In the selection of documentaries lasting up to 50 minutes, at the recently concluded 69th March Festival, two works created as part of the previous Atelier Varan Belgrade workshop competed, and both won awards. The films in question are Mina Vavan’s Anatomy of Hypomania and Hana Rastoder’s Postcard. They were created during December 2021 and January 2022, as part of the workshop of the prestigious French documentary film school Ateliers Varan, which was organized in cooperation with the Belgrade Youth Center, the French Institute in Belgrade and Film Center Serbia.
The film Anatomy of Hypomania, about a retired professor of anatomy who dedicates his life to brain research while facing the challenges of living at the Anatomical Institute, won the award as the best documentary film up to 50 minutes. The jury’s explanation states: “This documentary follows a very special and interesting man, in a very personal and intimate way, and manages to bring the audience closer to him.” Mina Vavan is studying multimedia directing at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo and has a few short films under her belt. She points out that after participating in the Ateliers Varan workshop, she started thinking about documentary film from a completely different perspective. “Thank you to the jury, the film crew and the protagonists, Prof. Dr. Slobodan Marinković, who allowed me to transfer his life to the movie screen. Special thanks to the workshop of Ateliers Varan where this film was made. This is my first film award and I am especially glad that I won it at the March Festival. ”
Postcard, directed by Hana Rastoder, won the award for best sound / music, and is shared equally by the author, who sang the song in the film, and Peter Zirbs, the sound designer. As the jury of the 69th March Festival stated, “This short documentary is a kind of video essay, a grown-up girl’s letter about unfulfilled and unspoken love, which would be incomparably poorer without the thoughtful use of sound expressed in the chapel song sung in Istanbul on the Bosphorus. Without sound effects, which would only ruin the achieved atmosphere, the song sung by the author herself raises this story to a completely new level, which leaves no one indifferent.
Hana Rastoder is a fourth-year student of Theater Directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje, and she believes that the Ateliers Varan workshop revealed to her that documentary film is another form through which it is possible to engage in poetry. “This is my first film and first prize. It means to me that certain qualities of the film have been recognized and praised, but above all I hope that the film has managed to make contact with the audience, “the author points out. Peter Zirbs, music producer and sound designer living on the Vienna-Belgrade route, was one of the guest expert lecturers within the Ateliers Varan Belgrade workshop, and is credited with audio recording and sound design in the film “Postcard”. Zirbs states that working with extremely motivated and talented participants was a great experience for him, and the award of the 69th March Festival came as the best possible end to the workshop, adding: “Winning the award for best sound design is not only a recognition but also a real incentive future work in the field of film sound and music, which is one of my great interests, in addition to the main profession of music producer. ”
The jury of the 69th March Festival, which decided on the awards, consisted of: jury president Lordan Zafranović, director and screenwriter – Croatia, Heinz Hermans, professor of short film dramaturgy – Germany, Milan Nikodijević, director, screenwriter and producer – Serbia, Gianfilipo Pedote, producer and screenwriter – Italy and Dragomir Zupanc, film and TV director – Serbia.