The FAST FORWARD Human Rights Film Festival Montenegro 2025 was officially opened last night in Kotor with the screening of the film “The Voice of Hind Rajab” directored by Kaouther Ben Hania, which deeply moved the Kotor audience.
Radmila Bećo Radulović, Director of the “Nikola Đurković” Cultural Centre, opened the Kotor edition of the FAST FORWARD Festival. “These screenings will remind us that real stories are often not heard loudly enough. I am particularly proud that tonightKotor is a place where these stories are not only heard but also understood. As the Director of the Cultural Centre, and as someone who deeply believes in the power of art to change people and communities, I would like to thank the FAST FORWARD Festival for bringing its courage, sensitivity, and important questions to our Cinema ‘Boka’ for many years. I believe culture has its greatest value when it forces us to re-examine our own views and open space for empathy,” she said.
“Today we face a reality in which justice is often measured by unequal standards, where fundamental values are sacrificed for short-term interests, and where institutions frequently choose the comfort of silence when their role should be the most decisive, producing deep consequences for society. That is why we need FAST FORWARD. Film reveals what numbers obscure, what cannot fit into reports. Film remembers and reminds, opening space for questions that would otherwise remain suppressed,” said Daliborka Uljarević, Executive Director of the CCE. “We must recognize injustice regardless of where it occurs and how politically ‘acceptable’ or ‘unacceptable’ it may be. No human life must ever be less valuable because of the identity it carries,” she concluded.
Earlier yesterday, the film “Si e No – Yes and No” by Sanja Blečić was screened at the high school, while the final screening in Kotor last night was “Completely Different, Exactly the Same” by Italian director Marianna Giorgia Marzini. Tonight’s programme includes “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” at 19:00 and “Happiness to All” at 20:30.
The fourth festival day in Podgorica features three films which, each from a different perspective, speak about resistance – political, social, and inner. Through the story of an individual opposing an authoritarian regime, a teenager whose identity has become a target of violence, and a collective breaking under the pressure of fear and prejudice, today’s programme raises questions of courage, refusal to conform, and the price of freedom in the contemporary world.
At 17:00, audiences will have the opportunity to watch “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” by David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin.This is an intimate, courageous, and disturbingly topical portrait of a man who, without political power, protection, or social status, dares to do what most people do not even dare to imagine – to openly oppose Vladimir Putin’s regime. The film explores courage, the price of freedom, and the limits of individual resistance in an authoritarian society.
The film “The Boy in Pink Trousers” by Margherita Ferri is scheduled for 18:45. This deeply moving story based on true events. Andrea was only fifteen years old when, as a result of brutal peer violence, he took his own life. It was the first case in Italy in which bullying among young people led to suicide, leaving the country in shock and disbelief. The film explores not only the tragic event, but also systemic responsibility and empathy towards victims of peer violence.
The third screening begins at 20:45 with the socially engaged thriller “Hysteria” by Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay. The film depicts the tense dynamics of a multi-ethnic film crew faced with a crisis of identity and trust after the burning of the Qur’an occurs during the shooting of a scene. An apparently harmless situation triggers an avalanche of suspicion, stereotypes, and mutual accusations, turning the set into a space of intense psychological tension. It is also a story about the dangers of hasty conclusions, the cracks within multicultural collectives, and the mechanisms through which fear and ignorance can destroy any community.
This year’s edition is being organised with the support of the Municipality of Kotor, the Municipality of Berane, KIC “Budo Tomović”, the Montenegrin Cinematheque, the Public Institution Cultural Centre “Nikola Đurković”, 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 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the European Union.
FAST FORWARD Festival partners are the Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival from Belgrade and the Human Rights Film Network (HRFN) based in Amsterdam.
Corporate social responsibility is also reflected through sponsorships from Crowne Plaza Podgorica Hotel, Metropolis, Compagnie de Vinos, and PG Taxi.
Media partners of FAST FORWARD 2025 are Nova M Television, PG TV, TV E, Antena M Radio and Portal, the daily newspaper Pobjeda, the portal and daily DAN, Radio D, CdM Portal, Analitika Portal, Radio Kotor, Radio Berane, Radio Tivat, Radio Titograd, Radio Elmag, and El, Mag and Arena.
Admission to all screenings is free. More information is available at https://ubrzaj.me.
Lejla Šabotić, Project Assistant