This evening in the Great Hall of Sava Centre at 7 PM, before the premiere of REQUIEM FOR MRS. J., a certain number of this year’s FEST awards have been presented: Industry Programme Fest Forward Awards and awards within the national selection Serbian Film.
The host Irena Jovanović addressed the audience and wished them welcome, reminding them that there were 7 films competing in the Serbian Film Programme: ALL THE CITIES OF THE NORTH, THE SAMURAI IN AUTUMN, TRAIN DRIVER'S DIARY, THE WIND, INCARNATION and two premieres, REQUIEM FOR MRS. J. and AFTERPARTY. All of these films were in competition for the awards sponsored by the Film Center Serbia.
Before this year's award ceremony began, the artistic director of FEST, Jugoslav Pantelić, addressed the large audience. He first requested a moment of silence in memory of the late director, Lazar Stojanović, who was brave, as Pantelić pointed out, when it was necessary to be brave. He thanked for the large attendance and interest in all of the FEST programmes. He also reminded that tomorrow on March 5th at 6:30 PM is the closing ceremony of FEST, when the remaining prizes will be awarded: Gorki list Audience Award, Fedeora Award, Nebojša Đukelić Award, Milutin Čolić Politika Award, Frontiers Programme Awards, Main Competition Programme Awards.
The host Irena Jovanović pointed out that the Industry Programme called Fest Forward is a part of FEST for the third time, which focuses on fiction and documentary projects for feature films in all stages of development. The prize is awarded in two selections: the national selection, in which only projects from Serbia could participate, and international selection Women in Film, in collaboration with the International Network of Women in Film EWA, within which projects dealing with strong women's issues, or whose authors are women participate.
For this year's FEST Forward, 82 projects in two selections were submitted, 9 of which were selected for the national selection and 8 projects for the international selection. The award-winner in the NATIONAL SELECTION is the film THE WITCH HUNTERS / ZLOGONJE directed by Raško Miljković. The award was presented by the President of the Jury, Mrs. Raffaella Delvecchio. The winner of the INTERNATIONAL SELECTION “WOMEN IN FILM” is the film FORTNIGHT directed by Agnieszka Woszczynska, and Mrs. Suzanne Pradel, a spokeswoman of EWA association, presented her with the award.
The Jury of the national selection SERBIAN FILM consisted of:
KSENIJA MARINKOVIĆ, Croatian actress - President of the Jury;
MIROSLAV MOMČILOVIĆ, director and screenwriter;
SLOBODAN SKERLIĆ, director and screenwriter;
JEAN MARC BARR, French actor;
HRVOJE HRIBAR, Croatian writer, director and producer.
The president of the Jury Ksenija Marinković addressed the audience with an explanation, and then the host announced that the BEST DEBUT award went to AFTERPARTY directed by Luka Bursać. The award was presented by Hrvoje Hribar. The awards ceremony continued:
The award for BEST ACTOR went to LAZAR RISTOVSKI in the film TRAIN DRIVER'S DIARY, and was handed by Ksenija Marinkovic.
The award for BEST ACTRESS went to MIRJANA KARANOVIĆ in the film REQUIEM FOR MRS. J., presented by Jean-Marc Barr.
The award for BEST SCREENPLAY went to BOJAN VULETIĆ for the film REQUIEM FOR MRS. J. and was presented by Slobodan Skerlić.
The award for BEST DIRECTOR also went to BOJAN VULETIĆ for the film REQUIEM FOR MRS. J. and was handed by Hrvoje Hribar.
The JURY AWARD went to the film THE WIND by Tamara Drakulić, and was handed by Miroslav Momcilović.
THE BELGRADE VICTOR FOR BEST FILM went to REQUIEM FOR MRS. J. directed by Bojan Vuletić and produced by Nenad Dukić. The director and producer were presented with the award by Ksenija Marinković.
The winning film REQUIEM FOR MRS. J. by the Serbian director Bojan Vuletić, his second feature film, premiered after the ceremony. REQUIEM FOR MRS. J. was shown at the recent festival in Berlin, where it received positive reviews. Starring in the film are: Mirjana Karanović, Srđan - Žika Todorović, Boris Isaković, Jovana Gavrilović.
