Comic cartoonist, illustrator, designer, musician ... Leonid Pilipovic is currently working for the French publishing house Delcourt on the new title "Le Dernier Dragon" (J.P. Pecau). For Delcourt, he has drawn two episodes (4th and 5th) for the series “L’ Histoire Secrete” by screenwriter Jean Pierre Pecaua. He completed a series called "Le Grande Jeu" by the same screenwriter (6 episodes) and one episode of "Jour J" (J. P. Pecau and Fred Duval). At the same time, for the second French house Soleil he completed the series "Ravermoon" by screenwriter Sylvian Cordurie (3 episodes). His comics have been licensed in the US, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy and Croatia.

He became involved in comics in elementary and high school under the strong influence of the then Zagreb comic book scene called "Novi kvadrat", composed by Kordej, Ilić, Zimonjić. The first serious comic book published in magazine Mladost in 1988 and then published in comic books such as Patak, Tron, Striper, Patagonia, Stripoteka…

He participated in international comics projects with anti-war themes: "The Dignity of a Human Being is Vulnerable", "Signed by War", and "Sperminator", wall comic magazine "AUT!" # 3 (AWA, 1996) with Edmond Spierts, Peter Pontiac, Marcel Ruiters (The Netherlands), Aleksandar Zograf and Wostok (Serbia)… He published short strip forms for certain period in “Dani” of Subotica.

Together with Darko Kovacevic- (Kowalsky), he is the author of the cult comic strip “What’s New In Da Zoo?” , which has been published for almost two years in the weekly cultural guide, popular “Flash” in Subotica (where he was a graphic editor). Since 2004, he has been a professional comic artist. He has done illustrations for numerous magazines and books, as well as covers for albums by “Partibrejkersi”, “Goblini”, “Elektricni Orgazam”, as well as design and logos for a huge number of cult organizations and festivals, including “Amsterjam” - Amsterdam Jazz Festival

Štef ​​Bartolić was born in 1967 in Zagreb, where in 1986 he graduated from the School of Applied Arts, Department of Graphic Arts. He is a member of the Croatian Society of Film Workers and the Croatian Community of Independent Artists.

He has been involved in animation professionally since 1988. As an animator, he worked on the feature films "The Wizard's Hat" and "The Apprentice Hlapic" (Croatia film), as well as "The Little Flying Bears" (Zagreb film). As part of the project “1991”, he directed and animated four one-minute films, "Cockroaches", "Free Croatia", "Feather" and "Don't Get Angry Man" (Zagreb film).

He directed and animated a number of short animated films, opening themes for the children's program on HTV and in 1994 he was the author the opening theme for the World Animated Film Festival in Zagreb.

He has illustrated twenty novels for children and young people (“Peter Pan” JM Barrie, The “Train in the Snow” by Mate Lovrak, Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic's “Apprentice Hlapic”, “Books lie! “ and “The Yellow Minute” by Darko Macan,  “Head over heels” by Miro Gavran, and several books by Hrvoje Kovacevic, Silvija Sesto , Sanja Polak…). In 1996 he won awards for illustration at the Vinkovci Comic Salon, and in 2003 the SFERE Award.

He has been in the comics business since 1986. He has been published in Polet, “Student Magazine”, “Maxi Comic Magazine”, “Patak”, “Plavi zabavnik”, “Vecernji List”, “Playboy”, and in children's magazines in which he has published series of comic books for children for many years. The series "Komarac" (screenplay by Darko Macan) has been published in "Zvrk" magazine for nine years, and in “Modra lasta” the comic "Gluhe Laste" has been continuously published for fourteen years.

He has co-authored two comic albums with Darko Macan, "Mosquito: Failed Plan" and "Dick Long: The Cases."

Bartolić and Pilipović thus complete the list of special guests, three weeks before the commencement of the celebration in Herceg Novi dedicated to the Ninth Art, with Argentine, the legend of comic book creator Enrique Breccia; British duo of great artists Boo Cook and Simon Davis; Italians Vanessa Belardo, Pasquale del Vecchio, Andrea di Vito and Mario Alberti, and Spaniards Raul Allen and Javier Fernandez, as well as Belgian Alain Mauriset. They will lead an impressive artistic army of more than 50 creators, who will be staying in Herceg Novi in ​​September, and now include practically resident artists - William Simpson, Rufus Dayglo, Walter Venturi, Walter Trono, Drazen Kovacevic, Mirko Colak, Aleksa Gajic , Stevan Subic, as well as those who, since the first festival, have been at Herceg Novi comic book review and are considered an inseparable part of the HSF, Tihomir Tikulin, Vladimir Vesovic, Iztok Sitar.

Reminding us that 2019 is full of significant anniversaries from the comics world, this year's edition of the HSF will mark these crucial historic moments as 90 years since the release of Tin Tin, 80 years of Batman, 60 years of Asterix, 50 years of Alan Ford and 50 years of the most famous Balkan comic Dikan. In this context, lectures will be given by the legend of the comic strip creator, author of Dikan, Lazar Sredanovic, the great Montenegrin comic book theorist Luka Rakojevic, and famous comic book connoisseurs Moreno Buratini, Iztok Sitar, Vladimir Vesovic, Milko Peko, Zoran Stefanovic, Enis Cisic and many others. The lectures that will be held in the schools in Herceg Novi and established HSF locations, in addition to exhibitions, drawing for the fans, art workshops, concerts and posh HSF parties, are part of a full-day program that fills all six days of the celebration in Herceg Novi dedicated to the Ninth Art and all events are free of charge for all visitors.

Of course, HSF would not be one of the leading festivals in this part of Europe if it does not prepare every year some kind of top-notch surprise, so something is ready for this edition of HSF as well, and a list of top music makers, who will be part of the 13th edition of Herceg Novi manifestation dedicated to the ninth art will be announced shortly.

Text by CdM, on August 13th 2019, read more at CdM

On August 16 and 17, Kotor’s Cinema Square (Pjaci od kina) will host the second traditional craft beer festival “Špina”. The event will begin at 7 pm, running until 1 am.

Seven breweries will be participating, six from Montenegro and one from Serbia. This edition will welcome Fabrika Brewery from Risan, Mamut from Nikšić, Montenegro Brewing Company from Podgorica, Podgorica Pivo and Paun, both also from Podgorica, Beerhouse from Budva and Dogma from Serbia.

As the first Kotor craft beer festival was a great success and surpassed all expectations, Non-Governmental Organisation Citra had the challenge of being even better with the second edition. This year’s festival will be held over two evenings, with good music assured. The organisers guarantee good local beers and great fun.

On the first evening, 16th August, there will be performances from Selektor Deda and Rudolf band from Kolašin, and on 17th FM Mirda and Four Blues Drivers band will take to the stage. All lovers of good music and good beer are welcome.

Organisers are NGO Citra Kotor, with Kotor Tourist Organisation sponsoring. Lustica Bay is a Gold Sponsor, with other sponsorship from the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Vapor Printers Podgorica and Kotor Public Utility Company. Nikola Đurković Cultural Centre is noted as a friend of the festival.

Porto Montenegro and Belgrade-based M2C event management agency present the underwater exhibition by Montenegrin artist Luka Radojević. The exhibition has been set in the Tivat aquatorium, just off the island of Our Lady of Mercy. It has been realized due to cooperation between Porto Montenegro Company and M2C.

The concept of the sculptures for the underwater exhibition deals with time, as an abstract phenomenon in civilizational change.

The exhibition is dedicated to ancient sculpture, which is dominated by male and female torso inspired by ancient Greece and Rome. They also have implemented abstract elements reminiscent of the civilization of ancient Egypt in their geometric form and colour, as has been announced from Porto Montenegro.

“The ancient Greeks and later Rome paid great attention to the creation of portraits, male and female torso, and the idealization of the human body, and in fact, through modelling, brought it three-dimensionally closer to divine ideal proportions.

The best examples of ancient Greek sculpture have been preserved precisely thanks to the sea, as they were found at archeological sites at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea on ships that sank in ancient times, thus preserving important sculptures from that time. The bottom of the sea has kept the mystical secret of masterpieces for thousands of years. It is with the display of sculptures at the bottom of the sea that I, as an artist, wish to revive the mystical ancient times and to see our future through a vision of the past”, emphasizes artist Luka Radojević.

The exhibition will be staged until August 18th and can be enjoyed by all who come with diving equipment to Our Lady of Grace. Over 200 guests of Porto Montenegro and Regent Hotel, as well as the players of recently organized polo tournament in Tivat nautical resort, and many others, have been delighted with this extraordinary setting, it has been pointed out from Porto Montenegro.

13 August 2019 - There are several projects which are going to be carried out in Ulcinj, says President of the Municipality of Ulcinj Ljoro Nrekić. He announced the construction of salmon farming factory and said that they are currently looking for investors in the tourist complex on Mavrijan hill, near Valdanos, whose estimated value amounts to 1 billion EUR, as CdM reported.

Nrekić stated that he is proud of everything that has been achieved ever since he took over the president function. Financial consolidation was the most important task.

“We have settled all the debts we had,” said Nrkeić.

Numerous projects are set to be carried out in the southernmost Montenegrin municipality. One of them is the construction of a salmon factory. The preparation phase of the project is underway. The construction is expected to begin by the end of the year.

“This project is very important. The factory will be located in Port Milena. We also have the construction of an airport in Ulcinj. Cargo planes will be delivering salmon to Rome for distribution. Around 500 people would have jobs," stressed out Nrekić.

He firmly believes that local administration will find the investor in the construction of five-star tourist complex on Mavrijan hill.

“The complex will consist of bungalows, three hotels, and a casino hotel, marina with 147 berths. It would be a resort and it would definitely boost tourism in Ulcinj and Montenegro,” concluded Nrekić.

The tourist season brings satisfaction to the local administration in Ulcinj. Nrekić also added that there is no development without infrastructure. Works on the construction of water supply system will begin soon.

Read more news about business in Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.

13 August 2019 - The construction of the electric power infrastructure to power the future cable cars within the ski complex Cmiljača and Žarski began with the preparation for the installation of the 35/10 substation in Majstorovina in Bijelo Polje.

Prime Minister Duško Marković congratulated President of the Municipality Ranko Mišnić, President of the Municipal Assembly Dragomir Mrdak, members of the Municipal Assembly and citizens on the Municipality Day of Mojkovac - 12 August.

 "This year's holiday in Mojkovac is celebrated in the atmosphere of remarkable results of our country, both internally and externally. I am convinced that the citizens of Mojkovac recognise the efforts the Government is making to develop capital infrastructure and create the preconditions for more dynamic development and better quality of life for each individual. In addition to several other Government projects, the construction of the Žarski ski centre worth nearly 30 million euros will undoubtedly contribute to job creation and give impetus to the local economy," the Prime Minister's congratulatory message reads.

He added that the opportunity to emphasise that the special contribution to the success of our development vision is also provided by local management through a constructive relationship in addressing all outstanding issues in the best interests of citizens of Mojkovac.

"Recognising such efforts, the Government has increased the percentage of income tax concessions by amending the Law on Financing Local Self-Government, which will, among other things, increase the Mojkovac municipality's budget by more than half a million annually euros. I am sure that together we are on the path of overall progress which is quite obvious, I congratulate the citizens of Mojkovac once again on the municipal holiday," Prime Minister Duško Marković noted.

13 August 2019 - As part of the second call for proposals through the Adriatic-Ionian Transnational Program, the Tourist Organization of Herceg Novi has been granted 122.840 EUR for the implementation of the project WONDER - Child-friendly destinations.

The principal objective of the Project is to increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of destinations from the Adriatic-Ionian Region thanks to a child-friendly approach, aimed at improving the liveability of cities and the touristic offer (governance, environment and services) through the development of new participatory methods. The Project WONDER will tackle: the collaboration between tourism and other related sectors, the development of participative models through greater involvement of children, the private sector and civil society, the support towards sustainable tourism and raising awareness campaigns.

WONDER supports new touristic offers addressed to children and families through the creation of a transnational network of child-friendly destinations, aimed at the sustainability of the tourism sector based on new and innovative participatory methods.

The leading partner of the project is the Municipality of Fano - Italy, and the partners in the project, except the Tourist Organization of Herceg Novi are: Municipality of Cervia - Italy; Velenje Municipality and Novo Mesto Development Centre - Slovenia; Municipality of Western Achaia and Municipality of Preveza - Greece; Observatory for Children and Youth Rights - Albania; City of Novigrad and the Development Agency of the City of Dubrovnik - Croatia.

The project will last for 24 months and will be funded under the second priority of the program (2.1) "Sustainable Region". On the second call of the Adriatic-Ionian Transnational Program, within the priorities of 2.1, for which TOHN applied, support was requested for 125 projects, from which 13 was approved for funding.

Read more about the reasons you should visit the coastline of Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.

Art in Croatia and its cultural connection with Montenegro, especially with the area of ​​Boka Kotorska and Tivat will be the subject of the next exhibition in Summerhouse Buća in Tivat.

Tivat Museum and Gallery continues its art program, worthy of the attention of the professional and wider public, which began last year with the exhibition "Towards Nature", it has been announced from this house of art.

It encourages the maintenance of a cultural manifestation that aims to educate the general public about modern art in Croatia, as well as its relations with Boka Kotorska.

A special opportunity for this in the newly renovated and decorated Tivat Gallery, situated in the Summerhouse Buća will be provided from 16 August to 6 September at the exhibition "The Art Correlations of Tivat and Zagreb".

The works of three renowned visual artists will be presented then, which through extremely mature and very current approaches to painting expression confirm individual relationships to the world in which we live. The artwork of Zagreb painters Lea Popinac (1981) and Pavle Pavlovic (1983), as well as Momcilo Macanovic (1966) from Tivat, will be presented to the audience.

All three artists work in oil painting technique, which they use in different ways, expressing figuratively (Macanovic and Pavlovic) in the pursuit of realistic or objectless. (Popinjac).

It is worth pointing out that the visitors will be able to get an immediate glimpse not only individually into their works, but also with a collective insight investigating whether they complement (and how) their expressions when they are put together (as is the case in this collective exhibition).

The exhibition, organized by the Museum and Gallery Tivat, will open on Friday, August 16 at 9 pm. Jelena Bujišić, director and curator of the gallery, in professional cooperation with curator Nevenka Sarcevic from Zagreb will participate in the event. This art event and the stay of two painters in Boka Kotorska is supported by the Municipality of Tivat and Vice President Ilija Janovic.

We want the Tivat audience to recognize the interest and value of these cultural events for both the art scene and the city of Tivat itself, it is concluded in the announcement by Museum and Gallery Tivat.

On August 9, at St. Spirit church, leading international artists Yuja Wang and Andreas Ottensamer held their second concert within the XVIII KotorArt Don Branko Music Days. With their carefully selected program, they evoked a wide variety of emotions in the audience, playing compositions of different epochs and composers. What was familiar and evident in their playing was the perfection of the performance, the symbiosis of the sound and the presence at the given moment.

Performing multiple times in an encore accompanied by a 20-minute standing ovation from the audience justified the superlatives used along with their name. Recognized for her unique blend of technical bravura of musical deliberation and emotional depth, the pianist, Yuja Wang, has performed several compositions during and after the program. With each performance, the reactions were louder, the enthusiasm did not wane, both from the audience and the artist. As a result, an agreement was reached on performances in Montenegro next year. The concert was attended by Ambassador of China to Montenegro, Liu Jin, Mayor of the capital, Ivan Vukovic, and President of one of China's largest concert agencies, Jianguo Zheng.

The last week of the Festival and this peak of artistic music, featuring Narek Hahnazarjan, Roman Simovic, Blythe Tech-Engstrem, Simon Crawford Phillips, Milena Simovic, as well as Yuja Wang and Andreas Ottensamer, were also covered by regional media who were staying in Kotor. Journalists from Serbia and Croatia are delighted with the program, the organizing team and Kotor, which over time has become for Montenegro what Dubrovnik Summer Games are for Croatia. 

Text by CdM, on Agust 10th 2019, read more at CdM

The team BC “Val” is the winner of the fifth edition of the championship in “bocce” (bowling) at Orjensko sedlo (1600 m), which brought together eight teams from all three Boka Bay municipalities.

Second place went to BC “Meljine”. Third place went to BC "Bijela". The teams "Subra", BC “Palma”, BC “Jadran” and two teams BC “Bahus” participated.

The dominance of teams from Herceg Novi continued in a new discipline, which was introduced, where Djuro Milanovic (BC Val) triumphed. Second was Niko Stjepcevic, a member of BC Palma from Tivat, and third place was won by Dario Serovic (BC Val). The event started by paying tribute to the tragically passed away Montenegrin mountaineer, Milan Radovic. The organizer and host was the Mountaineering Club Subra, and the technical organizer was the “bowling” club “Val”.

Championship in “Buce” at Orjensko Sedlo (Photo: MC Subra)

“As much as the importance of the sporting component of the event is, what drives participants to go to one of the most remote and isolated places in our hinterland every year is not just competition, but mountain nature and socializing. In Orjensko sedlo, the natural conditions for summer bocce are more than favorable, and with the restoration of the filed for “buce” (zog) in 2015, the conditions for nurturing this sport discipline were again created, but even more so for the return of bocce as part of the former way of life, characteristic of the entire Adriatic coast and its hinterland," the organizers said.

Text by Slavica Kosic, on August 12th 2019, read more at Vijesti

Last night, with the program "Piazza of Jazz" and the last performance within the series of jazz concerts, completed the entire program of the international KotorArt festival. Over 46 festival days of this year's edition, more than 1500 artists from 25 countries participated and performed more than 300 programs - 53 major and over 250 supporting ones.

The festival is sponsored by the Municipality of Kotor and the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro, as well as with the support of important friends and sponsors - Coca-Cola, Lustica Bay, Porto Montenegro, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, the Hungarian Embassy in Montenegro, the Tourist Organization of Kotor, Huma, Junus Emre Institute, Accion cultural Espanola and many other partners. In this way, the festival provides almost 40% of the total budget through sponsorships, donations, and its own funds. Media partners of the festival are RTCG and Pobjeda, and media friends are all major media in Montenegro.

KotorArt is grateful to patrons, artists, audiences, all sponsors, friends as well as media partners for their outstanding cooperation and broadcast of all program activities.

Participants in this year's edition of the festival came from Montenegro, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia, Slovenia, Hungary, USA, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Spain, Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Luxembourg, Armenia, Turkey, Israel, China and Russia.

This year's edition of the festival took place from June 27 to August 11 at numerous locations in Kotor and across Boka Bay through four program units: XVIII KotorArt Festival Klapa Perast, XXVII KotorArt Kotor Festival of Children's Theater, XVIII KotorArt Don Branko Music Days and IX KotorArt Philosopher's square.

XVIII KotorArt Klapa Perast Festival hosted female, male and mixed klapa groups from Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina who competed in different categories. The jury was composed of Mojmir Cacija - president, Zlata Marjanovic, Mario Katavic, Zorana Larkovic, Marina Dulovic, Jasminko Setka and Vladimir Begovic.

In the category of best female klapa, according to the expert jury, the winners were the Lusa klapa from Split. In the category of best male group, the winners were the group Conra, also from Split. The New Klapa Song Award went to author Marko Šimić for his song “Love” by Lusa, performed by the Klapa Lusa from Split. Also, as part of the Hungarian Culture Week event, the concert was also held by a Capella band Fool Moon from Hungary.

XXVII KotorArt Festival for Children's Theater was held under the slogan "Trip to the Moon". From 01 to 12 July, Kotor was a city of children, and the children had the opportunity to attend performances from many countries, workshops and panels. This year, the 27th in a row, the Kotor Festival of Children's Theater marked as many as 24 plays within the theater program. During the 12 festival days, 16 performances were performed in this part of the program, of which there were 12 premieres and 4 shows. A total of 109 programs were realized at the Festival.

IX KotorArt Philosopher's Square was held on August 10 and 11, entitled "How to Think of Refuge". The editor of this year's Piazza was Paula Petricevic, a philosopher, activist, feminist, Master of Political Science. Carna Brkovic's lectures were presented on this topic through the thesis "Humanitarianism as a Politics of Citizenship" and a lecture by Adriana Zaharijevic with the topic "We refugees: A life that cannot be lived".

XVIII KotorArt Don Branko's days of music marked the 40th anniversary of the devastating earthquake in 1979, as well as placing on the UNESCO list of the world's heritage through orders and performing new works. The concerts are divided into several series: Top Art Music, where this year we could once again hear the very top of the world stage, such as Yuja Wang, Andreas Ottensamer, Narek Hahnazarjan, Blythe Teh-Engstrem, Roman Simovic and many others; then the Coca-Coca Stage, where music and popular music intertwined with concerts dedicated to Oliver Dragojevic, but also those of Massimo Savic and Sergej Cetkovic with the orchestra of young talents; Jazz Market, a series of 5 Sunday jazz concerts at the Museum of Kotor Market in Kotor; KotorArt Talents, a platform for young, successful artists strongly supported by the Festival; as well as the Port of Art, perhaps the favorite series of Kotor caterers, passers-by and tourists, performances by various ensembles in the squares in the Old Town. 

In addition to the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, we also listened to two Festival Orchestra concerts, the RTS Grand Jazz Orchestra, the No Borders Orchestra and many other bands. KotorArt was also an important partner in the implementation of the Hungarian Culture Week program in Montenegro and hosted the directors of major festivals from Verbier and Shanghai. According to preliminary estimates, the Festival's main and supporting programs were attended by more than 40 thousand visitors.

Photo credit: Duško Miljanić, Krsto Vulović

Text by CdM, on August 13th, 2019, read more at CdM