Radmila Djurica

Cinema City Festival 2012 gathers some of the most significant European names from the world of film, they are passing on valuable knowledge, experiences to a young Serbian filmmaker, but also to those already considered to be successful professionals. For the first time Serbia hosts board members of the prestigious European Film Academy, the most significant film institution in Europe along with numerous directors and producers.

The third day of Cinema City went by very quickly, honoring Andreas Dresden, special guest of the festival. There were two Master Classes presented by German film director Andreas Dresen and Slovenian film director Jan Cvitkovič. Slovenian film director master class spoke of the mysterious process of creating, based entirely on Cvitkovič’s intuitive cry of the primary images from the subconscious, with a bit of elements of surprise. Just imagine a Slavic soul caught up in a little bit of D. Lynch’s aesthetical iconography (also a bit of influence of some other experimental film aesthetics), talking about terra or mother Earth interwoven with personal archaeological or anthropological poetical interests: always questioning the value of man, woman and a child in their relationship with terra- mother Earth.

The festival also presented another Slovenian film premiered and awarded at Pula Film Festival last year, Good Night Missy (Lacho noc gospodicna). High marks to a Slovenian film directed by Method Pevec for a fine tactile of family drama, with a strong female character gentle and devoted intellectual, mother and wife Hannah, who lives after her husband’s adultery and through relationship with her lover (role done by film director Jan Cvitkovič). Pevec actually tells a kind of Bergman’s classic tale about relations: he builds emotions step by step, and each one is well-dosed to the finals. The film is very visual with subtle images of a common lifestyle and blend well animated and functional parts of the wondrous fairy tales invented by the mother every night, for a little girl her daughter. This film won 3 awards on Pula Film Festival last year: for the best photography, best film director and best actress award.

Very well visited master class went off smoothly with total full theatre and Andras Dresen at Arena in Novi Sad, Serbia after his film Stopped on Track ( Halt auf freier Strecke) from 2011.The German director’s film, Stopped on Track, is one of the most talked-about titles screening this year in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard sidebar. Despite a subject matter a man dying of a brain tumor , this moving film really provoked intensive emotions with viewers: there was a woman crying behind me! But what is really amazing is that Dresen made a great success out of the most depressing-sounding material. Critics loved the film in Cannes: it won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize — and it went on to some $5 million worldwide. Stopped on Track, is about dying and dying is serious. The film follows Frank, a man in his late 40s whose cancer diagnosis leads to his end. The movie shows physical deterioration and the psychological damage on Frank’s relationships with his family, showing everything, the ugly bits, and taboos.

(More about Andreas Dresen you can read in my interview) In general,

Monday by Cinema City went on very well, showing films such as:

- Swedish Stockholm East (Stockholm Ostra) directed by Simon Kaijser de Silva

- Love and Bruises directed by Ye Lou

- Night Shapes (Nachtgestalten) another one by Andreas Dresen

- Beautiful French film Donoma directed by Djinn Cerrenard

- Serbian film Practical Guide to Belgrade with Singing and Crying by Bojan Vuletic

- Bulgarian film I heard so many things Ave from Konstantin Bojanov

- Brazilian film Neighboring Sounds (O som ao redor) by Keber Mendoca Filho

- American tours (AZ Americai Anzix) Hungarian film from 1975

- Serbian film The Face of a Revolution (Lice revolucije) by Vladimir Milovanovic

- Italian film The Salt of Life (Gianni e la Donne) by Gianni DI Gregorio