AFTER THE WAR awarded in Sibiu, Romania
After the War, a documentary film by Srđan Keča produced in Atelier Varan Belgrade, was given the SONY Student Film Award at the just closed 9th edition of Astra Film Festival in this year’s cultural capital of Europe – Sibiu, Romania.
The festival jury (Pawel Pawlikovski, Kaori Sakagami, Michael Sinclair Stewart, Michael Yorke, Colette Piault, Renate Roginas, Rada Šešić, Cristi Puiu, Horea Murgu and Cornel Mihalache) offered the following reasons:
“For the delicate way in which the filmmaker creates the world of a no-man’s land between three borders. This is a poignant and poetic cinematic vision from a director of talent at the very start of his career.”
Filmed in a small Gorani village in southern Kosovo and supported with the funds of the Embassy of France in Belgrade, European Agency for Reconstruction and the Fund for an Open Society, After the War previously won the Mediterraneo Video Festival in Italy, the Best documentary award of the Balkan Black Box Festival in Berlin, the Audience award of dokumentART in Neubrandenburg and the jury award of the Alternative Film/Video Festival in Belgrade. It took part in more than 20 international film festivals.
AFTER THE WAR wins Mediterraneo Video Festival in Italy
After the War, a documentary film by Srđan Keča produced in Atelier Varan Belgrade, has won the first prize of the recently held Mediterraneo Video Festival in Paestum (Salerno, Italy).
The festival jury (Roberto Perpignani, Luigina Di Legro, Alberto Castellano, Dante Albanesi and Bruno Roberti) has offered the following reasons:
“For his simple way of exploring, through the camera, a difficult postwar reality, by listening both its grief and hope.”
Filmed in a small Gorani village in southern Kosovo and supported with the funds of the Embassy of France in Belgrade, European Agency for Reconstruction and the Fund for an Open Society, After the War previously won the Best documentary award of the Balkan Black Box Festival in Berlin, the Audience award of dokumentART in Neubrandenburg and the jury award of the Alternative Film/Video Festival in Belgrade. It took part in more than 20 international film festivals.
In other news, Alone, alone, you should never be alone by Mihajlo Jevtić took part in the Mostar Short Film Festival, while East of Eden by Rajko Petrović and After the War will take part in the competition programme of the 9th Astra Film Festival in Sibiu, Romania, October 22-28, 2007.
Srđan Keča was also a member of the international jury at this year’s dokumentART held in Neubrandenburg, Germany and Stettin, Poland from September 22-27.
“Neighbors” in REX Cultural Centre, Belgrade
Screening of the omnibus film produced in the Ateliers Varan regional documentary workshop
The omnibus film “Neighbors”, the result of this Summer’s Balkan regional documentary filmmaking workshop of Atelier Varan Belgrade, will be shown on Sunday, July 29, at REX Cultural Centre in Belgrade, beginning at 8 p.m.
12 young filmmakers from former Yugoslav republics have been in Belgrade from June 18th, where they have worked together for six weeks on various film exercises and finally the realization of their individual films under the mentorship of filmmakers from one of the most prominent European documentary film schools, Ateliers Varan from Paris.
Directors Jean-Noël Cristiani and Marie Claude Treilhou, director of photography Renaud Personnaz and editor Claudio Martinez, with the help of Srđan Keča and Rajko Petrović from Atelier Varan Belgrade, will introduce these 12 participants to the fundamental parts of the documentary film-making process – from preparation, research and shooting to editing and post-production of a film.
Participants of the workshop, selected among 250 applicants from former Yugoslav countries – Paola Albertini from Pula, Segor Hadžagić from Sarajevo, Ivan Ramljak from Zagreb, Frosina Naumskova from Kumanovo, Bistra Geogrijeva from Skoplje, Visar Sherifi from Prishtina, Ivana Todorović and Dragana Bjelica from Belgrade, Andrea Palašti from Novi Sad, Maša Drndić from Rijeka and Marko Šipka from Banja Luka – will as their final work present an omnibus with the theme “Neighbors”, made up of short films shot in Belgrade. Through contact with an individual or a group of people in the city, each of these films tells a unique short story of our time. Together, these films reveal Belgrade as a one big komshiluk (the Serbo-Croatian word for “neighborhood”), a crossroads of human destinies in the region.
This project was produced and organized by filmmakers from Atelier Varan Belgrade, who themselves took part in a similar Ateliers Varan workshop in Serbia in 2004. After the workshop, they independently formed Atelier Varan Belgrade, a centre for production and promotion of documentary cinema, and have since created 20 films and won numerous awards in international festivals.
The regional documentary filmmaking workshop is supported by the Embassy of France in Belgrade, European Cultural Foundation, Ministry of Culture of Serbia and the Belgrade City Council for Culture. The main partners in the realization of the project are the Faculty for Media and Communication of the Singidunum University, University of Arts and the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, French Cultural Centre and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights.
KINO:VÉRITÉ - Regional documentary filmmaking workshop: Week 0
The preparatory week of the KINO:VÉRITÉ regional documentary filmmaking workshop, organized by Atelier Varan Belgrade and the Paris-based Ateliers Varan is underway in Belgrade.
12 participants from former Yugoslav countries (see next news item) are in Belgrade since Monday, June 18. During this week they will be introduced to the equipment they will use in the workshop, as well as the themes of exercises and final films. The preparatory week is led by Srdjan Keca and Rajko Petrovic from Atelier Varan Belgrade.
With the arrival of the Ateliers Varan mentor team (Jean-Noël Cristiani, Renaud Personnaz, Marie Claude Treilhou and Claudio Martinez) on Monday, June 25th, the main workshop programme will start.
The project is supported by the Embassy of France in Belgrade, European Cultural Foundation and the Ministry of Culture of Serbia. Our main partners on this project are the Faculty for Media and Communication of the Singidunum University in Belgrade, Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, the French Cultural Centre and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights.
Participants of the Regional Documentary Filmmaking Workshop
Applications
Jean-Noël Cristiani, the head of the pedagogic team that will lead this summer’s Regional documentary filmmaking workshop, conducted interviews with candidates in Zagreb and Belgrade from May 13th to 18th.
We spoke to more than 50 candidates from former Yugoslav countries, whose applications had been preselected. From a total of almost 250 applicants, the final 12 participants were selected. It is our honor and a pleasure to present them:
- Paola Albertini, Pula
- Segor Hadžagić, Sarajevo
- Ivan Ramljak, Zagreb
- Frosina Naumovska, Kumanovo
- Kaja Zadnikar, Ljubljana
- Bistra Georgijeva, Skoplje
- Visar Sherifi, Priština
- Ivana Todorović, Belgrade
- Andrea Palasti, Novi Sad
- Maša Drndić, Rijeka
- Marko Šipka, Banja Luka
- Dragana Bjelica, Belgrade
We would like to thank the French Institute in Zagreb for assisting us with setting up interviews in Zagreb, as well as the University of Arts in Belgrade for generously hosting the interviews in Belgrade. Special thanks to all the candidates for the work invested and the great level of quality of the applications we received.
CONFUSION, LIFE AND ART – the Belgrade premiere
After a successful showing of the work-in-progress version at The Fridericianum Museum in Kassel, Germany last Autumn, Belgrade audience will have a chance to see a new film by Staša Tomić entitled Confusion, Life & Art.
A co-production of Atelier Varan Belgrade and Belgrade Cultural Center, Confusion Life & Art is a mosaic-like story about the 47th October Salon, a large international exhibition of contemporary art as well as all the seemingly invisible aspects of such an event. By attempting to get “behind the scenes”, this atypical documentary portrays the confusion involved in putting up a large exhibition. Through the stories about life and art the film shows how artistic expression is a way of overcoming the confusion of human condition.
It is our pleasure and honor to invite you to the premiere screening of the documentary film Confusion, Life & Art on Thursday the 29th of March at 6PM at the Dvorana Kulturnog Centra movie theatre.
European Cultural Foundation supports regional workshop project Kino:Vérité
We are very pleased to announce that the European Cultural Foundation has joined our efforts in the regional documentary filmmaking workshop project Kino:Vérité by granting financial support from the Balkan Incentive Fund for the implementation of the first such workshop.
Besides the ECF, the project has so far been supported by the Embassy of France in Belgrade, later joined by the Ministry of Culture of Serbia. Among notable partners on this project, besides the documentary film school Ateliers Varan, are also the French Cultura Centres of the region, the Faculty of media and communication in Belgrade, a great list of venues that hosted our regional tour last year, as well as a number of other organisations that helped spread the word about the Call for Applications. We have received more than 200 applications from all ex-Yugoslav countries for the 12 available positions in the workshop.
The workshop is planned to begin in the second half of June. In the following period we will be reporting regularly on progress in preparations and the implementation of the project, and applicants can expect to be notified of their selection to the interview round during the next two weeks.
AFTER THE WAR in Rotterdam, Prague and Tartu
A screening of the documentary film AFTER THE WAR by Srđan Keča opened the first edition of the OFFshore film festival, a festival of independent film productions from the Balkans, held in Rotterdam from March 1st-4th 2007, and organised by the association Balkan Music & Art.
AFTER THE WAR will also be shown on March 29th in Prague, as part of the International Film, TV and Video Festival Febiofest, the largest audio-visual event in Czech Republic.
This film will also take part in the Worldfilm festival of visual culture, held from March 26th to April 1st in Tartu, Estonia.
Srđan Keča’s After the War has previously won the First prize in the documentary competition at the Balkan Black Box festival in Berlin, the audience award at DokumentART in Neubrandenburg, as well as the jury award of the Alternative Film/Video Festival in Belgrade.
DAY OF YOUTH at ZagrebDOX
DAY OF YOUTH by Jelena Jovčić took part in the regional competition programme of ZagrebDOX, held from February 26th to March 4th, 2007, in Zagreb, Croatia.
Previously, DAY OF YOUTH, one of the films of the Serbia Vérité series produced by Atelier Varan Belgrade, won the YU FIPRESCI award at the Belgrade documentary and short film festival and the Brozne Olive of the TV Festival in Bar, Montenegro.
AFTER THE WAR Wins Golden Black Box in Berlin
At the just closed Balkan Black Box Festival in Berlin, AFTER THE WAR, a film by Srđan Keča produced in Atelier Varan Belgrade, has won the Golden Black Box, the top award in the documentary film category.
Balkan Black Box takes place in Berlin since 1999, with the aim of bringing the culture of Southeast Europe closer to the German audience – by exploring the “black box” of the Balkans. The main focus of the festival is on the film competition, which invites a selection of significant recent feature, short and documentary films from the region.
Among the nominees for the Golden Black Box documentary award were films like Totally Personal by Nedžad Begović (2005 Oscar nomination), Chicken Elections by Goran Radovanović, Sevdah – The Bridge that Survives by Mira Erdevicki, Vukovar – The Final Cut by Janko Baljak, Made in Serbia by Mladen Đorđević and The Shutka Book of Records by Aleksandar Manić.
Filmed in a small Gorani village in southern Kosovo and supported with the funds of the Embassy of France in Belgrade, European Agency for Reconstruction and the Fund for an Open Society, Srđan Keča’s After the War has so far been screened at 15 international film festivals, and has previously won the Audience Award at DokumentART in September 2006 in Germany, as well as the jury award of the Alternative Film/Video Festivala in December 2005 in Belgrade.
Atelier Varan Belgrade Films Shown in Paris
The Paris premiere of last year’s production of Atelier Varan Belgrade will take place on Novembre 28, starting at 20:00, in the screening hall of Ateliers Varan Paris.
AFTER THE WAR in Berlin and Florence
AFTER THE WAR by Srđan Keča, will be shown in the Balkan Black Box Festival, which takes place in Berlin from October 17-25. The film is nominated for three awards: “Golden Black Box”, “Balkan Black Box Newcomer” and “Human Rights and Democracy Award”.
After the War will also take part in the “Nuovi Sguardi” (“New Looks”) programme of the 47th Festival dei Popoli in Florence, from December 1-7.
DAY OF YOUTH Wins "Bronze Olive" in Bar, Montenegro
At the International TV Festival Bar, Montenegro, held from October 16-19, the film DAY OF YOUTH by Jelena Jovčić won the “Bronze Olive” in the documentary film category, as well as the special jury prize “Golden writing” – for the author’s original approach.
Day of Youth previously, in April, won the YU FIPRESCI award at the Belgrade Documenatary and Short Film Festival.
