The Tower of Strength, a Serbian minority production, by Montenegrin director Nikola Vukčević won the award for best film in the main program of the International Film Festival i-Fest in Calabria, Italy, as well as the award for best film and best director of photography at the International Film Festival “Altyn Minbar” in the Russian city of Kazan.
The jury of i-Fest in Italy, which consisted of Giancarlo Zapoli (president), Isabella Lapalorcia and Hura Sienna Nejad, stated the reasons for awarding the award: “For the intensity of the message it offers, which calls us to question our moral imperatives and to answer for our actions without hiding behind order, law, customary rights. For the example and important lesson of humanity provided by children, whose spontaneity disarms us precisely because it is devoid of adult superstructure, which is itself too often restrained by the events and values of their community. For the setting, the costumes, the atmosphere and for putting the power of emotion out in the open, capable of telling incredible but true stories, giving us back images of places and cultures that a lifetime would not be enough to get to know and understand.”
On receiving the award, director Nikola Vukčević thanked the jury with the words: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this great honor and for the moving explanation of the award. Your words confirm the meaning of our work and give us additional strength to continue to explore and share stories about humanity, community and universal values through film. I come from the war zone of the 1990s, the painful war that destroyed Yugoslavia, and because of that I deeply recognize the pain of today’s wars. I believe that we all need stories about such “superheroes” – people trying to overcome banal differences. Thank you, for your award is a small step in the promotion of humaneness.”
This was the seventeenth international festival screening for the film The Tower of Strenght out of a total of 22 festivals where the film has been selected so far, including two international festivals on the global “A” list (Cairo and Goa, India).
At the Kazan International Film Festival, held from September 5th to 9th, te filmwon the awards for best film and best director of photography for Đorđe Stojiljković from Serbia. The jury was chaired by the Indian sound designer Resul Pukuti, who won an Oscar for the film Slumdog Millionaire, who presented the main award at this festival to producer Milorad Radenović. “For us, this award is a truly unexpected and joyful event, which filled our hearts with sincere gratitude. We are infinitely grateful to you for recognizing the main idea of our film: that even in today’s difficult times, humanity remains a permanent value that unites people, regardless of their origin, faith and beliefs,” said Radenović upon receiving the award. The international film festival in Kazan “Altyn Minbar” has been held since 2005, under the motto: “Through the dialogue of cultures to the culture of dialogue.”
As many as 845 films and 67 countries of the world applied for this year’s the festival. In addition to producers Ivica Vidanović and Nevena Savić, the Serbian crew of the film consists of: actor Igor Benčina, screenwriter Melina Pota, director of photography Đorđe Stojiljković, costume designer Lidija Jovanović, and a significant part of the technical team. The project was realized with the financial support of Film Center Serbia’s co-production competition in November 2020, where it took first place among about fifty submitted projects, which ensured support from Serbian public funds in the amount of around 60,000 euros.
Photo: promo: i-fest and the Kazan International Festival