In Belgrade, the FEST International Film Festival has summed up

BELGRADE. In the capital of Serbia, the winners of the 43rd FEST International Film Festival, held from February 27 to March 8, were announced. The picture of the Russian director Yuri Bykov “Fool”, representing Russia in the international competition program of the festival, was awarded a special jury prize, headed by the famous Serbian actress Neda Arnerich.

The main prize of FEST was awarded to the British director of Arab origin Naji Abu Novara for his film "Wolf". This film, a joint production of the UK, Jordan and the UAE, was also awarded the prize for best screenplay. In total, 15 films from Italy, Great Britain, Turkey, Hungary, France, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Chile, Georgia, Jordan and Russia took part in the main competition.

The winner of the competition program for Serbian filmmakers was Vuk Rshumovic’s film “Nobody’s Child” (Nicije dete). The Argentinean-Spanish film “Wild Stories” (Relatos salvajes) by Damian Sifron won the Audience Award. During the film festival, a total of 133 films were screened at six film venues in Belgrade, including 90 film premieres.

A feature of this year’s FEST was the emphasis on Russian cinema. The opening of the forum was marked by the presentation to the Russian director Alexander Sokurov of the award “Belgrade Winner”, awarded for his outstanding contribution to the development of cinema. The famous Russian actor Sergei Bezrukov became a special guest of the film festival. As part of an out-of-competition program from Russia, the paintings “Maria’s Lovers” (1984), “White Nights of the Postman Alexei Tryapitsin” (2014) by Andrei Konchalovsky and “It is Hard to Be a God” (2014) by Alexei German were presented. Also after the ceremony of declaring the winners, the European premiere of Dmitry Meskhiev’s new Russian film “The Battalion” (2015) was held.

It is worth noting that European premieres of Russian films are being held in Belgrade for the second time. So, on October 3, 2014 in the capital of Serbia, the premiere of the painting “Sunstroke” by Nikita Mikhalkov was a great success.

Svetlana Korableva © Gallerix.ru