The Jury of The Second Edition of the Festival is Announced
Trailblazing Documentaries Competing for Recognition at the Second Interaction Festival
The second edition of the Interaction Short Documentary Film Festival, currently underway in Čačak, Užice, and Požega, presents in its competitive program 15 exceptional movies that redefine the boundaries of documentary filmmaking. These films have been honored with awards and gained recognition at some of the world’s renowned film festivals.
The films in question encompass “Will You Look at Me” by the young Chinese director Shuli Huang, acclaimed at Cannes, Melbourne, Leipzig, Sundance, Clermont-Ferrand, Hamburg, Palm Springs; the British-Russian “Haulout” by Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev, nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary and awarded at festivals in Hamburg, Seoul, Dokufest in Prizren, Kassel, and Brussels; the French “Little Berlin” by Kate McMullen, recognized at Rhode Island, Sydney, and Brooklyn; the Polish “Light Years” by Monika Proba, a recipient of awards in Krakow, Norway, and Croatia; and the Croatian “Babajanja” by Ante Zlatko Stolica, named the best film at Makedox in Skopje, Docs Barcelona, and awarded a special prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2022.
Dejan Petrović, a distinguished documentarian, professor of film directing, and the artistic director of Interaction has brought together an impressive array of films from around the world. Included in his selection are the films: “Robust Heart” (Martin Benchimol / Argentina, USA, United Kingdom), “The Abyss” (Jeppe Lange / Denmark), “Ramboy” (Matthias Joulaud, Lucien Rou / Switzerland), “Nation of Katanga” (Beza Hailu Lemma, Hiwot Admasu Getaneh / South Africa, Ethiopia), “Neighbor Abdi” (Douwe Dijkstra / Netherlands), “Majmouan” (Mohammadreza Farzad / Poland, Germany, Iran), “Shirampari: Legacies of the River” (Lucia Florez / Peru), “Borj El Mechkouk” (Driss Aroussi / France, Morocco), “Back” (Jazan Rabi / Netherlands), “Favorite Daughter” (Dana Reilly / USA)
An international jury will have the challenging task of selecting the recipient of the Interaction Festival’s Best Film Award, which is awarded to the film’s director. In addition to the statue and diploma, a substantial cash prize, provided by Sirogojno Company, is also included. Notably, the statue is the artistic creation of sculptor Marko Crnobrnja.
The expert jury consists of Slovenian director Urška Đukić, last year’s winner of the Interaction Festival – the author of the short animated documentary “Granny’s Sexual Life,” which has won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix Tampere 2022, the European Film Academy (EFA) Award for Best Short Film in 2002, and the 2023 César Awards. Joining her on the panel are Finnish director Inka Ahte and Luka Papić from Serbia, the author of award-winning films “Without” and “Invoked” (co-directed with Srđan Vučo).
A special prize will be granted by a youth jury composed of participants from the new workshop program, Interaction – Teen Doc. These young jurors come from five Western Balkan countries: North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. The workshop itself is solidly supported by the Western Balkans Fund.
Within the competition program, the film that garners the highest approval from the audience will be awarded the Audience Prize.
In addition to the competitive section, the Interactions festival includes the Interscreen program, which presents a curated collection of short documentaries from the Serbian and Yugoslav director and screenwriter, Mladomir Puriša Đorđević (1924-2022). This second festival edition was ceremoniously opened on August 16th in Čačak.
The program “In Focus” offers a unique opportunity for the audience to revisit Puriša Đorđević’s lesser-known but equally significant short documentaries, including “Allegro Ma Non-troppo” (1985), “Children” (1962), and “The Double Bass” (1963). These films, along with his well-known feature works, constitute a substantial portion of Puriša Đorđević’s contributions to both domestic and international cinema.
The festival program continues until August 22nd in Čačak, the national capital of culture in 2023, where it will be ceremoniously concluded with an awards ceremony and the premiere of three short documentaries on the topic of brain drain. These documentaries are being filmed and edited by three teams composed of a total of 15 students from film academies worldwide, participants of the 18th International Student Film Camp “Interaction.”
Furthermore, you can follow the program of the Interactions Festival in Požega and Užice until August 21st.
As tradition dictates, the newly produced films from the camp participants will have the opportunity to be seen by the audience at the Cultural Center of Belgrade on the 23rd of August.
Admission to the festival screenings is entirely free of charge.
For a detailed schedule of the program, please visit the official Interactions website.