Under the motto ILLUMINATE THE SHADOWS, the Centre for Civic Education (CCE) is organising the 16th edition of the FAST FORWARD Human Rights Film Festival Montenegro 2025 in Podgorica, Berane and Kotor.
The central programme of the FAST FORWARD Festival will take place from 10 to 14 December in Podgorica, at the Cultural and Information Centre „Budo Tomović“ and the Montenegrin Cinematheque, while accompanying editions will be held at the Berane Cultural Centre on 11 and 12 December and at the “Boka” Cinema in Kotor on 12 and 13 December 2025.
The motto of this year’s edition – ILLUMINATE THE SHADOWS – unites all the films of the FAST FORWARD Festival selection: stories revealing the inner conflicts of characters, their traumas, memories and search for identity, as well as the generational legacy of violence, revenge, exile, and migration, portrayed through coming-of-age narratives and resistance to social norms. The selection includes intimate testimonies, films about courage and the price of resisting those in power, voices of children and women breaking through silence, and about identities seeking their space despite prejudice.
These films encourage reflection on freedom, art as a space of rebellion, and the clash of ethical norms from which new interpretations of reality and perhaps different choices emerge. Through cinematic light, they bring out of darkness the stories and people whom society, its norms, politics and rigid systems have pushed the shadows.
FAST FORWARD 2025 begins on 10 December, on International Human Rights Day, with an opening ceremony on the Main Stage of CIC “Budo Tomović”, where the annual award for the promotion of human rights and civic activism will be presented, with the aim of further recognising and empowering those who selflessly invest their efforts to make society better and ensure that the universality of human rights is upheld.
Following the opening, the film The Voice of Hind Rajab by director Kauter Ben Hani will be screened. The film reconstructs the desperate call for help from a six-year-old girl trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, as Red Crescent volunteers desperately try to save her. One voice on the line becomes the entire world between life and death, symbolically opening the 16th FAST FORWARD edition – a call to illuminate the shadows of ongoing wars and the responsibility of those who remain silent. The film received the longest applause in the history of the Venice Film Festival and numerous awards across different categories.
This year’s edition is made possible with financial support from the Municipality of Kotor, the Municipality of Berane, CIC “Budo Tomović”, the Montenegrin Cinematheque, the “Nikola Đurković” Cultural Centre, the Berane Cultural Centre, the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, the Fund for Minorities, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union.
Partners of the FAST FORWARD Festival are Beldocs and the Human Rights Film Network (HRFN). The commitment to social responsibility is also reflected in the business sector this year, with sponsorship from Crown Plaza Podgorica, Metropolis, Compania de Vinos, and PG Taxi.
Media sponsors of FAST FORWARD 2025 include Nova M TV, PG TV, TV E, Radio and Portal Antena M, daily newspaper Pobjeda, portal and daily DAN, Radio D, portal CdM, portal Analitika, Radio Kotor, Radio Berane, Radio Tivat, Radio Titograd, and Radio Elmag, El, Mag, and Arena.
Admission to all screenings, in all three cities, is free.
The full festival programme and additional information can be found at https://ubrzaj.me/
The official festival trailer for FAST FORWARD 2025 is available at https://tinyurl.com/ymec6uc2
Miloš Knežević, Director of the FAST FORWARD 2025 Festival