Culture and sports must not be left to the market, Belgrade Mayor Aleksandar Šapić said today, during a tour of the renovated Youth Theater "Dadov" with Prime Minister Ana Brnabić and City Secretary for Culture Nataša Mihailović Vacić.
On that occasion, he also announced a change in the status of the Fest.
"We are in the process of setting aside the Fest as a separate institution starting next year, so that the festival, which has been going on for more than half a century, will return to its old glory." The city of Belgrade will do its best to make Fest the most important film festival in the region and in this part of Europe again," said the mayor.
He added that the wish is for the Fest to become the central art festival in Belgrade, where the best Serbian films and the best Serbian actors will be chosen and world names will come.
When asked if the separation of Fest means that it will be in a better position than Bitef or Belef, Šapić said that it means that Fest will be in a better position than it is today.
"As the mayor, I cannot allow Sarajevo to have a better festival than Belgrade." Fest is the oldest," said Šapić.
He did not explain how Fest can be separated from CEBEF, the Center of Belgrade Festivals, which also includes Bemus, Belef and Sofest and has no legal status.
The 51st Fest began on Friday. No one opened it, even though it is usual, only the actress Hristina Popović, who led the opening program in the Great Hall of the MTS, announced the film screenings. Tip Katerine Tana (short documentary) and The crime is mine French director Francois Ozon.
This year, the usual introductory media conference was not held, where selector Jugoslav Pantelić presents the program in detail, highlights individual programs and films, and where all other important things about the current festival, including the budget, are announced. Only press conferences of the authors of the films were organized before their screening, where the authors praise the film and express their satisfaction at being at the Fest.
Jugoslav Pantelić as artistic director addressed the audience at the opening. He mentioned that he is appearing in that role for the ninth time, so to many it sounded like he was saying goodbye, especially since he announced that after this Fest, he will speak publicly about his relationship with the city authorities.
The city secretary was not noticed at the opening of the Fest. It is only known that in the City Assembly she received this year's winners of "Belgrade Winner", director Lordan Zafranović and producer Dobrivoj Tanasijević Dan Tanu.
Mayor Aleksandar Šapić's announcement about the Fest today clearly indicated the future of this international film festival: Serbian films with Serbian actors and guests from abroad who will be invited because they know how to praise Serbia.
With such a conception, the need for the Fest to be better than the Sarajevo Festival, which in terms of program and participants is a world festival, will not be realized.
It seems that it is only a continuation of the formalization of the government's direct influence on culture that began this week, with the adoption of new decisions for cultural manifestations of importance to the City.
S.Ć./Beoinfo
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