The editor-in-chief of the weekly "Vreme" Filip Švarm, director Želimir Žilnik, writer Ante Tomić, as well as journalists Nedim Sejdinović and Željko Bodrožić spoke at the commemoration. The moderator is journalist Jovana Gligorijević.
At the beginning of the commemoration, Gligorijević highlighted the uniqueness of Pančić.
"Theophilus was his own, and he was a bit ours as well." He achieved something that hardly anyone succeeds in life. When they announce him, present him anywhere, it was not necessary to state either his function or occupation, it was enough to say: Teofil,'' she said.
Photo: Vreme / Milica SrejićCommemoration of Teofilo Pančić
Filip Švarm, editor-in-chief of the weekly "Vreme", assessed that Teofil was one of the symbols of this weekly.
"He was the most important literary critic in the entire former Yugoslavia." He was a talented writer who had no predecessor or successor, and the hole will not be closed after Theophilus. Teofil will not be replaced by anyone. The next issue will not be Teofilo's column, 'Side Effects', for the first time. Teofil was a good man, he would give you the shirt off his back, but he would never lend you a book. For the last two years he was seriously ill, bedridden. I have seen many strong men, but none like Theophilus. In Serbia, we are looking at an ethical revolution, we are looking at what Teofil stood for all these decades", said Švarm and said: "For me personally, no one can replace Teofil"!
Photo: Marija JankovićCommemoration of Teofilo Pančić
The writer Ante Tomić recalled the popularity of Pančić in Croatia.
"In Serbia, he was for everyone - Teofil, the one and only. We in Croatia called him closer and shorter - Teo. They were two people, they split painfully in 91. Physically he went to Belgrade, but spiritually he stayed in Zagreb," Tomić said.
He added that the two met every year at book fairs in Pula and Belgrade.
"Watching Teo and Miljenko show each other what they bought at the 'Official Gazette' stands, I had the impression that both of them were spoiled, they found in each other a brother they didn't even know existed," said Tomić and underlined that "Teofil defended humanity against the violence of political ideas with every text".
Director Želimir Žilnik recalled that he encountered Teofilo's texts for the first time when he "suddenly" appeared in "Vremen".
"He was so unique, fresh and intelligent, that I didn't believe that he was some new young man, unknown until now, but I simply got an association that, in fact, what I read in his texts is some kind of echo or possibly the author's work of one of the young intellectuals from the time of a newspaper called 'Danas', which was published every two weeks. I thought that one of them took a pseudonym and appeared in 'Vremen'.
We met in Novi Sad, and I immediately saw him as an interesting, well-informed and thorough young man, who bombarded me with questions about how I managed to make a film about the anti-bureaucratic revolution in the late 1980s," Žilnik recalled.
Photo: Vreme / Milica SrejićCommemoration of Teofilo Pančić
Journalist Nedim Sejdinović stated that Pančić could talk for hours, days and always be interesting and seductive.
"I even told him once that he was a kind of unexpected man." Because each of his texts was unexpected. I believe that each of his columns was unique, just like him. Teofil never tried to throw a stone away from others, he approached every topic cautiously, he knew how to stand on the ball and assess the situation on the field, and that's what makes him even more unique," emphasized Sejdinović.
The president of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, Željko Bodrožić, said that Pančić was his "friend, fellow soldier and guru".
"Yes, Teophilus was all that to me and much more, and not only to me." He was his own, and he was ours, whether he wanted it or not. I had the luck of my life to meet Teofilo and to spend many hours with him and with Olja. NUNS was among the privileged teams and associations, including Teofil," Bodrožić said.
He added that Pančić "left behind so much good writing - it seems as if he lived two lives."
See off at the cremation in Novi Sad
As a reminder, the cremation service is on Saturday (February 8) at 13:30 PM at the Novi Groblje in Novi Sad.
The family requests that no flowers be brought.
Teofil Pančić, one of the greatest journalists of the former Yugoslavia, He died on Sunday in Novi Sad after a long and serious illness.
"Time" says goodbye to a colleague and friend with multiple texts and on the cover of Thursday's (February 6) issue.
Also, the new episode of the "Time" podcast is dedicated to the untimely passing of journalist, columnist and editor Teofil Pančić.
Find the podcast on audio platforms or watch on YouTube.
