The FAST FORWARD Human Rights Film Festival Montenegro 2025 opened last night at the “Budo Tomović” Cultural and Information Centre (KIC) in Podgorica with the Montenegrin premiere of the film The Voice of Hind Rajab, directed by Kaouther Ben Hania. The screening left a profound impact on the audience, who watched the screening in silence and tears.
“The motto of this year’s FAST FORWARD Festival – Light the Shadows – is a call to direct our gaze to the places we most often avoid looking. In the shadows live people whose rights are neglected, whose lives unfold far from the spotlight of politics and the public, people who remain silent because they have learned that no one listens to them. It is our responsibility to give them light,”said Daliborka Uljarević, Executive Director of the Centre for Civic Education (CCE), opening the Festival.
“Montenegro lives in the shadows of unaddressed injustices, deeply rooted corruption, revisionist narratives, hate speech, and political experiments carried out at the citizens’ expense. Beneath a facade of stability lie systemic cracks: institutional weakness, division, normalized discrimination, and citizens’ exhaustion from constant deception and unfulfilled promises,” she added, noting that this year’s Festival selection places a focus “on spaces where the light breaks through the slowest: the experiences of victims of war and repression, the stories of marginalized groups, the quiet fractures of individuals and the human shadows pushed to the margins by society.”
Referring to the global context, she remarked that today the boundaries of brutality are shifting – from Ukraine to Gaza, and that it is essential to resist the relativization of humanity.
For their strength, perseverance, and commitment to the public good, for being the voice of reason, courage, and solidarity in a moment of collective vulnerability – the annual CCE and FAST FORWARD Festival Award for the Promotion of Human Rights and Civic Activism for 2025 was presented to the group of citizens from Kruševo Ždrijelo, who stood there for more than 300 days demanding justice for 23 lives lost, including four children. Vesna Pejović, mother and grandmother of three victims of the first massacre in Cetinje, received the award on their behalf, accompanied by Bato Pejović, Senka Jovanović and Mito Marković.
“These are citizens who have become a symbol of a dignified, courageous struggle for truth, justice, and accountability. People who chose resistance to injustice and a loss that would break most others. Their struggle exposed institutional passivity, the lack of empathy and solidarity, and opened questions to which the state remains silent – questions that reveal how distant Montenegro has become from itself. They deserve to be illuminated on this stage – not as shadows of a failing society, but as clear, brave, human voices of Montenegro,” Uljarević emphasized.
Receiving the award, Pejović said in a deeply emotional speech before the packed hall that the gesture profoundly moved her.“This is a balm for my wounds, woven by people with great hearts. And I believe that Montenegro has more people of great heart than those of the other sort,” she said.
Reflecting on personal and collective tragedy, with all its ups and downs, she said that she wishes to contribute to a better future for children and that the heavy fate of every child deeply pains her.
“I entered this struggle not to ask for the impossible – to bring back my loved ones who were lost – but because life has a right, and that right should mean that things happen in proper order. But in my case, that order had no rules,” she said, extending special gratitude to the institution of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms. “It is the only institution that took the right approach in my struggle. Had I not seen the omissions, I would not have started this struggle at all. It was terrible, it was horrifying. It was never about standing for ten months in the worst weather and rain on the street… But the system left me no other alternative, except to stand there. And I only want the institutions to do their job… I asked little from them, for my great loss. But some of them did not even deem it worthy of consideration,” Pejović said, stressing that she could never have endured this all alone, without those who stood with her at Kruševo Ždrijelo.
“Children in Cetinje need their smiles back, and that is why we stood at Kruševo Ždrijelo. The parks of Cetinje are no longer places filled with children’s laughter. Today, children are frightened by every gunshot; the city is wounded. To those who commented that we should not have done this – I forgive you, because you did not know what you were saying. And may God forbid anyone from carrying my pain. I want to live until I put a full stop on everything I have fought for. Thank you endlessly for this,” Pejović concluded.
The packed hall responded with long, emotional and standing applause in support of her struggle.
This year’s edition of the Festival is supported by the Municipality of Kotor, Municipality of Berane, KIC “Budo Tomović”, Montenegrin Cinematheque, Public Institution “Nikola Đurković” Cultural Centre, Berane Cultural Centre, the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, the Fund for Minorities, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the European Union.
FAST FORWARD Festival partners include the Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival from Belgrade and the Human Rights Film Network (HRFN) based in Amsterdam.
Commitment to social responsibility was evident this year as well in the business sector, with sponsorships from Crown Plaza Podgorica, Metropolis, Companie de Vinos, and PG Taxi.
Media partners of FAST FORWARD 2025 include television stations Nova M, PG TV, TV E, Radio and portal Antena M, daily 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.
All information about the UBRZAJ Festival is available at www.ubrzaj.me.
Maja Marinović, Programme Associate