The 18th Leskovac International Film Festival was closed with the presentation of awards and the screening of Želimir Žilnik’s film Restitution, or, Dream and Reality of the Old Guard.
Miroljub Vučković, on behalf of his colleagues from the Arts Council, Ines Tanović and Igor Mirković, addressed the audience and invited Kristina Paskaljević and actor Nebojša Milovanović to present the “Impression of Goran Paskaljević” award to Igor Bezinović. The prize is awarded by LIFFE and Kristina Paskaljević, Goran Paskaljević’s wife.
The Jury of the Main Competition Program of the 18th LIFFE, which was composed of: Vanja Juranić, director, Una Gunjak, director and Nebojša Milovanović, actor, awarded the Grand Prix “Golden Thread” award for best director to Slovenian director Sonja Prosenc for the film Family Therapy.
“The film’sexceptional visual precision reminds us how easily a person closes the world around him, convinced that safety is possible within a bubble. In this search for control, an illusion of perfect balance is created, an illusion that lasts until the outside world, or a deer, knocks on the door. Only when nature penetrates the carefully arranged everyday life and breaks the boundaries between the controlled and the untamed, through tenderness and restlessness do we discover the truth – by accepting our own vulnerability and the animal nature in us, we free ourselves from the illusion of superiority and we find a way towards truly healthier relationships” – says the jury’s explanation.
The jury awarded a special award to the actors in Nevi Marasović’s film This is Not a Love Song, Lana Barić and Janko Popović Volarić: “While drawing us into a layered meta-world and meta-relationship, Niko, through his own egocentricity, finds liberation in the driving force of the female character and the female principle. Coming out of the stale patterns and traditional expectations of male-female relations, Niko finally becomes someone. The apparent ease with which Janko Popović Volarić and Lana Barić’s lead is the result of the acting’s precision and instinct for that fine line where acting ceases to be a performance and becomes a truth full of emotion, without a trace of pathos,” the explanation states.
The jury of the competition program “Special Treatment”, which was composed of: Bern Buder, director of the Cottbus Festival, Selman Nacar, a director from Turkey and Croatian director Juraj Lerotić, awarded the “Golden Thread” award – for the best director of a debut film – to Bálint Dániel Sós for the Hungarian film Growing Down “This is a film that examines relevant moral issues on multiple levels: why something happened, why do we want to hide it, what would have happened if it hadn’t happened? And what will happen if I tell, and what if I don’t tell? Subtly directed, with a strong focus on body language and gestures, the award-winning film tells the story of one night of misfortune and fate, about the consequences of wrong decisions and the pitfalls of the human need to hide responsibility,” the explanation states. In this selection, the Special Commendation for Camera was awarded to Borok Birsch and Tudor Platon for the Romanian film The New Year That Never Came for what they say are “precise and suggestive visual reconstructions of Romania at the end of 1989. Through masterful use of light, texture and shots, the camera evokes both the tension of a society on the brink of change and the quiet emotions of those who live in it. The images move seamlessly between intimate interiors and crowded public spaces, giving the film a rare visual depth due to that history seems immediately and deeply human.”
Special recognition also went to Jara Sofia Ostan for her role in the Slovenian-produced Little Trouble Girls: “for an extremely authentic, subtle and emotionally layered performance. In the film, she sheds light on the challenges of growing up — facing taboos, resisting patriarchy and searching for her own voice — portraying the character of a young woman who fights for the right to be herself. Her screen presence is natural, precise and deeply expressive, radiating an emotional truth that illuminates every frame and gives the film its pulsating heart.”
Bern Buder: “We saw a fantastic selection. A small number of films, but an extraordinary experience. These are personal stories about people and situations that are not simple and that were not easy to direct, because they do not follow a simple story, but screen moments, situations, using a lot of body language, facial expressions.”
The 18th LIFFE was closed by Turkish director Selman Nacar, this year’s jury member of the “Special Treatment” program, but also last year’s winner of the award for the film Hesitation Wound, which was presented to him last night. Selman Najar: “I am very happy that I came, because the Festival supported me last year by presenting an award, and now I came to support the Festival. I saw old friends, met new ones. It is important that we support festivals, and I wish this one as many editions as possible. The 18th LIFFE is over today, I hope to see you next year at the 19th Festival.”
