Although it was originally planned that this year's festival runs until 4th
March, just couple of days before the opening, the organizers cheered all film
fans with the news that 2012 edition will last one day longer - it will be FEST
encore. The last day is reserved for the premiere of the French romantic comedy
The Artist, directed by Michel Hazanavicius. This film won five Golden Globe awards
and ten Oscar nominations; and the story is set in Hollywood 1927 - featuring
Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo and John Goodman in lead roles
The
40th Anniversary edition of the International Film Festival FEST with the parole
XL - Among the greats was opened on 24th February in Belgrade. During
the 11 days of the festival, Belgrade audience will be watching around 75 international
and domestic films within the main program and around 30 in the retrospective
and homage sections.
This year's film projections are held in Sava Center,
Dom Omladine, Belgrade Cultural Centre and the Yugoslav Film Archive, and the
program is organized in six categories - Main program, Hollywood, World Film
Panorama, Europe out of Europe, Europe in Europe and Selected documentaries.
The film that opened this year's festival is The Tree of Life (starring
Brad Pitt and Sean Penn), directed by Terrence Malick, who won Golden Palm in
Cannes last year; and the festival itself was opened by famous Hollywood director
from Serbia, Peter Bogdanovich and Jiri Mencl, Czech Oscar winner.
With more
than symbolic parole, FEST is again an event that Belgrade people do not miss
in February, because after 40 festivals held in 42 years, FEST is still one
of the most precious cultural institutions of the country. The topics that
have inspired filmmakers (who were nominated for prestigious awards at all international
film festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, Karlovy Vary, Rotterdam and
Manheim) during last year were modern world, loneliness, quest for love, betrayal...
As FEST every year brings something different, 2012 edition presents actors that
were behind the camera this time. Some of them are The Tree of Life by
Terrence Malick, Melancholia by Lars Von Trier, J. Edgar by Clint
Eastwood, We Have a Pope by Nanni Moretti, The Skin I Live In by
Pedro Almodovar, Carnage by Roman Polanski and many others.
Two
Serbian films will be also showed this year. Top je bio vreo (So Hot Was the
Canon) - directed by Slobodan Skerlić (based on the novel of Vladimir Kecmanović)
- is the anti-war drama about a boy growing up in torn Sarajevo. Slavko Štimac,
Sergej Trifunović i Bojana Maljević are just some of around 50 actors from Serbia,
Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina who tried to offer different view on war and
life in a town under siege. The second Serbian film is Doctor Ray and the
Devils who will close the festival. This is biography with elements of comedy
directed by Dinko Tucaković which follows the story of famous director Nicholas
Ray, who were invited by the director of Avala Film Ratko Dražević to spend several
years in Belgrade (1963-67). In 93 minutes the director tried to depict Hollywood
in the Balkan style and the glamour of Belgrade 60s.
Beside those mentioned above, this year's FEST presents two more programs -
Britannica and Canada, as well as the retrospective of movies
directed by Peter Bogdanovich and Jiri Mencl. For all documentaries fans, two
more films will be shown: Plašim se da li se sve razume directed by Puriša
Đorđević, as well as short film Zalet co-financed by the FEST Directorate
and directed by Miroslav Stamatov.
Since this is the 40th Anniversary
edition of the international film festival, special attention will be devoted
to the anniversary. On that occasion, the monograph of FEST history will be issued;
there will be also opened an exhibition as a tribute to the people who ran the
festival and those who were guests of FEST.
The
40th Anniversary edition of the International Film Festival FEST with the parole
XL - Among the greats was opened on 24th February in Belgrade. During
the 11 days of the festival, Belgrade audience will be watching around 75 international
and domestic films within the main program and around 30 in the retrospective
and homage sections.
With more
than symbolic parole, FEST is again an event that Belgrade people do not miss
in February, because after 40 festivals held in 42 years, FEST is still one
of the most precious cultural institutions of the country. The topics that
have inspired filmmakers (who were nominated for prestigious awards at all international
film festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, Karlovy Vary, Rotterdam and
Manheim) during last year were modern world, loneliness, quest for love, betrayal...
As FEST every year brings something different, 2012 edition presents actors that
were behind the camera this time. Some of them are The Tree of Life by
Terrence Malick, Melancholia by Lars Von Trier, J. Edgar by Clint
Eastwood, We Have a Pope by Nanni Moretti, The Skin I Live In by
Pedro Almodovar, Carnage by Roman Polanski and many others.
Two
Serbian films will be also showed this year. Top je bio vreo (So Hot Was the
Canon) - directed by Slobodan Skerlić (based on the novel of Vladimir Kecmanović)
- is the anti-war drama about a boy growing up in torn Sarajevo. Slavko Štimac,
Sergej Trifunović i Bojana Maljević are just some of around 50 actors from Serbia,
Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina who tried to offer different view on war and
life in a town under siege. The second Serbian film is Doctor Ray and the
Devils who will close the festival. This is biography with elements of comedy
directed by Dinko Tucaković which follows the story of famous director Nicholas
Ray, who were invited by the director of Avala Film Ratko Dražević to spend several
years in Belgrade (1963-67). In 93 minutes the director tried to depict Hollywood
in the Balkan style and the glamour of Belgrade 60s.
Beside those mentioned above, this year's FEST presents two more programs -
Britannica and Canada, as well as the retrospective of movies
directed by Peter Bogdanovich and Jiri Mencl. For all documentaries fans, two
more films will be shown: Plašim se da li se sve razume directed by Puriša
Đorđević, as well as short film Zalet co-financed by the FEST Directorate
and directed by Miroslav Stamatov.