SELECTION COMMITTEE EXPLANATION

The number of entries, the quality, variety of topics and countries of origin this year undoubtedly confirm the quality and importance of the Martovski Festival that goes far beyond the borders of our country. It isn’t easy to summarize this year’s selection thematically, but all films will undoubtedly contribute to making this year’s Festival modern and up-to-date. As far as production and aesthetic quality are concerned, we watched a wide range of films from festival winners to student works, to amateur films, giving the Festival diversity and upping the quality. This year, the selection committee reviewed over 350 entries in national and international competitions. The offer was exceptional, and the selection was difficult. It was not easy to choose the best from the multitude of good films, but I believe that all selection committee members will agree that it was a sweet ordeal. Darko Ković

An interesting shift in this year’s program is that the pandemic motives are not visible or present in the filmmaker’s stories, marking a positive return to the auteur story as the central motif of the film narrative. The quality of production in this year’s selection of the national film category is surprising. Some new young acting talents stand out, and we can expect significant acting feats from them in the works by the new generation of filmmakers. The international selection also prefers narrative rather than unconventional forms of expression. The authentic auteur story is in focus and outshines the increasingly represented use of visual effects and current genre trends. Dragana Latinović

Considering the extensive range of topics, ideas and aesthetics during the pre-selection of submitted films, I was aware that the boundaries between professional and gut, spontaneous approaches to the cinema are already largely blurred. The film and media language has been present long enough that its code became a natural means of communication. Directors of all generations, veterans, beginners, and those still searching for their way are equally good at contemporary challenges, finding an authentic way to express themselves cinematically. Those with the ambition to arbitrate and take part in the selection of films to be presented to the Festival audience are instructed to, at least for a few hours as long as the filming sessions last, project themselves into the character of the cinema viewer whose dominant impression of the film is based on emotions after the screening. This is exactly what, on this occasion, was the biggest challenge for the so-called professional viewer, who chooses films that deserve to participate in the official program of this year’s Martovski Festival, the last edition before the anniversary, seventieth. Igor M. Toholj

Choosing films for the Festival is always about compromise, we all know that. The question is, what is the basis for compromise? In the team of this year’s Martovski Festival selectors, I took on the role of the one who insists on stylistic and formal rather than thematic or contextual criteria. Besides being relevant, having what and why, vital to us today and here, from the dozens of Festival entries, films that have convincing how always stand out. For that role, I had the support of my colleagues in the selection team, which is why I think this year’s selection is a product of compromise on a good basis. On Martovski, you can watch films that raise current and relevant issues, but films of unique poetics, thoughtful stylistic expression and bold steps in the direction of a more complex, original form. Ivan Velisavljević

For the first time this year, within the international program, we have all kinds of short films, not just fiction, but also documentaries, animated and experimental ones. Short films dominate in terms of quantity and quality, and partial focus is on films from the region, where ordinary human destinies are re-examined in the context of the recent wars in the former Yugoslavia, as well as on small differences erased in the context of suffering in historically turbulent times. Dejan Dabić