This evening, on March 5th at 6:30 PM, the closing ceremony of the 45th FEST took place in the Great Hall of Sava Centre.
Young actress Dragana Mićalović wished the audience welcome to the final evening of the Festival, which had been celebrating motion pictures of our dreams all these days! The Belgrade audience had the opportunity to see films in three competition programmes, 95 regional, Balkan and Eastern European premiers, and among the first on the planet.
The audience then had the opportunity to see the short video overview of the previous nine days of film in Belgrade, after which they were addressed by the Art Director of FEST, Jugoslav Pantelić, who proudly said with a smile that this evening's screening of the film "Silence" was the 371st screening at this year's FEST. He thanked the guests, jury, audience, the team and the sponsors, and let Dragana Mićalović adress the audience again.
This year in the Main Competition Programme of the 45th FEST, featuring international films, we had the opportunity to see 15 films coming from 12 countries. The films in the framework of this programme competed for the prestigious Belgrade Victor Award.
The Jury of the Main Competition Programme of the 45th FEST consisted of:
SRDAN GOLUBOVIĆ, film director, Presedent of the Jury
SERGEJ TRIFUNOVIĆ, actor
BRANKA KATIĆ, actress
ČEDOMIR KOLAR, producer
DALIBOR MATANIĆ, film director and producer
Srdan Golubović adressed the audience saying how wonderful it was that Sava Centre was packed and said that for him that represented true FEST. This Festival keeps not only film memories, he said, but also brings out our emotions and pointed to the fact that out of all the festivals this one is by far the most important Belgrade festival.
Belgrade Victor for Best Film:
QUIT STARING AT MY PLATE, (directed by: Hana Jušić, Croatia / Denmark)
Hana Jušić and Ankica Jurić Tilić arrived from Croatia to receive the award and addressed the audience, giving thanks to the Festival. Producer Ankica Jurić Tilić said she was immensely pleased that the film was well received by the Belgrade audience, and pointed out that it was an honor to be a part of the programme that included 15 films from around the world. She finished by saying how invaluable it is to be the Belgrade Victress, and that is how she and director Hana Jušić felt at that moment.
Other awards of the Main Competition Programme:
Jury Award: HEARTHSTONE (directed by Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson), Denmark / Iceland
Best Director: THE STUDENT (directed by Kirill Serebrennikov), Russia
Best Screenplay: SUNTAN (directed by Argyris Papadimitropoulos), Greece / Germany
Best Actress: ARIJANA ČULINA in the film QUIT STARING AT MY PLATE (directed by Hana Jušić), Croatia
Best Actor: PYOTR SKVORTSOV in the film THE STUDENT, Russia
Best Debut: HEARTHSTONE (directed by Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson), Denmark / Iceland
FRONTIERS PROGRAMME
The second competition programme of this year’s FEST is the FRONTIERS PROGRAMME, established at FEST in 2015. Eight subversive films were shown within this programme coming from South Korea, Austria, Poland, France, Italy, Iran, Mexico and the United States. Selector of the Frontiers Programme was Serbian director MLADEN ĐORĐEVIĆ. This year’s Jury awarded one special prize beside the NIN Award.
The members of the Jury that decided upon the best film within the Frontiers Programme were: SAŠA RADOJEVIĆ, a screenwriter, director and the President of the Jury, DRAGAN JOVIĆEVIĆ, a journalist and a writer, LUKA BURSAĆ, a film director.
Saša Radojević thanked the audience and pointed out that this programme discovered new fields, and that within it lied the essence of FEST: Brave New World and spaces of freedom.
The NIN Award in the Frontiers category went to:
“ROCCO” (directed byThierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai)
The audience had a chance to see the video footage of the two directors who thanked for the award and said how sorry they were that they had to leave FEST early due to the film shooting.
The Special Jury Award of the Frontiers Programme was handed to:
“UNDER THE SHADOW” (directed by Babak Anvari)
The decision on the winner of the Milutin Čolić Politika Award was made by the following members of the Jury:
GORAN RADOVANOVIĆ, a director, screenwriter and producer, DUBRAVKA LAKIĆ, a film critic, DARA DŽOKIĆ, a stage and film actress
Dubravka Lakić addressed the audience and conveyed greetings from the rest of the Jury, reminding that, by giving the award "Milutin Čolić ", "Politika" wants to contribute to the stimulation of the progress of Serbian film and local authors, support the domestic film industry and its development as well as better positioning within the European co-productions. She announced the film after reading the explanation, and Iva Čolić, the younger granddaughter of Milutin Čolić, awarded the prize to the director Bojan Vuletić, for the film "REQUIEM FOR MRS. J." Bojan Vuletić thanked the Jury, the Festival and the entire cast and crew of the film.
We remind you that yesterday evening Bojan Vuletić won the award for Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay within the Serbian Film Selection at the 45th FEST.
Nebojša Đukelić Award, from the Fond “Nebojša Đukelić”, is presented to the best film from the region. The members of the Jury comprised:
NEVENA DAKOVIĆ, a film professor and theorist from Serbia, IGOR MIRKOVIĆ, a television journalist and director from Croatia, ALEKSANDAR ERDELJANOVIĆ, the Director of the Yugoslav Film Archive from Serbia.
Nebojša Đukelić Prize was awarded to NIGHTLIFE (directed by Damjan Kozole), and the prize was handed by Nevena Daković to the director of the film. Kozole thanked the Selector for allowing him to be a part of FEST, then thanked the Jury which gave the award to the small film about the great dilemma and stressed how much he was glad that he won the award that bears the name of his deceased friend.
FEDEORA Award, of the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and Mediterranean, was presented by the Jury consisting of: Radovan Holub, the President of the Jury, Maja Bogojević, a film theorist, Tomislav Šakić, a film critic.
The award for Best Film in the International Selection: THE STUDENT - DIRECTOR: KIRILL SEREBRENNIKOV
The award for Best Film in the Domestic Selection: TRAIN DRIVER'S DIARY - DIRECTOR: MILOŠ RADOVIĆ
The final award in the competition selection was the Audience Award presented by the Company “GORKI LIST”. THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER FILM ACCORDING TO THE AUDIENCE is PATERSON (directed by Jim Jarmusch), and was handed by Mr. Vojin Đorđević. He stressed that this award marks the new chapter og FEST, and that Gorki List was honored to be a part of it. The award on behalf of MegaCom Film was received by Jelena Marković, who thanked the audience.
At the end, the host Dragana Mićalović reminded the guests of the good news to all the film lovers - to its faithful audience, FEST offers one more festival day, Monday, March 6th - PostFESTum! Another day of FEST awaits from the Cultural Centre of Belgrade Movie Theatre, Belgrade Youth Centre, Cineplexx, to the Fontana and of course Sava Centre and films such as: “Quit Staring at My Plate”, “Manchester by the Sea”, “On the Body and Soul”, “The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez“, “The Handmaiden” and others.
