Bašta Fest Team is happy and proud to announce the competition program of the twelfth Bašta Fest, which will be held from July 3rd to the 6th in Bajina Bašta, West Serbia! For this year’s edition arrived about 500 films arrived, making selection a difficult task for our selector Maja Šuša.
27 short fiction films from 17 countries were selected, of which 5 are Serbian, creating an exciting and diverse competition program! In four days, the audience will have the opportunity to watch films from 20 countries: Serbia, Croatia, N. Macedonia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, France, Austria, Brazil, Turkey, Lithuania, Belgium, Spain, Malaysia, Iran, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and the UK. We are especially proud that we have 11 films from the Balkan region included among them. The films will compete for the main jury awards: for the best film “Golden Imagination,” for the best male and female roles “Golden Interpretation,” along with two special awards. In addition, there is an award for the best film of the Youth Jury, as well as a regional award for the best camera “Golden Visualization” in cooperation with Cineplanet rental, which an individual juror awards.
“This year, we are faced with a very interesting fact, which is that since the founding of the festival, we have more films in the program signed by female directors. This happened quite by chance, without any prior decision, by choosing the best films from those that were submitted. So this year we are watching films by 18 female directors and 12 male directors, and we close the program with a great debut film by Serbian female director Emilija Gašić. The names of this year’s blocks are: My Liberation Day, And Now What, Mom? They Are Coming, My Youth My Life, Woven By Dreams, and They Are Leaving. So we are expecting films that critically examine freedoms, the feelings of young people within their countries, dreams that are (not) fulfilled, and relationships with mother and family. We have 3 world premieres, 19 Serbian premieres, new productions, as well as films that had their world premieres in Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Sundance, and Locarno. We open our competition program with the Cannes winner, winner of the European Oscar, Nebojša Slijepčević’s film “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent”, a huge success for a short film (and film in general) of regional cinematography. Young authors are very brave and inspiring, and the topics and approaches they deal with are fresh and authentic. I’m looking forward to showing this year’s program to the audience in Bajina Bašta!” added our artistic director and selector, Maja Šuša.
After the awards ceremony, the festival will traditionally close with a regional debut feature – on this
occasion, “78 days” by Emilija Gašić.
