Radmila Djurica

Film Festival that originates from The Festival of Yugoslav Film, from 1953 in Pula, Croatia in socialist old Yugoslavia would be nowadays 58. Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival in Belgrade. Festival that ended last week, screened both, short fiction films and documentaries. Centre of the festival’s program were short feature films while socially engaged off documentary program, called Vrelo that featured documentaries dedicated to a worldwide cancer campaign and awareness. The official closing of the 58th Belgrade Festival of Documentary and Short Film beside awards, this year laureate supporting program called Nova svetlost. This program meant to be a  1,000 Euros competition for 3 minutes short films made with mobile phones, or some other new technology gadgets involved.  At the gala opening of the 58th Festival of Documentary and Short Film, the Life Achievement Award was posthumously given to Ranko Munitic, Serbian film critic, theoretician and television author while Irena Škorić  Croatian awarded film director jointly opened the Festival with her film Farewell.  

Another program of the 58th Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival featured contemporary social, political and cultural situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip by showing to Belgrade audience documentary films about life inside the walls, war, politics, youth, and position of women and the alternative education in Palestine. The alternative educational and cultural centre in Palestine would be a THE FREEDOM THEATRE established in Jenin Refugee Camp in 2006. Regarding to a similar subjects one of the side program films In Focus, festival featured Palestine produced by this institution—with  four short documentary films made by young Palestinian Buthaina Abu Atiya, Mustafa Istaiti, Mohammad Ibrahem and Ahmad Al Araj.   

Festival Awards The Grand Prix of the Festival went to the film Not Without You directed by Dutch authors Petra Lataster Czich and Peter Lataster, the documentary program dedicated to a cancer champagne. Peter thanked organizers of the festival and his own parents, main protagonists of Not without You and Petra officially closed the festival. Jury members of the  58th Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival Irena Škorić, Croatian awarded film director, President of the Jury,  Vladimir Blaževski, Dr. Rainer M.Koeppl,  Milorad Glušica and Ventura Durall I Soler decided to award with GRAND PRIX Festival statuette and  3.000,00 Euros for the best film in both competition programs Not Without You by Petra Lataster-Czich and Peter Lataster, Netherlands for "a sophisticated, emotional, touching, human portrait of eternal issues of love, life, family, art and death."

GOLDEN PLAQUE BELGRADE for the best film of International Competition and 2.000,00 Euros went to17 August directed by Alexsander Gutman for "an ascetic and focused impression of issues connected with freedom. Precisely structured, it thrives an minimalism and avoids being moralistic."   GOLDEN PLAQUE BELGRADE for the best film of National Competition and 2.000,00 Euros went to “Yugo, short Autobiography” directed by Mina Đukić for "an ironic portrait of ex-Yugoslavia. Mixing an original creative potpourri of documentary and fiction film." THE GOLDEN MEDAL OF BELGRADE and 1.000,00 Euros of the International competition program went to: THE BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM to director of “The way up“- by Baderech Lemaala and Shirly Berkovitz. THE BEST ANIMATED, SHORT OR EXPERIMENTAL FILM went to a film “How I met your father“  by Alex Montoyat.  THE GOLDEN MEDALS OF BELGRADE and 1.000,00 Euros went to THE BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM of  “Old Mountain“ by Goran Stanković. THE BEST ANIMATED FILM  for „The tower of Babel“ by Jelena Bešir. THE BEST SHORT FILM went to  “360 °“  by Maja Đokić. THE BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM went to  “Applause“ by Drago Latinović i Ilaija Galonja.

Eventually, festival hosted two more unofficial awards „JOVAN AĆIN“ AWARD of the Association of Film Artists of Serbia and FIPRESCI Serbia of the International federation of film critics. „JOVAN AĆIN“ AWARD went to a Serbian short feature film Reality Fuck Off directed by Nemanja Vojnovic for “the film that is in the coherence with changed social reality and always new concepts of a new technology  communication.” And FIPRESCI Award went to a documentary film Living Downstream by Chanda Chevannes for „its exceptional and thorough scientific polemic and a powerful study  about the link between carcinogens in environment and the 600,000 cancer deaths each year in the United States and Canada alone, raising fundamental question and deep concern of the fatal consequences of decades long agricultural pollution, increasing cancer causing chemicals in environment and a serious environmental biology problem due to an impact of a long time used pesticides.“  While Special MENTION of FIPRESCI Award went to a The Lost Town of Switez by Kamil Polak, „for a visual impression and distinctive aesthetics of an image inspired by the nineteenth century realistic painting, where the artists also imported real-life textures, grafted to the 3D CG animation in order to convey original stylized, hyper-real aesthetic done with  special effects, in addition to successfully illustrate mood, atmosphere and depth of the film, which is a story about bloody massacre in medieval times of a town that now lies at the bottom of lake.“