CINE - ATTIKON Short Films from NoviSad 2021
CINE – ATTIKON Short Films from NoviSad 202Tuesday 5 September 2017
Open Air Attikon 20:30
Within the frame of the Cine Attikon programme, the European Capital of Culture – Pafos2017 welcomes Novi Sad, the European Capital of Culture for 2021. Representatives of the organisation and creators from Novi Sad will present the programme as well as their city’s modern cinematic production. The collaboration between the two European Capitals of Culture aims to create relations and exchanges between the two cities and their creators.
Sponsor: McDonald’s
Free entrance
MOVIES
OTVORENI GRAD / OPEN CITY
Mentor: Nena Toth Redžić
Nena Film Verite, Canada
Director: Joint project of the group of authors
Producer: Đorđe Kaćanski
Executive producer: Branislava Lovre
Serbia, 2014, 8 min.
Novi Sad is truly a city that is custom made to fit citizens of the world – its own citizens. The big question that many ask – both those who come to visit it, and those who reside in it – is: Why do I/we love Novi Sad? This is a question without a definite answer, because as time passes, and due to historical circumstances, the city changes, just as its citizens. The group of young and ambitious film fans gathered at the EURO-IN FILM, festival of European and independent film, during a workshop and under the guidance of the magical eye of professor Nena Toth Redžić (Serbia/Canada), the renowned film artist, tried to give a picture of Novi Sad, and the unbreakable love between the city and people, comprised of testimonies from the heart of young people, unburdened by ideologies, religions, politics… Thus, without usual officials, historians, etc. they constructed an image of a vital city that constantly becomes more rich and complex.
LASTA / THE SWALLOW
Serbia, 2008, 17 min.
Director: Milan Belegišanin
Script: Željko Marković, Milan Belegišanin
Director of Photography: Ljubomir Glušica
Editing: Saša Armbruster
Producer: Radio-Television Vojvodina, Novi Sad
Old man Boško Dugački has found a swallow, which fell from a nest, and decided to take care of it. Three times a day he fed it worms from overripe cherries, caught flies for it, gave it water from his own mouth. After a few months, the swallow became so close with the old man that it stood on his shoulder while he walked through the village, or it would fly down on his hat while he tended to the corn. At the same time, the old man grew fond of the swallow. The autumn arrived and the old man was afraid that the swallow, out of love for him, would not want to fly south. He decided to gather some money somehow and take it to the sea… Then an unexpected tragedy occurred…
FENOMEN TVRĐAVA / FORTRESS PHENOMENON
Serbia, 2016, 25 min.
Director: Dragan Stojmenović, Szilárd Antal
Production: Tesla Film
Narrator: Antonije Pušić alias Rambo Amadeus
Director of Photography: Jovan Milinov – Toba
The title of the stone fortress is – Gibraltar on the Danube. The rock doesn’t burn, but it remembers and inspires… The fortress, existing for three centuries, was being constructed for almost a century. History showed that the Petrovaradin fortification is a beautiful example of a failed investment. But, if it had served its war purpose at least once, we wouldn’t have admired it that much, maybe we couldn’t have loved it because, again maybe, it wouldn’t exist as well as area around it. But what was, due to this lack of war, the purpose of hallways, wells, viewpoints, grassy plateaus, and other elements? Navigating the underground hallways was regulated by the secret code of ‘star crossroads’. Many questions are posed by both underground and surface worlds of this military temple. There are questions that should remain unasked, and answers that we will never find out. But some findings can make us better. Let’s seek them. The planet Fortress quietly and persistently reminds us that there is no future without past. And vice versa. The fortress is safety. Safety is serenity. Serenity is salvation. Salvation is love. Officer beaches whisper, suburbium.
Bridges towards infinite and boundless
Is it the idea of the Maker – whoever or whatever he might be – that there are borders, or are they just a result of human paths and sideways. And what is that which undeniably overcomes them, despite beliefs, convictions, acquired knowledge, and superstition? It is love that has its infinite and boundless phenomena, proclamations and secrets, and that cannot be described but only felt. Love is what connects worlds and overcomes all celestial and earthly boundaries. There are no doors in nature – they are created by humans, but when facing the Truth they open widely regardless of how long we have to wait – or taking into consideration the extent of human life, even if we never live see this. Novi Sad is a very specific city and a city dear to all. Historians, chronologists, sociologists, and others have said many things about it in their own dry and hermetical way. However, many epochs have passed over these lands and left their visible and invisible marks and boundaries that fade and disappear in time.
In order to present Novi Sad and its region, we started from the fact that in this case it is not hard to decipher what is the true bridge between every epoch and people of all nations, faiths, races… It is love.
In OTVOREN GRAD / OPEN CITY film, young people express their love for Novi Sad and reasons for it in their own way without too much philosophy. This magical energy of the love chain is what attracts every citizen of Novi Sad and a traveller to gladly stand in front of the camera and join this chain. In this way, which is typical for film making, Novi Sad is created as both virtual and real city where love resides.
In the film by Milan Belegišanin, LASTA / THE SWALLOW, which was awarded by many main prizes at renowned local and world festivals of short and documentary film, Boško Dugački, a simple old man from Surduk near Novi Sad, gave an unforgettable explanation of boundless love in its widest, cosmic sense. This is an anthological example of the perfection of film narration, a film that suddenly and constantly make eyes of almost all who see it water, regardless of how hard they hearts may be. The entire human life, love and death in twenty minutes!!! Grandpa Boško in an honest way described love towards the swallow and showed how big of a man he is. Half literate old man overcame all boundaries, he has found and explained the meaning of life. ‘How much honest love can there be in that fragile old body, in that wise and noble head that clearly and simply testifies that a human has primordial need to love and be loved… ‘I loved her as my own life, I loved her passionately’… ‘She loved me too’…’Not having anyone who loves you… that’s not life’… Today, I saw the best documentary in my life… The film about life!’ – this was a comment of one of people who saw the film.
The film entitled FENOMEN TVRĐAVA / FORTRESS PHENOMENON shows the phenomenon of the Petrovaradin Fortress, the jewel of world culture and architecture, in a cinematic way. With purposeful and knowledgeable use of the state-of-the-art film technology, and subtle editing of the material that make the flow of the film exceptionally dynamic and attractive, and encourages curiosity in audience regarding the topic and idea of the film, the authors succeeded to make the film we are proud of. This is truly an original and masterfully made documentary about the fortress that deep within and around itself hides secrets of all its generations, their boundaries and overcoming of these boundaries. This was a unanimous opinion of the public of the VivaFest 2016 international festival in Sarajevo, where it won the ‘Golden Clapboard’ in competition of 2130 films.
Đorđe Kaćanski
