December 7, 2018 - Last night, the Podgorica Film Festival opened at KIC "Budo Tomovic". The event is organized for the third time by the NGO Podgorica Film Festival and the Montenegrin Cinematheque.
During the five festival days, from December 5th to 9th, the Podgorica audience will have the opportunity to watch twenty-six feature-length and short feature films, most of which are Montenegrin premiere. Within the main program of the Festival, the audience will have the opportunity to see domestic titles, short films by young Montenegrin directors Branislav Milatović, Bojan Stijović, Senad Šahmanović and Marijana Jankovic, a Montenegrin director living in Denmark, as well as regional films: "Boundaries, Rain" by Vlastimir Sudar and Nikola Mijovic (who is also a Montenegrin co-producer), "Cargo" by Ognjen Glavonic, "Comic Sans" by Nevija Marasovic, and many others. The international program includes award-winning titles: "Shoplifters" by the Japanese director Hirokaz Koreyeda (winner of the Cannes Festival), "The house that Jack built" by the famous Danish director Lars von Trier, "Foxtrot" by Samuel Maoz, "Guilty" Gustave Muler, "Have you seen my movie "by Canadian director Paul Smith, as well as exceptional ladies' films:" Young Woman by the French director Leonor Seraj and" Summer 1993 " by the Spanish director Karla Simon.
Photo: Una Jovović
In cooperation with the Eye on Films platform, this year, as part of a separate program, the best debut films by European authors will be shown. In cooperation with the Yunus Emre Institute, the Montenegrin Cinematheque in the hall DODEST organizes the retrospective of Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu. Within the accompanying program there will be open panel discussions with the guests of the Festival, as well as workshops with topics regarding the contemporary cinema.
The Montenegrin Cinematheque awarded its annual prize at the official opening ceremony. The jury composed of Branko Baletić (president of the jury), Vuk Perović and Nemanja Bečanović, decided to give the award for outstanding contribution to the film art "Kino-oko" to the famous Serbian director and former professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at Cetinje, Miloš Miša Radivojević.
Photo: Una Jovović
The award was handed by Director of the Montenegrin Cinematheque, Andro Martinovic. "If there is a man whose biography coincides with the register of his films, that's Misa Radivojevic. Take only those titles and you will get an exciting resume. Miša Radivojević has told us several times that the most effective way to ruin your life here in these areas is to be in the movie business. And he's always there for friends and numerous former students. We learned from Misa how to be ourselves, how to be free, and what I highly appreciate is that he is a person who understands how difficult it is to change your little world and how important it is to arrange our yard, and then we will influence on others as well. For these reasons, I am very pleased to present this award to him, "Martinovic said when awarding the prize.
Photo: Una Jovović
"I'm infinitely fulfilled and proud tonight for this award. There might have been a bit of a complaint here, this Cinematheque award, it smells a bit like the end. It's gets assigned at the end. Cinematheque is the place where movies are kept, personalities are leaving, and films are being kept. But, I am not afraid of this perspective, I continue to work and will continue as far as I can hoping that the directors rarely die shooting their movies, they always die between movies or after filming movies. But since I am exposed to that risk of still recording, I am trying to make my former students win as often as possible at the festivals and I am proud of it. On the other hand, if it happens that with these films I embarrass myself, I will return this kind of reward. I get most nervous from my students. These may be the first days I can hear that there are some nice talks about myself. I've always been accustomed to suffering criticisms that were very harsh, very rigorous. If I had somehow looked back at those sixty years on the film, that's certainly sixty years of controversy. Disputes and certain types of failures. But I think I am representing an extraordinary example and, in some ways, encouragement for people who suffer from failures. Without failure, there is no success. A man who has not experienced serious failures cannot experience any serious success. So, I came to a totally absurd point to recommend to young people a single dose of failure, "said Misa Radivojević after receiving the award.
Photo: Una Jovović
The festival was opened by City Secretary for Culture and Sports Nela Savković Vukčević. "Podgorica Film Festival this year also contributes to the creative diversity of the December art scene, the traditional cultural manifestation of the capital. Believing that the magic of moving pictures will reveal new dimension from itself and the world and thanks to enthusiasm, knowledge and dedication in organizng this festival of Andro Martinovic and Sara Radovic, I declare this manifestation open. "The film program was opened by the movie "Guilt" by Gustav Moller, the Danish candidate for the Oscar Award and many international awards. This tremendous thriller was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Audience Award for Best Film and received the same prize at the IFFR International Film Festival in Rotterdam.
Photo: Una Jovović
We remind that the Podgorica film festival is the winner of EFFE label for 2017-2018. year, which is dedicated to festivals for artistic dedication, and the involvement of the local community in a European and global context. The festival was supported by the Film Center of Montenegro, the Secretariat for Culture and Sports of the Capital City, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism. The partners of the festival are JU Cultural - Information Center "Budo Tomovic" and Yunus Emre Institute Podgorica.Entrance to all projections and accompanying programs is free.
Text by CdM, on December 6th 2018, read more at CdM
