The list of 15 candidates for the Oscar in the foreign film category, published a few days ago by the American Film Academy, which did not include Serbia's representatives, confirmed the impression that 2023 will be remembered for various inconveniences and not for excellent films, books, plays, exhibitions , concerts and other creative results - of which there were many. Wrong, stupid moves and decisions overcame good and smart.
The possibility of such an end picture for 2023 was already announced in mid-February, on the occasion of the Bitef festival: the Secretariat for Culture of the City of Belgrade, for reasons known only to itself, did not announce a competition for the new artistic director of the festival, even though Ivan Medenica's mandate expired, nor was he offered re-election. so Medenica decided to retire after seven years, so as not to break the law.
At that moment, there were only three months left until the conclusion of the program for this year's edition of Bitef, and yet, the City Secretariat accepted Ivan Medenica's decision and appointed Nikita Milivojević as the new artistic director of the Bitef festival, thus without a competition.
Extremely tumultuous protests from both the media and the public, which followed this unnecessarily created problem, subsided as soon as the new artistic director was promoted, but solely out of respect for the directorial successes of Nikita Milivojević and his "Shakespeare Festival" in Čortanovci. And yet, regardless of this choice (because experience tells us that people are placed at the head of cultural institutions because of party and not professional merit), it seems as if the Assembly of the City of Belgrade was ready to risk (sacrifice?) the quality of the program of this year's Bitef in order to achieved its interest. Which one - it is not known, but it does not seem that it could be classified among the general ones.
The impression that those who are obliged to take care of the proper development and growth of the cultural scene, that culture is not the first, but rather a secondary item on the agenda, was confirmed during the rest of the year. The Film Center of Serbia, Nishville, the Book Fair, the destruction of architectural heritage, are some of the numerous examples that confirm it.
The last example was, already mentioned at the beginning of this text, the selection for the representative of the country for the Oscar award in the foreign film category of the American Film Academy.
In 2023, like few previous years, Serbia had the opportunity to draw the world's attention to its cinematography, and therefore to itself. It was enough for the jury that decided on the Serbian candidate to do what any jury of any normal country in the world would do - to choose the film that is the most visible, that has the best chance of success.
As is well known, the jury here did not do that. He did not vote for any of this year's three (even!) films, which by then had already received awards at film festivals such as Cannes and Locarno, good foreign reviews, and had extremely high viewership, but instead chose the film "What my thoughts are fighting for" Milorad Milinković.
What was the real reason for such a decision of theirs, because the one they announced to the public cannot possibly be the right one, of course, is not known. Because that film, despite the story about the private life of King Milan and Dragan Mićanović, who played him, did not arouse the interest of even the local cinema audience, and it did not even reach the foreign ones, which are relevant for the Oscars. So, what to think, why did the jury, assuming that its expertise and taste are not questionable, voted against the general interest?
Well, that's what 2023 will be remembered for, in terms of general interest.
It's a shame, because of the loss that such behavior has caused to the local cultural scene and the country, and above all, it's a shame because of all the good and important books, plays, films, concerts, exhibitions, festivals, awards and other applause this year, which it badly suppressed from memory about the year 2023.
Read daily news, analysis, commentary and interviews at www.vreme.com
