The 12th Free Zone
The festival of engaged cinematography Free Zone represents from November 10 to 15 in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis a record number of 50 feature films and documentaries that deal with current social and political issues, and the festival becomes competitive for the first time, so alongside the traditional Audience Award, the best film in the international and regional competition will also be announced, and a selection of 14+ films, as well as the best film dealing with human rights.
Rajko Petrović director and curator of the Free Zone and Branka Pavlovic co-selector of the festival, as well as Biljana Tutorov regional program selector and editor of the accompanying program of Cross-media have presented, November 7th, an exciting program of the festival, which begins on November 10th in Sava Center, as well as in Novi Sad and Nis, with film "Neruda" by Pablo Laraina about dissident years of Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda.
The outline of the 12th Free Zone’s program is made of films which deal with the problems of modern society in the age of globalization - from the war in Syria in a documentary " Haunted" directed by Liwaa Yazji about people trapped in ruins of Syrian cities, through the refugee crisis (Berlin winner "Fire at Sea" by Gianfranco Rosi), to the frightening perspective of global cyber war in which the world has already stepped in, presented by Alex Gibney in the film "Zero Days."
In the wastelands of Louisiana at the coast of a dying lake, in a sort of a penal colony a group of outsiders trying to survive (Uncertain) and the three-member family, warmed by the sun of the Great Leader in the concrete desert of Pyongyang Great (Under the Sun) are just the two furthest poles between which humanity is crucified, and according to the selectors, authors of films at the 12th Free zone indicate that hope, creativity and the ability to change are the steps that separate all of us from a similar fate.
"Under the Sun" by Vitaliy Manskiy, is one of the three films selected by this year's guest selector Viktor Ivancic, Croatian journalist and columnist, who also recommends the Italian documentary "Fire at Sea" by Gianfranco Rosi, the 66th Berlinale winning film, and “The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma And The Silk Road Ensemble" a film by Morgan Neville.
The Regional competition program, whose selector is Biljana Tutorov, includes 17 films, among which she has especially highlighted the achievements that call for dialogue, reconciliation and dealing with the consequences of wars in former Yugoslavia.
Among them is the local film "The Legacy" by Ivan Jovic – a film-monument of the collective sufferings of civilians in World War II from the territory of the Independent State of Croatia, and also a documentary “The Fog Of Srebrenica" by Samir Mehanović, the winner of the Special Jury Award at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam.
(SEEcult.org)
