It's been half a century since its founding. Film script festival in Vrnjačka banja. The anniversary edition will be held on the Summer Stage from August 9 to 13 under the slogan "Half a century of golden words".
In the spirit of celebration, the guest of the opening of the festival will be screenwriter Predrag Perišić, who is the first laureate with Milan Jelić. They won in 1977 with the film "The Love Case of Budimir Trajković".
Everyone is accepted.
In the competitive part of the festival, there are 13 feature films of Serbian cinematography, created between the two festivals, while two films will be shown outside the competition as part of the "Across the Fence" program. They will be judged by a jury chaired by writer Svetislav Basara, whose members include screenwriters Biljana Maksić and Miloš Janković.
The jubilee edition of the festival will begin with a film "Hajduk in Belgrade", which was based on the novel of the same name by Gradimir Stojković. The author of the script is Milica Konstantinović Stanojević, who is also competing for festival awards with the screenplay for the film "For better and for worse".
Followed by "Bird on the Track of Elephants" whose screenplay was written by Ilija Gajić, "The Will of New Summers" by Gvozden Đurić and Uroš Tomić, "Christmas Adventure" by Roko Radiša, "Mileva Einstein" by Selena Stanković, "Duplicate" by Boris Lukman, "Cat's Cry" based on the screenplay by Goran Paskaljevic and Đorđe Sibinović, "The General" by Miloslav Samardžić, "Accomplices" by Ognjen Obradović, "The Return of Žika's Dynasty" by Milena Marković, "Mother of Pearl Fog" screenwriter Dragoljub Stojković and Milorad Milinković and "Sportsko srce" scripted by Đorđe Milosavljević.
All films that have been submitted have been selected. The same as last year, when only nine registered.
Just like last year, there are no award-winning films at international festivals in Vrnjačka Banja this year. Of course: who will register for the festival and who will not, depends solely on their authors and producers and has nothing to do with the festival. Or, rather, there is.
The next coincidence with last year's edition is that the most numerous films are again produced by Željko Mitrović - Apollon Media has four films. Last year, out of nine selected, he had six.
Screenwriters Association
Let's also mention that this year, like last year, the Association of Screenwriters of Serbia has no contact with the Screenplay Festival, President Vladimir Đurđević told Vreme.
"They didn't call us, nor would we accept an invitation from a festival in such an organization. That festival was lost to us last year," says Đurđević.
"The festival was stolen from the screenwriters and handed over to the producers and political structures," wrote the screenwriters of this Association last year.
Vladimir Đurđević says that "this festival, as well as others that are being organized now, looks like the makeup of a corpse. An illusion. And it has been like that for two years, as long as there is no competition of the Film Center of Serbia. The only assumption for Serbian cinematography to start working is for the state to start working."
He adds that the Festival of Film Scripts in this edition has no significance either for the profession or for the audience. "It means only the tourism of Vrnjačka Banja. It is no longer a cultural manifestation, it is only a touristic one."
Something for everyone
Marko Jovičić, executive producer of the festival, but also the director of the film "Christmas Adventure" which is competing in Vrnjačka Bana, told "Vreme" that he is satisfied with this year's selection because "it is diverse in terms of genres, there will be comedies, thrillers and dramas".
Photo: TanjugMarko Jovicic
He points out that among the competitors for awards are "young authors, whose participation in the festival enables them to show themselves to the public, but also those who have long been renowned like Milena Marković and Đorđe Milosavljević."
He says that he is glad that his film "Christmas Adventure" is also in the selection. "Everyone has the right to apply and be accepted," he says. He expects viewers to like it "because it's a comedy, which is in short supply." By the way, the film is the first part of a trilogy, and its cinema premiere is scheduled in Belgrade's Sava Center at the beginning of December.
Jovicic points out the competition for the best original screenplay, a traditional part of the Festival because it is open to both professionals and non-professionals.
"It is especially useful for non-professionals who do not have acquaintances among producers, so our competition opens the door to them. This year, more than 350 scripts arrived. I think that this kind of response is a consequence of the fact that we actually make a film based on the winning script and that by the next festival," he says, and by "we" we mean Apollon Media.
He reminds that the script for the film "Dvojnik", which is competing at this year's festival, won the aforementioned competition last year.
Graduates
The film script festival has existed since 1977. Apart from the mentioned first laureates Predrag Perišić and Milan Jelic, among the awarded are the most famous screenwriters of the region: Mirko Kovač, Lordan Zafranović, Dušan Kovačević, Rajko Grlić, Goran Marković, Gordan Mihić, Dubravka Ugrešić, Abdullah Sidran, Srđan Karanović, Darko Bajić, Dušan Makavejev, Slobodan Selenić, Puriša Đorđević, Srđan Dragojević, Đorđe Milosavljević, Srđan Koljević, Srdan Golubović, Stefan Arsenijević, Dimitrije Vojnov, Minja Bogavac, Ana Marija Rossi...
The organizers of the Jubilee Screenplay Festival invited them all to come.
Only in August: Save three thousand dinars on the annual subscription to the digital edition of "Vremena"! Take advantage of the discount here and support independent journalism.
