At the recently concluded 37th International Film Festival in Mons, Belgium, the award for the best screenplay went to Stefan Arsenijević, Bojan Vuletić and Nikola Dikrej for the film As Far As I Can Walk. The president of the jury was the famous director Michael Radford, the author of the cult works Il Postino and 1984. At the closing ceremony, the award was received on behalf of the laureates by the screenwriter Nikola Dikrej.
“I am especially happy because of this award, because it means that our screenwriting experiment of merging two seemingly completely different worlds, traditional Serbian and modern migrant experience, has succeeded. I am additionally honored that the president of the jury is a director whose films I really love,” said Stefan Arsenijevic, who together with actor Ibrahim Kom and producer Gilles Chanel attended the screening of the film, which was also the Belgian premiere.
Nikola Dikrej, one of the three screenwriters, said: “This is the first film award I have ever received and it means a lot to me. I am extremely happy to share it with Stefan and Bojana, with whom I really enjoyed working and with whom I have built a great friendship. Numerous migrants who shared their life stories with us are also responsible for the award. We are infinitely grateful to them for their trust. ”
As Far As I Can Walk is a modern adaptation of the famous Serbian epic song, placed in the contemporary context of the migrant crisis. The film had its world premiere at the 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it won five awards, including the main prize, the Grand Prix Crystal Globe for Best Film. This is the first time in this century that Serbian film has triumphed in the main competition program at one of the world’s most important A-category festivals. The film has so far participated in 20 festivals, among which were prestigious festivals in Pinja, Cairo, Seville, Montpellier, Thessaloniki, Haifa, Trieste and others around the world.
The film was supported by Film Center Serbia, the Council of Europe Fund – Eurimages, the Luxembourg Film Fund, the French National Film Center, the Bulgarian National Film Center, the Lithuanian Film Center, Creative Europe – MEDIA and the Government of Serbia.