Belgrade to host 42nd International Film Festival
Baku, February 28 (AZERTAC). The 42nd International Film Festival “FEST”, to be held from February 28 to March 9 in Belgrade, will feature 75 films from around the world, organizers announced.
FEST will open at the Sava Center with the premiere of Serbian “So Hot Was the Cannon” (“Top je bio vreo”) directed by Boban Skerlic, and close with the Cannes winner, Abdellatif Kechiche`s “Blue is the Warmest Color”.
The films in this year`s Fest will be shown in several programs - “Main Program” showcases festival winners, Oscar winners and nominees, and films by famous authors, “Hollywood” features American mainstream cinema, “Europe” shows films produced and co-produced in the EU, and “World Film Panorama” presents works of cinematic art from far-off countries.
Films from Scandinavia and Russia will be “In Focus” this year, and other Fest programs include “Fest presents” and “Fest party”, with “Duran Duran: Unstaged”, concert film directed by David Lynch.
The only competitive program of the Belgrade`s festival, “Europe out of Europe”, will show six films that do not fall under the European mainstream but are under great influence of Europe - coming from Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia, Norway, Israel and Macedonia.
The decision on the award (and a monetary prize of EUR 2,000) will be made by an international jury consisting of Serbian director Goran Markovic, German film critic Klaus Eder and Croatian critic and author Tomislav Kurelec.
The screenings will take place at various locations across Belgrade - Sava Center, Dom omladine, Dvorana kulturnog centra, Dom sindikata and movie theater Fontana, and all will be in the digital DSP format.
The Belgrade International Film Festival (FEST) gained cult status during the time when it did not yet contain a competitive element.
An important feature of FEST all these years was its openness to films from all parts of the world, as well as to all relevant authors and works that would never have the opportunity to be shown in cinemas.
Since its inception, FEST has always had its main program, along with a few accompanying ones, whose quality often exceeded the expectations put in the name “accompanying”. There were also many “accompanying” publications, exhibitions and symposiums held during the Festival. Nevertheless, the central event always was and remains the main program, followed by the competition program “Europe out of Europe”, which has been in existence for the last couple of years.
To date, FEST boasts four million visitors and almost 4000 relevant international films, which have had their Yugoslav/Serbian and often regional premiere on the Festival!
Although FEST was created more than 40 years ago, it continues to fulfill its cultural and educational role with the same energy in extending the horizons of all film amateurs.