FEST – film festival with long tradition

This article was developed within the program Venture an Idea funded by the USAID.

FEST is an international film festival with cult status in the region and entire Europe. This year’s 50th-anniversary edition with the slogan New. Brave. World. will show a great number of relevant films that would have their subsequent theatre distribution, but also many films that you will be able to see at one of the festival screenings exclusively. For Belgrade residents, FEST is not just a film festival, but also a cultural event of utmost importance. For Belgrade, FEST involves a special spirit that overwhelms the entire city. We suggest a few films that you will be able to see at the festival only, and a couple of Serbian entries. Don’t hesitate, come to the FEST. 

CONFESSIONS OF THE FELIX KRULL is a film version of Thomas Mann’s novel of the same name, directed by Detlev Buck, who also adapted the novel for the screen. Paris, at the start of the 20th century. Felix Krull, a handsome young man, has an extraordinary ability to transform and adapt in order to get ahead. While working at a luxury hotel, he seizes every opportunity to improve his station. But, when he becomes entangled in the love triangle, where he sees his greatest opportunity for advancement. 

Documentary feature film OLEG reveals the incredible life story of Oleg Vidov, born in communist Russia. By the age of 25, Oleg had become one of the Soviet Union’s most celebrated actors of his time. However, no amount of fame could save him from the political system that tried to control his life. He was blacklisted, threatened with death, and forced to defect to the West. 

US drama JOCKEY won a number of awards at renowned festivals, including the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting (Clifton Collins Jr.) at Sundance and Special Mention at the Zurich Film Festival. The film is directed, written and produced by Clint Bentley. The film follows an aging jockey, Jackson Silva, who endured decades at the racecourse, yet due to his deteriorating health he now competes the last season in his career. With the help of Ruth and a promising new horse, he begins preparations for his final championship, as he ponders on his legacy. 

AS FAR AS I CAN WALK a film by Serbian filmmaker Stefan Arsenijević won 2021. Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary film festival. Strahinja and his wife Ababuo left Ghana with a dream of a better life in Europe. Instead of reaching the western part of the continent, they were deported back to Serbia. The film is inspired by the Serbian epic song 'Banović Strahinja', in which contemporary African migrants take the place of Serbian national heroes. This adaptation re-examines identity, tradition, race and love.

WAITING FOR HANDKE is a documentary feature film by Goran Radovanović. Having heard that Peter Handke received the 2019 Nobel Prize for Literature, Srdjan Petrović – a winemaker from the Serbian village of Velika Hoča in Kosovo decides to put up a commemorative plaque with an embossed portrait of Handke in his wine shop that the famous writer visited on a number of occasions. To put up the plaque for the famous author in a secluded, isolated and ghettoized enclave surrounded by the Albanian majority population, such as Velika Hoča, becomes a sort of Sisyphean task that reveals all the drama of the remaining Kosovo Serbs’ lives. 

DARKLING is a film by Dušan Milić set in the mountainous outback of Kosovo, in the household surrounded by a dense forest. Milica lives there with her mother and grandfather. When the night falls the family barricades in the house, frightened by the terror coming out of the woods. Is the horror of the besieged house an echo of the recent war times, or just their imagination, as the KFOR officials admonish them? There are no material pieces of evidence that something bad is happening, but with every forthcoming night, their fear grows... 

AFTER THE WINTER is a film by Ivan Bakrač in which five childhood friends from a small town in Montenegro, now in their late twenties, try to preserve their friendship, despite being scattered all across former Yugoslavia. Over the course of one year, after a series of life-defining events, they realize that their youth is about to come to an abrupt end. When the winter is over, each of them will have to build their own new world. 

HOUSE ARREST is a Russian film by Alexey German Jr. already shown at a great number of festivals, including Cannes and Karlovy Vary. In this film, David, a university professor, takes to social media to criticize his city’s administration. But instead of the mayor’s dodgy dealings being investigated, David is himself accused of embezzlement and placed under house arrest. However, David remains defiant and will not apologize. With the court case drawing ever nearer, does David have any hope of winning this battle against Goliath? 

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