Today, the 14th FAST FORWARD Human Rights Film Festival Montenegro in Podgorica and Berane closes, and on the last festival day, the audience will have the opportunity to watch five award-winning films from this year’s programme.
The programme in Podgorica starts at 18:00, in the Cultural Information Centre “Budo Tomović”, in the Dodest Hall, with a screening of the film Facing Darkness by French director Jean-Gabriel Périot. Over four years, five young filmmakers documented the bombardments and daily life during the siege of Sarajevo. For some, the goal was simple reporting, while for others it was a way to face their fears. The first part of this film comprises archive footage of shootings and atrocities, and shattered apartment blocks, as well as of soldiers playing soccer. The second part takes place 30 years later, with the men who recorded the footage watching it again on an iPad. Jean-Gabriel Périot enriches the archive material with his footage.
At 20:00, the short film Hope Hotel Phantom, by the Bosnian-Herzegovinian author Bojan Stojičić, is on the programme. Twenty-seven years after Dayton, in early July 2022, the filmmaker booked a room in the Hope Hotel, the same one where the negotiators of the agreement that determined the fate of Bosnia and Herzegovina stayed. Sleeping, walking, and eating in the same rooms and corridors as the people who shaped his country’s future, he captures the echoes of Dayton, a dream that became a nightmare.
The FAST FORWARD Festival 2023 closes at 20:30 with the film Kristina, directed by Nikola Spasić. It is a story about a woman who tries to understand her past and her identity using alternative methods and therapies in the hoping that she will find the meaning of her life, unravel family relationships, and understand her deep sense of sadness and loneliness. Nikola Spasić, the director, is a guest of the FAST FORWARD Festival and will address the audience in a short panel discussion after the screening.
The Berane edition of the FAST FORWARD Festival 2023 concludes with screenings of two films at the Culture Center – the film Total Trust by the young director Jialing Zhang at 17:00, and later, at 19:00, the film Prison 77 by the Spanish director Alberto Rodríguez.
Admission to all screenings is free, and more information is available at www.ubrzaj.me.
This year’s edition of the Festival was supported by the Ministry of Economic Development of Montenegro and the Municipality of Kotor, and support was also provided by the Municipality of Berane, CIC “Budo Tomović”, Cultural Center “Nikola Đurković” and the Center for Culture Berane. Partners of FAST FORWARD are BELDOCS, Sarajevo Film Festival and Human Rights Film Network. The commitment to social responsibility was also reflected in the business sector this year, highlighting sponsorships of Hotel Cue, Gostiona 1928, PG taxi and Compania De Vinos Montenegro. Media sponsors of the Festival FAST FORWARD 2023 are television Nova M, Adria TV, Gradska TV, Gradski radio and portal gradski.me, Prva TV, E TV, Radio and portal Antena M, daily newspaper Pobjeda, daily newspaper Dan, portal CdM, portal Analitika, Radio Berane, Radio Kotor and Play radio.
Marlena Ivanović, Programme Assistant