in that institution there are the people who, working together, do not assent to the clichés. We have behind us the older generations of the students, lots of films... read complete text

As of today, the press conferences shall be held in the premises of the Youth Centre. The conferences shall start AT NOON SHARP! The guests of the conference today are.... read complete text

Ronald Holloway, one of the most eminent European film critics, and for sure the best connoisseur of the eastern European cinematography, is this year, at our great pleasure... read complete text

Mr. Antonis Papadopulos, the Director of the Festival of Short Meter in Drama ( Greece ), who presented a programme of short Greek films at our Festival last year, this year is a... read complete text

I made that film quite spontaneously. On a New year I got fed up with staying in Belgrade and I went to Pristina with a camera. In a single night I made the whole film about the kids... read complete text

The idea was simple: Twenty-five countries, twenty-five visions from respected film directors from each of the respective countries that form the enlarged European Community... read complete text

It used to be a long-time practice to open this Festival with a selection from the competition programme, and it was usually a selection of better films, in the selector ' s opinion. It was always considered that those were also the Festival favourites. I have decided to break that tradition this year: the Festival, which this year is international for the second time, is to be opened by the film – VISIONS OF EUROPE .
It consists of the films made by the well-known authors from 25 countries, members of the European Union. The most eminent names from the fields of documentary, animation and feature films have spoken about their joint state... read complete text

This year, about 120 films entered the Festival, and the last year there were 230, which means that there are 100 films less now. However, this does not mean that the production has been halved but, it seems to me, that the entering criteria have been made stricter.
On the other hand, the restrictions in the rules according to which the television documentary programmes cannot participate in case that they have already been broadcasted, have reduced that type of offer: although, being a television critic and watching this type of programmes more or less regularly, I have found out some attempts of “ smuggling ” . There was even a case of trying to register... read complete text

First, i want to say that the Selection Commission (Danica Acimovic, Feliks Pasic, Andrijana Stojkovic) worked seriously, and was very critical while selecting the films for the Domestic Competition programme.
I have noticed that, in almost all the documentary films that I have seen, a common problem is the fact that they were made and prepared in a short period of time. This is another thing that shows that the documentary with us is in some corner of the production, that those who work on it are either the people who like it, or the students, the people learning the film. It is obvious, so, that in our film production... read complete text

First, i want to say that the Selection Commission (Danica Acimovic, Feliks Pasic, Andrijana Stojkovic) worked seriously, and was very critical while selecting the films for the Domestic Competition programme.
I have noticed that, in almost all the documentary films that I have seen, a common problem is the fact that they were made and prepared in a short period of time. This is another thing that shows that the documentary with us is in some corner of the production, that those who work on it are either the people who like it, or the students, the people learning the film. It is obvious, so, that in our film production... read complete text

«Last year I also had a film, «Phantasmagoria» that won an award in Canada and was shown here in both the national and the international competitions. This year I am here with the film «Blindness». As an artists I have always been fascinated by the world inside all of us. Thinking about the way the blind people, although they cannot see, transform their thoughts into pictures (and films is such a medium), I made a short film about a young woman from Ottava, an Indian woman who cannot see. Although she is a handicapped person, it seems to me that her interior world (which in some way is connected with the world of artists) is richer than the world of the people who can see.»

«I like the halls of the Youth Centre and the Belgrade Cultural Centre, and the programme is well-balanced. The choice of international films is fantastic so that the citizens of Belgrade had an opportunity to see the final work of Michelangelo Antonioni THE GAZE OF MICHELANGELO but also the works of some young authors not known with us. Antonioni is already 93 years old, and his great-great-grandchildren make excellent films. There are real miracles in the international selection, and the time spent in the cinema is not wasted; there is nothing worse than sitting and asking yourself – What am I doing here? I was at some smaller festivals, and those were much richer environments that don't economize. Here, the organizers have to economize, and I won't say anything else about that.«

« First, I must say that it is a big honour for me to be a member of the Jury, or more precisely, to be a member of a jury for the first time in my life. I think that it is good that the Jury is international this time and with that fact alone my participation in its work is more significant and for me it is not just a new but an extraordinary experience, as well. It's a pity that in the first three days we did not watch the films with the audience. I think that the authors are a bit harmed because of that, as the Jury always likes to hear the reaction of the audience to certain films, as well. »

ONLY HUMOUR CAN SAVE US
Just like with you, in Bulgaria we have got a very strong and well-founded tradition of the documentary film. Your festival of the short film in Belgrade is the oldest one in the Balkans, it already exists for 52 years, and ours is two years younger. But, the ways of filmmaking are not traditional, but completely different. In Bulgaria , there is no “state” film anymore, except for the possibility to make a connection with the national television, which then in some small percent finances your project. However, such things are rare, and all the rest cooperate with private televisions and producers... read complete text

Sudabe Babgap at the opening of the NEW IRANIAN DOCUMENTARY FILM PROGRAMME (Monday, The Film Archive at 17:00 h): “ Dear ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to be... read complete text

On the Festival this year you will also have the opportunity to see a few Oscar winners, such as: for the best animation film, SUNDAE IN NEW YORK, by Jimmy Picker, 4'13'', (1983)... read complete text

On behalf of the 52 nd Belgrade Festival of Documentary and Short Film – the Head Office of FEST – wishes you a warm welcome to the beloved and our oldest film festival... read complete text