A new one is being prepared in the Niš Cultural Center, with the consent of the City film festival - learned unofficially "Vreme".
This means that Nišlje will instead Film meetings which they have been proud of for the past 59 years, probably having two film festivals. One organized by the City of Niš and the other organized by the Actors Association of Serbia. Both in August.
The director of the Niš Cultural Center, Srđan Savić, did not respond to our calls and messages to confirm or deny what was being talked about in Niš. But, those who help in the realization of the new festival, claim that the preparations are well under way.
As we found out, this concretely means that they overcame the only obstacle - the program. Money, space, time and similar little things were not a problem for them.
Festival of Empty Chairs
Last year, the Association of Film Actors refused to participate in the organization of Film Meetings. They assessed that the festival should not be "an instrument in an attempt to create the illusion that social circumstances are normal".
The city of Niš, probably to prove that the actors are wrong, organized the Festival at the Fortress. People called him names Festival of Empty Chairs because the films in the Niš Fortress were projected literally in front of an empty auditorium. Old digitized home movies were shown.
Photo: Južne vesti/Jelena MišićEmpty Niš Fortress
This year, an informal meeting of the Council of the Film Encounters Festival of Nis was held, attended by representatives of the City and the Actors' Association, with the intention of smoothing out disagreements. The attempt was unsuccessful.
It has become clear that the jubilee 60th film meetings will not be held until further notice.
And then, in the last days of July, the Association of Film Actors announced its festival, thus preempting the City.
They announced that their festival will be called the Niš Film Festival and will take place from August 29 to September 3. It will have the slogan "More than the game". They announced that "during the six festival days, the status of the Festival in Niš will once again be confirmed as a unique event that has been celebrating local film and acting for six decades and enriching the cultural life of the city."
The acting Niš film festival already has a poster. On it is a scene from the series "More than a game" in which Pavle Vujisić points with his fingers - a pomegranate.
Duel between the City and the Actors
Somehow immediately after this announcement of the actors, the City accelerated the preparation of its festival.
According to our knowledge, help was requested from colleagues from Vrnjačka spa, from the Film Screenplay Festival there, which has been created by Željko Mitrović's Apollon Media for the past few years, and they procured films for them. Of course, those that are available to them.
As far as we know, the name of the festival is still being searched for. It will reportedly take place from August 25 to 30.
If all that is true, it looks like both festivals will last for six days, at almost the same time.
It is expected that this "urban" one will be on the Summer Stage of the Niš Fortress, and that the "acting" one will have to settle for Niš, a quay in the municipality of Mediana.
It is also assumed that the film industry will boycott the "city" one, as it boycotted last year's National Festival in Zlatibor, and that the "actor" industry will support it. It will certainly affect the programs of both festivals.
What is certain is: August in Nis will not be boring.
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