INTERVIEW MLADEN DJORDJEVIC, PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR

The “Frontiers” selection programme is new on the Festival. How did it came about and what kind of films can we expect?

FRONTIERS build on the continuous presence of subversive film on FEST, which is a tradition dating back from the seventies, featuring Dusan Makavejev and political provocation. It has all along been about pushing the limits and revoking taboos - sexual, socio-political or purely aesthetic. The programme will contains pushing the limits in the thematic and formal sense. The selection is a competition one. This year, the President of the Jury will be our well-known director Djordje Kadijevic, as well as Miroljub Stojanovic, film critic and Publishing Editor in the Film Center of Serbia.

To what extent FRONTIERS differs from Thrills and Kills?

The said selection is in a sense connected to Frontiers in the sense of provocation, innovation and thrill it carries. However, as opposed to Frontiers, which includes art house titles, here we have mostly “hard” genre films, awarded works screened on SF festivals worldwide. It will bring to the viewers something unusual, outside of the festival mainstream.

How is FEST supporting the national film industry?

One of the many novelties of this year’s FEST is the new Industry programme, which will gather important people from the film industry, with a focus of the national cinema and regional cooperation. FEST FORWARD will host, during three FEST days, the directors and decision-makers of regional funds, the representatives of the leading European world sales companies, the directors and editors of regional TV stations and the professionals dealing with domestic and service productions. FEST FORWARD was conceived with the cooperation and support of the Film Center of Serbia and it is intended for film professionals and film students.

‎The Microwave programme is dedicated mainly to domestic authors. Can you tell us more about that?

Most of the films have been shot with less than 10.000 EUR (many for less than 5000 EUR), which is below the low budget limit. These are micro budget films. Microwave will feature six Serbian films and one film shot in Croatia. The authors of these films have demonstrated a strong intent on being independent and to make films faster, circumventing the often cumbersome fund mechanism.