Interakcija: Short Documentary Film Festival officially closed In the Cinema of the Požega Cultural Center, on Monday, August 25th. The following awards were presented at the closing ceremony: Award for the best film of the festival, Special Mention, Youth Jury Award and Audience Award. Also, as part of the closing program of the Festival, there was a screening of short documentaries created during the 20th edition of the Interaction: student film camp, as well as four mini-documentaries filmed as part of the Interakcija: Teen Doc workshop, which this year gathered 15 teenagers from Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
The festival competition program featured 15 short documentaries carefully selected by the artistic director of the Festival – director Dejan Petrović and program advisor Luka Papić, a director from Serbia.
The award for the best film, according to the decision of the jury, which this year consisted of Cintia Gil – festival selector from Portugal, Korina Švingruber Ilić – director from Switzerland and Serbian director Maja Novaković – both multiple award winners, was awarded to the Serbian film Inventary directed by Ivan Marković. The jury stated in its explanation:
“The main prize goes to a film that combines history and modernity in a special way, connecting a place, its uses and transformations, with a broader reflection on political ideas and possibilities. Its thoughtful editing recognizes the temporal layers contained in each image and leads us to think about shared spaces and the future of collective dreams.”
The award for the best film includes a statue, sculpted by Marko Crnobrnja, a diploma, as well as monetary prize, which is provided by Sirogojno Company, a long-term partner of the Festival.
The film The Flowers Stand Silently Witnessing, directed by Theo Panagopoulos, a Scottish production, received a Special Jury Award, and the jury stated that this film “… speaks in a subtle and unexpected way about the times we live in. The film touched us with its belief in the power and expressiveness that arises when images merge with our personal emotions and experience of the world.”
On the same evening, the Youth Jury Award was also presented, which consisted of participants of the Interakcija Teen Doc Workshop program. The award went to directors Melody Boulissier and Bogdan Stamatin for the French-Romanian film Simply Divine, and the young members of this jury pointed out: “Through animated images and archival photos, the film conveys a deep connection and lasting love, portraying a love story between a soldier at the front and a woman living in the village. That was the reason to award this film.”
Also, the film Simply Divine won this year’s Audience Award.
In the second part of the program, mini-documentaries of the youngest participants – participants of the Teen Doc Workshop, who worked under the mentorship of director Luka Papić, were shown: “Positive Chaos”, ”4-3=2″, “Fishermen” and “No Address”.
The highlight of the evening was the screening of three short creative documentaries that were created as part of the 20th anniversary edition of the Interakcija student film camp, and filmed by fifteen participants, all of themstudents of film academies from 12 countries (Austria, Brazil, Great Britain, France, Mexico, India, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Georgia, North Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia). The films were shot in Požega, Užice and Čačak under the mentorship of director Isaac Knights-Washbourne (New Zealand / Scotland) on the theme of Community. The screened films were “Stone Memory” (filmed in Čačak), “Now and Everything That Comes After” (filmed in Požega) and “Waiting for the Sun” (filmed in Užice).
Interakcija 2025 is realized by the Independent Film Center Filmart, with the support of Film Center Serbia, the Ministry of Tourism and Youth, the Municipality of Požega, the British Council (through the CC4WBs program), Media Desk – Creative Europe Serbia, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Embassy of Portugal in Belgrade, Cinnamon Films, Textil Užice, MCS Sistem, Titan Cement, the Business Club of Western Serbia and other partners.
PHOTO: Dragan Đukić, Independent Film Center Filmart