The jubilee 20th international festival Seize the Film is really changing perspectives this year. The Novi Sad audience can watch as many as 29 short films from all over the world during the four festival days. Under the slogan “We Radiate Love“, the Seize the Film Festival wants to show the joint power of the audience and films, to radiate love and change and thus contribute to the development of empathy and equality in society.
Its main goal, in addition to the artistic side, is primarily to inform the public about the life, activities, rights and achievements of people with disabilities, which affects changes in people’s attitudes, better understanding and acceptance of differences, creates conditions for greater visibility and inclusion of people with disabilities in all spheres of social life. This is the only festival of this type in Europe.
“What all the people, gathered around the festival, are doing is really pioneering work and they should be proud of that. This is truly an incredibly important festival with a strong message,” Matthijs Wouter Knol, director of the European Film Academy, said at the opening.
This message was also conveyed by the films from the screen, but also by two excellent foreign artists through their performances, actor Erwin Aljukić from Germany and performer Kenta Kambara from Japan.
Erwin is one of the public advocates for the rights of actors with disabilities and gay artists in Germany. He is also a member of the European Film Academy and he is at the Seize the Film Festival for the second time.
“I remember the last time I was here, a couple just happened to walk into the festival and they were completely blown away. That is actually the point, that this should be a festival for a wide audience, because it concerns us all, and not only for a very narrow circle of people,” says Erwin.
During the festival, an expert conference “From Non-Discrimination to Audience Development” was held, as well as a round-table meeting “Overcoming the Challenges of Film and Festival Producers in Achieving Accessibility”. After the screenings of the films, each day, talks related to the occasions are held, which break stereotypes and prejudices and change perspectives. This year, Seize the Film Festival, in addition to the aforementioned artists, also hosted Milica Veljković, Siniša Tucić, Helga Paškvan and Milica Lazarević.
This year’s edition is part of Novi Sad – The European Capital of Culture official programme, and it was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, the Provincial Secretariat for Culture, Public Information and Relations with Religious Communities of Vojvodina, Novi Sad City Council – Culture Department, ERSTE Bank, the EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee and the EU Delegation to Serbia.
