"This one is repulsive to screenwriters the new aesthetics of the Screenplay Festival, this glamor and red carpet, which is not followed by the proper attitude towards our work. Maybe that's the reason why they don't want to participate in it," Vladimir Đurđević, president of the Association of Screenwriters of Serbia, told Vreme, commenting on the fact that only nine films registered for this festival in Vrnjačka Banja.
He says that "we all know that the Vrnjačka spa lives from it, but not in this way", which he illustrates with the following example:
"For the second year already, the mascot of the festival is a robot, which should symbolize the screenwriter - AI. Children take pictures with him, which was perceived as a sign that the mascot was successful. I don't think any screenwriter would want to comment on something like this because it is shameful for our guild."
Đurđević adds that "screenwriters, at least those who are members of our Association, do not use AI" and says that he does not know if anyone uses it, but that, for example, the TV novellas that are on our television programs seem to him as if they were not written by a human.
He warns that there is a conflict of interest at the festival in Vrnjačka banja, because the producer of six of the nine films of "Apollon Media", Željko Mitrović's company, is also one of the sponsors of the festival.
"It is unacceptable," says Vladimir Đurđević.
"Nobody would have anything against creating their own festival in Vrnjačka Banja, where they will show their films in a way that suits them. The films they will show in Vrnjačka Banja are not cinema, they are made with technology suitable for television screening and streaming. It is possible that this is why they did not manage to have premieres at some other festivals, so they will use Vrnjačka Banja for that."
The festival is managed by the local self-government, Vrnjačka banja, and the program depends on them. This year, the Summer School of Dramaturgy is not planned - there is an announcement from last year on the website.
"The goal is for students during the festival to be in contact with established screenwriters and other authors and at workshops, to gain the necessary knowledge. It seems that students are not popular with this festival, and that they were victims of budget cuts," says Vladimir Đurđević.
It is also interesting that the people who create the festival are not screenwriters by training: the producer of the festival Marko Jovičić is a producer, and the selector Ivana Vujić is a theater director.
"Last year, our association had its representative on the jury. This year, we applied to the Ministry of Culture for a workshop for established screenwriters, but the results of that competition have still been published, so it won't even take place."
In the announcement of the Association of Screenwriters on the occasion of the Festival in Vrnjačka Banja, which they sent to the public, it is also written:
"Today, along with our profession - both name and essence - (Festival) has become an object of ridicule among colleagues, which neither we nor the event itself deserve, which should mark its fiftieth edition next year. The festival was stolen from the screenwriters and handed over to producers and political structures, instead of functioning as a result of the cooperation of our guild and local self-government".
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