Friday night’s ceremonial opening and the General Assembly on Saturday kicked off the 37th FICTS Festival of the Federation of International Sports Film and Television (Federation Internationale Cinema Television Sportifs – FICTS) in Milan. It is a “festival of festivals”, as 16 festivals from all 5 continents send the best films from their selections.
There 120 FICTS member countries with over 10,000 members. The organization works closely with the International Olympic Committee as well as with the sports and political organizations of Milan and the Lombardy region. FICTS President Professor Franco Ascani has submitted a report on one-year activity between the two Assemblies. He received a new term, and several standing committees were elected.
During the Assembly, several short, feature-length films were presented about cities around the world organizing sports documentary film festivals. The last screened film was about Zlatibor, which boasts a new Cultural Center with a beautifully illustrated story about 126 years of tourism. Nikolai Parahovnik, one of the festival’s directors, finished the short by saying that “Zlatibor is the best”, while Vladimir Stanković, the chairman of this year’s jury, explained to members of the Assembly that Zlatibor is an ideal place for a combination of holidays, various activities and health tourism.
FICTS President Franco Ascani (center) presented Zlatibor Stankovic and Parohovnik with a “Manifesto on Culture and Image of Sports”, whose closing sentence reads: “Sport is a global instrument in the service of humanity.”
During the six days of the festival, until October 30th, more than 200 films will be screened, including several from the Zlatibor Film Festival. On Saturday, the program “Golden Boys of 1970” and a documentary about Sreten Damjanović; on Sunday, the program “The Swabian from Sarajevo”; on Monday, the films “Woman’s Sport in Zrenjanin” and “Open Eyes” about the triumph of Bosna basketball club at the 1979 Champions League in Grenoble. The winner of the Zlatibor Festival, the story of the first Red Star Belgrade finals of the UEFA Cup in 1979, is to be screened on Tuesday at 19.15.