Reacting Ivan Karl:
This is not the first time that I have asked "Vreme" to publish a reaction to the text signed by Sonja Ćirić, just as it is unfortunately not the first time that in the text she writes, she does not apply the basic journalistic rule of at least asking the person she mentions for a comment before stacking the dice.
So like last year when she did an interview on the same topic with Jugoslav Pantelić and asked arbitrarily, it seemed like an ordered question, now in the comment she arbitrarily derives, perhaps an ordered conclusion.
Of course without checking and with factual errors.
It says that I talked about changing the date in 2022, when I had nothing to do with the Fest because I came to the Film Center of Serbia - incorrect. When I presented it publicly as an idea, I was in the position of city secretary for culture and chairman of the Fest board, and the board unanimously adopted that decision, given that the deadline was the last Friday in September, i.e. the first week of October - it is not difficult to check the press clipping from two and a half years ago.
Postponing the Fest: Stacking the Personnel Dice
By the way, I came to FCS in June 2023 and until the other day I didn't advertise FEST anywhere, except when I was forced to send a response to her question and his answer, which you can easily repeat now, because of the aforementioned interview of Sonja Ćirić with Jugoslav Pantelić.
As far as my speech at the end of last week is concerned, it has nothing to do with any activities and decisions of any festival body, nor was it coordinated with them.
I communicated with the Fest board at the end of last year at the request of local film producers who requested FCS to help resolve the status of their films in the festival program. So I will not be the artistic director or selector of FEST.
What's more, the date that was adopted the other day is different from the one I'm advocating. If your esteemed colleague Sonja Ćirić had carefully read my statement, she would have seen that I stated that I announced myself because many colleagues persistently call me and ask about FEST, which is outside my area of responsibility and will remain so.
Of course, I hope I have the right to express my well-argued and well-intentioned opinion about the festival, or should I not?
I wish the best of luck to FEST and to everyone who works or will work on it.
