December 13, 2018 - The third edition of the Podgorica Film Festival officially ended on Sunday, December 9th, at the Cultural and Information Center "Budo Tomovic." During the five festival days, the audience had the opportunity to enjoy 26 films, of which 16 premiered in Montenegro. The festival featured films that received numerous awards and were featured at the most important festivals that the Montenegrin audience did not have the opportunity to see on the regular cinema repertoire.
On the last festival day, the Montenegrin premiere featured a short feature film "Put", by young director Senad Šahmanović. The festival closed with the films "Comic Sans" by Nevia Marasovic and "Did you see my film" by Paul Anton Smith.
For the first time this year, the audience was able to evaluate the films in the selection of the Podgorica Film Festival.
The Japanese film "Thieves" by director Hirokazu Korede received the highest rating of the audience. This emotional drama won the Golden Palm at the renowned Cannes Festival. The film follows Osama and his family, who, after one of their petty thefts, encountered an abandoned, frozen little girl. At the beginning, reluctant to protect the girl, Osamu's wife agrees to take care of her when she finds out what kind of problems she is facing. Although poor and petty thefts barely provide survival, they look like a happy family, while an unforeseen incident does not reveal their secrets, putting on a test the connection that keeps them together. Japanese movie "Thieves" makes us think about what the family is really like.
The film was very well received by the Podgorica audience who rated it with an average score of 4.92.
The second place according to the votes of the audience went to the Croatian film "Comic Sans" with an average score of 4.70. At the Pula Film Festival "Comic Sans" won the Golden Gate Audience Award, and at the International Films Festival FEST in Belgrade it received the Jury of Film Critics Award "Nebojsa Djukelić" for best film in the region.
The Danish Oscar nominee, Gustav Meller's film "Guilty", came in third with an average score of 4.62. Moller's tense thriller was shown at the opening of the Podgorica Film Festival. He won public awards at the Sundance and Rotterdam festivals.
Great interest of the audience was triggered by the Montenegrin and Bosnian-Herzegovinian co-production, film "Borders, Rain" by Vlastimir Sudar and Nikola Mijovic. Mijovic's and Sudare's story of love, maturity, and hope got a score of 4.55. In addition to the film, Sudar presented himself to the Podgorica audience as the author of the book "Portrait of the Artist as a Political Dissident - Life and Work of Aleksandar Petrović" within the accompanying program of the Festival. In fifth place, with a score of 4.48, was "Foxtrot" by Samuel Maoza. At the prestigious Film Festival in Venice, it was awarded the Silver Lion. In addition to the main program, the audience also enjoyed the films of Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu, whose retrospective was organized in cooperation with the Yunus Emre Institute. Within the accompanying program of the festival, panels and workshops were organized.
At the opening ceremony, the Montenegrin Cinematheque awarded the film "Kino-oko", and the famous Serbian director and former professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje, Miloš Miša Radivojević.
The festival was organized by NGO Podgorica Film Festival and the Montenegrin Cinematheque. The Ministry of Culture supported the festival, the Ministry of Tourism and the Secretariat for Culture and Sport of the Capital of Podgorica. Partners of Podgorica film festival are KIC "Budo Tomovic," Yunus Emre Institute, Film Center of Montenegro and MEDIA Desk of Creative Europe.
Text by CdM, on December 12th, 2018, read more at CdM
