Minister Nikola Selaković on August 5 in Zlatibor, signing a contract for 17 million dinars for National Film and Television Festival NAFFIT, referred to competitions for filmmaking.
He expects, he said then, that the Film Center of Serbia (FCS) contests will be announced before the start of NAFFIT.
NAFFIT ended yesterday, September 6, and FCS did not announce any competition.
Photo: NAFFITThe audience of this year's NAFFIT
To tell the truth, Selaković neither announced nor promised competitions, he only "expressed the hope" that "they will be announced before the festival itself", because "it is very important that our cinematography continues to create in the time ahead".
FCS has not announced a competition for two years
The Film Center of Serbia has not announced a single competition since October 17, 2024, which means almost two years. Then it is for the co-financing of feature films 59 projects arrived, FCS accepted four.
Last year, competitions were not announced because it was calculated that 53 films were still not finished even though they were given money, which was not true.
There is a budget for competitions.
Miloš Skundrić, the president of the Association of Film Directors of Serbia, tells "Vreme" that "if the contests are not announced in a week or two, this year will also pass without a contest. Namely, the contest cycle lasts about 100 days: the contest itself is open for 30 days, the commission should decide on the applications within 60 days, and it takes another week or two for the Board of Directors to meet and decide on the commission's report. So if FCS does not announce the contest in these days, this last contest will be lost competition cycle".
"Despite the allocated funds for this year's tenders, they have not yet been announced," emphasized Škundrić.
On the website of the FCS, it is written that 732.343.000,00 dinars have been set aside for competitions this year.
According to the Law on Cinematography, the Film Center of Serbia is obliged to announce two competitions for filmmaking per year. Last year, FCS broke the law, and it's on the verge of doing so again this year.
Miloš Škundrić says that "regardless of what the minister said and announced the competition, we assumed that it would not happen. Because what to expect from the minister who did the greatest damage to Serbian culture, plus who is also the first defendant in the criminal proceedings."
NAFFIT is not a national festival
The Association of Film Directors of Serbia asked Minister Selaković to resign last October. On that occasion, they listed the reasons why they are asking for it, and argued them with the Constitution, the Law on Ministries, the Law on the Budget, the Law on Culture, the Law on Cinematography, the Law on General State Procedure and the Law on State Administration.
About the recently concluded NAFFIT, Škundrić says that it is "not a national festival as it says in its name. It was founded, allegedly, to show one year's film and television production, and we saw what was on the program."
Photo: Južne vesti/Andrej VučkovićTanja Bošković at the Niš Film Festival
In contrast to the Zlatibor festival, Miloš Škundrić believes, "The Niš film festival, which was organized by the Actors' Association completely alone, with a series of obstacles and attempts to prevent it from happening, was a magnificent edition of our contemporary film and of Serbia."
In a week or two, it will be clear whether the minister's hope of announcing the competition of the Film Center of Serbia was founded or not.
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