The 13th edition of Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival will be held from 3-10 September in Belgrade in the amphitheatre in front of the Museum of Yugoslavia, Summer stage in Kalemegdan (behind the Gallery of the Natural History Museum), on the terrace of Kolarac Art Cinema, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, Yugoslav Film Archive, and cinema Balkan. The ambitious programme of the festival, supported by the European Union through its Creative Europe MEDIA subprogramme for the fourth year in a row, will feature over 135 documentaries and VR/AR content. The majority of documentaries from the official selection will also be available to watch online via Cinesquare platform for the duration of the festival. Learn more about the festival programme here.
All screenings and accompanying events will be held in full respect of the measures aimed at fighting COVID-19 introduced by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Crisis Headquarters.
Beldocs takes part in several projects funded by Creative Europe MEDIA, such as AVA Doc project, which brings together 27 partners from nine European countries with the aim to make European films more available for library users in different European countries. Short and documentary film festivals in Europe make their selection of films available for users of 15 libraries across Europe. In Serbia, the users of the National Library of Serbia and the Library of the City of Belgrade will have the opportunity to watch the most prominent documentary films from around the world from Beldocs’ previous selections via VOD platform; project Beldocs Industry 2020 will be held during the 13th edition of the festival at the Yugoslav Cinematheque (the National Film Archive of Serbia) in Belgrade. Beldocs Industry was launched eight years ago in response to trends and needs of the industry, focusing on underdeveloped parts of Europe. Now, it stands for one of the largest get-togethers of film professionals from around Europe.
The Republic of Serbia joined Creative Europe’s MEDIA sub-programme in December 2015. Sub-programme MEDIA of Creative Europe promotes the development of the audio-visual and multimedia sectors by providing support for: development, distribution, and promotion of feature European films, animated films, documentaries, and television drama; development and promotion of new media content; professional training of film professionals; development of new technologies and platforms for distribution of audio-visual content; film festivals; and audience development. Funding is available in several categories, including support for producers in developing innovative and competitive projects in areas of cinema, TV and video games; support for distribution of European audio-visual works; audience development and professional training; and networking. MEDIA Desk Serbia is the implementing body of the MEDIA sub-programme set up within the Film Centre of Serbia. Since 2016, companies and organisations from Serbia have benefitted from over EUR3 million in grants from the MEDIA sub-programme through a number of calls for proposals.
