THE 56TH BELGRADE DOCUMENTARY
AND SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
30th March to 03rd April 2009Belgrade Cultural Centre Cinema, Cinema Balkan, Yugoslav Film Archive and Terazije Theatre
56th Shorts Closed
After the awards ceremony and declaration of the winner, the Festival was closed by Adrian Wills, the author of the film „All together now“, to be screened three times in the DKC on Saturday – on 18,20 and 22h. Stressing that it was his first time in Belgrade and that he liked the city very much, Wills said that he enjoyed the films of this year’s Festival, but also the people and that he wished the Festival to last for another 56 years.... More...
JURY DECISION ON AWARDED FILMS
THE GOLDEN PLAQUE BELGRADE for the best film of International Competition and the prize in the amount of 2.000,00 euros goes to film: Once Upon a Time, There Was Zina by Aleksandar Belobokov.... More...
The FIPRESCI SERBIA Award
The Jury of the Critic FIPRESCI SERBIA comprising: Dusan Vukic, Chairman (Zeleznicke novine) and members Vladimir Andjelkovic (Foto-kino informator) and Marjan Vujovic (Yugoslav Film Archive) has adopted the unanimous decision on the awards on the 56th Festival of Documentary and Short Film: the award for best domestic film goes to Igor Toholj for the documentary film BREAKING POINT.... More...
Award of the Serbian branch of FIPRESCI
The Jury of Serbian branch of FIPRESCI, which on the 56th Festival of Documentary and Short Film worked in the composition: Chairman Maja Volk; Nikola Majdak and Dragan Jovicevic, has adopted the unanimous decision to extend the Award of the Public for best domestic engaged documentary film to the film BREAKING POINT by M. Toholj.... More...
The Jovan Acin Award of the Film Artists Association of Serbia
In the framework of the 56th Festival of Documentary and Short Film, the Jury of the Film Artists Association of Serbia, who has the honor this year to extend the Jovan Acin Award, has comprised Sava Trifkovic, Miodrag Novakovic and Chairman Sava Acin.... More...
Adrian Wills, author of “All Together Now”
The film All Together Now (which will be shown on April 4th in the Cultural Center at 18h and 22h in the special program “The Day After”, from the travelling collection of UNAFF, is the story about the cooperation between the “Cirque du Soleil” troop, that has resulted in the creation and operation of a theatre production entitled “Love” in the Mirage of Las Vegas. ... More...
Oded Binun author of the film “Paradise Lost”
One of the two authors of “Paradise Lost” Oded Binun is a guest of the Festival, which has screened his last film, which he has made with colleague Michal Bresis. In his words, the two of them met on the Faculty in Jerusalem, where they studied together and did all their projects together. “I can’t imagine doing things differently”, says Binun laughing.... More...
Muayad Mussa Alayan, author of the film “Why, Sabreen?”
Muayad Mussa Alayan, author of the film “Why, Sabreen?”. “Why, Sabreen?” is a film dealing with the issues of young Palestinians in Jerusalem. The film is a collection of stories, some of which I have experienced myself, which have happened to my friends and people I know. When I started writing the script and putting these stories together, I felt the urge to tell these stories from the viewpoint of youth.... More...
Laurent Denis, author of the film «Feet»
The guest of this year’s documentary and shorts festival is Laurent Denis, the author of the film „Feet“. „There is one scene in the film when the old man is cleaning the in betweens of his leg fingers, that is something I often do when I take my socks away (laughs) and I think that this shot was my first inspiration. The second thing I wanted to say about the society we are living in: from the moment we are born, they are trying to sell us something.... More...
Johan Kuhn, author of the film “Exit”
On this year’s Festival of documentary and short film, Johan Kuhn presented himself with his film “Exit”. It’s a story about a man who is forced, after having lost his job, to leave his home and the environment that was hitherto familiar to him.... More...
Andrea Lodovichetti: Under my Garden
The film “Under My Garden” (Sotto Il Mio Giardino) is the story about a boy who thinks that his neighbor has killed his wife and that the body is buried in the garden; he begins to investigate with his friend he has a crush on, Sara.... More...
Kosta Djordjevic: Passаge
In the scope of the domestic competition program of this year’s Festival, the film “Passage” by young director Kosta Djordjevic will be screened. Mr. Djordjevic says that it has been a while since he wanted to make a one shot film, as well as that he has thought of a possible story to correspond to such a film. “I was always attracted by stories in which the main character needs to choose between a girl, namely love, and something else. ... More...
Petra Lataster, author of the film “If We Knew”
The film “If We Knew” describes the struggle for survival waged by newborn children on the University Clinic in Groningen. These are children born with problems or incurable illnesses and whose lives must be forcibly terminated. Religious groups have accused pediatricians of using Nazi style methods. Reexamining the moral code of pediatricians, as well as the possibility to make such radical decisions, Peter and Petra Lataster made this film. Mrs. Lataster is a guest of our festival.... More...
Daniel Howald and Chantal Milles, the authors of the film “My Mother`s Death”
Twenty years after the death of her mother, Chantal Milles returns home, to her brothers and sisters who had long remained silent about that event, pretending as it had never happened. They can’t remain silent anymore… She translated this story into a film, with the help of her colleague Daniel Howald.... More...
Father Morgana
Where is the Motherland? The projections of this year’s Festival of Documentary and Short Film started with a block of films, comprising „Father Morgana“ by young director Sinisa Vidovic, a graduate of the Faculty of Arts in Linz, the Film and Video Department. The film speaks of a group of pensioners with different backgrounds, who are meeting everyday in a park in Linz.... More...
NY 6 Hours Behind
A City of Energy and Challenges A special segment of the 56th Festival of Documentary and Short Film in Belgrade will be “NY 6 Hours Behind”, comprising several films explaining the phenomenon of this city. The program’s name is based on the same-named documentary by Dragana Kanjevac, which will open the said program at 22h in the Cultural Center. This program will see, in the following three days, the films “City” by Vladan Nikolic, a Belgrade based director with a longstanding working experience in New York City, as well as the cycle of films of Ari Gold, one of the most... More...
The case of Dada Vujasinovic – A special projection on the Festival
Special projections of the 56th Festival of Documentary and Short Film will include a film dealing with the case of Dada Vujasinovic, entitled “Sister”, by Nenad Krasavac. The film deals with the unexplained and suspicious circumstances of the death of Belgrade reporter Dada Vujasinovic, who has published all her texts in the weekly Duga. She had covered the war in the former Yugoslavia from the very beginning, starting with the first rallies in Bosnia and Krajina in 1990-91, to the battlefronts in Slavonia and the beginning of the war in Sarajevo, when she decided to stop going to the... More...
The 56th Belgrade Festival of Short Film Opened
With the placing of Krsto Skanata’s star in front of the Balkan Cinema and the extension of the life achievement award to Mica Milosevic, the 56th Belgrade Festival of Short Film was opened on Monday evening. At the beginning, a minute of silence was observed in remembrance of the recently deceased film critic, theoretician and author Ranko Munitic, who was also a collaborator of the Festival. ... More...
Welcome to the 56th Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival, one of the oldest European festivals of this kind!
This year there were more than 500 submitted films!
Welcome to our regular, national and international competitive programmes – documentary, short fiction, experimental and animated!
This year, international experimental films will not compete. Instead, please visit our cinematic laboratory, the special programme LAB - devoted to avant-garde and experimental cinema.
Absolutely do not miss the day after – Saturday, 04 April – the film ALL TOGETHER NOW, documentary on the band THE BEATLES – the Belgrade premiere in presence of the film director, Adrian Wills.
My Heroe, a special programme of five documentaries, with its main characters, people devoted to helping others, takes us to India, Pakistan, Iran, Russia and Ukraine. The Latino Coktail is a hot and exciting mix of five docs that tell political and social stories on Latin America.
We are proud to present a cycle of films by Ari Gold, New York based filmmaker who will also be a member of the jury. Please also welcome our other guests, filmmakers from: Palestine, Israel, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, The Nederlands, Italy, Great Britain and other countries from Europe and the region.
The festival will also screen: The NEW LIGHT/ NOVA SVETLOST – new media festival, PRIX UIP – the best shorts according to the European Film Academy, films from FID Marseille, 18 Finnish short animated films within the programme LAW OF NATURE… Also: special screenings, workshops, meetings and many, many more!
Have a nice festival!