Last night, the 27th edition of the Festival of Auteur Film was officially closed in the Kombank Hall with the screening of “Journal of Želimir Žilnik” by Janko Baljak. Before the screening, the best films were awarded, and the audience had the opportunity to see part of the atmosphere from the film tour of Goran Marković, this year’s winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The mainprize was awarded for the best cinematographic work, by the jury of the Association of Film Artists of Serbia, consisting of Miloš Spasojević, Vojislav Gelevski and Predrag Bambić. The award was announced by Predrag Bambić, and it was awarded to Pablo Paniagui, the director of photography of the Bolivian film The Great Movement.
“While filming The Great Movement, Pablo Paniagua bravely set out to explore the boundaries of the aesthetics of film image and film language, introducing elements of the aesthetics of different film genres into selected prose. In a very creative and rarely seen way, using the aesthetic characteristics of the chosen classical film-technological process, he boldly experiments and deviates from the canonized manner in which the aesthetics of the author’s film usually moves, explores the means of expression and thus expands the horizons of and the interpretation of a socially engaged topic, which is an exceptional achievement that stands out from the multitude of films on similar topics,” Bambić explained.
Unfortunately, Pablo Paniagua could not receive the award in person, but he thanked the jury via video message.
Miroljub Stojanović awarded the “Vlado Petrić” award for the most cinematic sequence in honor of Slavko Vorkapić for the final scene of the film Unclenching the First by Kira Kovalenko.
In Stojanović’s opinion, this film, in addition to being a visual feat, most closely corresponds to the idea of a total film as espoused by both Vorkapić and prof. Petrić.
This year’s jury for the Brave Balkans award consisted of Jelena Spaić, curator, Ivan Ramljak, director and Nebojša Jovanović, film theorist and historian. The special award was given to a film “which warns us with stylistic inspiration and precision that we are sometimes in the deepest exile just when we feel like we are on our own, that is, that homeland is sometimes the most foreign country.” The film is Displaced by Samir Karahodo.
This jury awarded the prize for the best film in the Brave Balkans selection to the film Land of Hot Waters by Ivan and Igor Bukharov because, according to the jury, it is “wonderful, uncompromising, enthusiastic, tactile, gentle and brave.” Ivan and Igor Bukharov expressed their grattitude for this award via video message.
The jury of the main competition program consisted of Šejla Kamerić, Bojan Vuletić and Siegfried, and they awarded two special recognitions, as well as awards for the best screenplay and the best director and the Grand Prix of the festival.
“We would like to thank the selectors for the extremely good selection of the festival, which shows the strength of contemporary auteur film in 2020/21. Congratulations to the organizers and the artistic council of the festival who put together such a diverse jury in which we had the privilege to debate the selection through different approaches and discourses and come to joint decisions, “said jury member Šejla Kamerić.
Sebastian Maize’s Great Freedom and Peter Kerekes’ 107 Mothers received special awards.
“Apart from the fact that both films take place in prison, both films are about love and sacrifice and the cruel world that we need to correct,” Kamerić added.
The “Gordan Mihić” Award for the best screenplay was given by the jury to Kiri Kovalenko for the film Unclenching the Fists.
Director Kiro Russo was awarded for the best director for the film The Great Movement. The author exrpessed his grattitude for the award with a video message.
For “precisely and boldly directed a disturbing and emotional debut”, the film Feathers by Omar el Zohairy was awarded the Grand Prix of the 27th Author’s Film Festival.