Strengthening the capacities of domestic cinematography and developing the film audience are goals that we implement with great dedication through the European Film Festival, an event of entertaining and educational character, which we realize throughout Serbia in partnership with the portal for film art – Cineuropa.

The audience in twenty-three towns and cities across Serbia had the opportunity to get acquainted with contemporary cinematography co-produced by European countries as well as with films that were created with the support of the ACP-EU Culture programme (Program Africa Caribbean Pacific – European Union Culture) over the past 25 years. It was a unique chance that, in addition to the current practice of screening European films, film audiences across the country could get an insight into the lesser-known cinematography of African and Caribbean productions. As many as eight places in Vojvodina, numerous small municipalities and a double program in Belgrade and Niš, only partially illustrate the scope of the festival, whose program included more than twenty feature films and documentaries.

As part of the supporting programs, in the three largest cities, we organized workshops in the field of animation, short feature and documentary film, that we want to use to network the community of film authors and through a practical approach provide new knowledge and skills in an industry that is rapidly changing.

Workshops on writing scripts and directing animated films were led by Vojin Vasović, producer and director of To Blink Animation studio, a film company based in Kragujevac and Toronto, and artistic director of the private investment fund for animated films Animond. This workshop provided concrete knowledge through workshop, and the participants left it more prepared to successfully write a synopsis and screenplay, as well as a director’s explanation for an animated film or series.

Authors interested in short feature films had the opportunity to learn details about the festival from Maja Šuša, founder and artistic director of the international short feature film festival Bašta Fest in Bajina Bašta, with special reference to its Industry program, which provides opportunities for financing projects of short feature films.

In cooperation with the Beldocs festival, in Belgrade and Niš, we talked with director Luka Papić about the process of creating a documentary film. The workshop “Documentary Film – from filming without a plan to the premiere” presented the process from the initial idea, developing the idea into a project, conceptualizing the framework of the scenario, communication and presentation, through ways of financing, production and post-production, and up to the premiere.

In Novi Sad, a seminar for teachers “Documentary film as a teaching tool” was held, which is an educational training-seminar for primary (seventh and eighth grade) and secondary school teachers, which is part of the Beldocs Teen film educational program.

The programs held showed that it is possible to democratize film as a tool and make it accessible to those groups that operate on the margins of the film industry and art. We believe that in the period ahead we will even support more strongly young and independent authors in the field of fiction, animation and documentary films.