OPENING CEREMONY OF 67/68 MARТOVSKI FESТIVAL WITH THE SUPPORT OF LUKOIL SRBIJA
Monday, April 19, 2021
The biennial edition of 67th and 68th festival «Martovski festival» – Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival supported by LUKОIL SRBIЈА for a number of years already, was opened by the Assistant Mayor Andreja Mladenović. The opening was attended by the LUKOIL SRBIJA General Director Dеnis Ryupin, as well as the representatives of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the Film Centre Serbia and the City Assembly of Belgrade.
The president of the Board of the festival, Andreja Mladenović pointed out that the festival was not held according to its regular schedule due to the well-known circumstances of the pandemic, but that the beginning of this traditional event is concurrently sending a message that life is slowly coming back to normal. He mentioned that the realization of this year’s biennial festival was enabled by the major sponsors, first of all the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Film Centre Serbia and the Secretariat for Culture of the City of Belgrade. «However, we could not manage to achieve all that we’d planned if it were not for our great friend of the Festival – LUKOIL Company» – said Mladenović.
This year's festival is dedicated to the composer Zoran Simjanović, who was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to his wife Ljiljana Erić-Simjanović.
The Art Director of the «Martovski Festival», Dejan Dabić, said that the festival was dedicated to true film lovers. He pointed out that organizing the ‘double’ edition of the festival was a success and that the Festival managed to survive even in the most difficult years, such as 1999, when it was held in the underground bomb shelter of the «Dom Omladine» youth centre.
The «Martovski Festiva» will last until 25th April and will present to the public a rich film program having several national competition categories: documentary film with a runtime of up to and over 50 minutes, experimental film and video art, animation and short feature film - a category that includes an international selection. The awards will be presented for both festivals.
