30/05/2024 - How to Be Slobodan? has scooped the Audience Award along with a Special Mention in the Serbian gathering’s National Competition

l-r: Miloš Radovanović, Nikola Polić, Dane Komljen and Norika Sefa with their awards (© Filip Olćan)

The 17th edition of the Belgrade International Documentary Film Festival Beldocs (22-29 May) showcased 108 films of different formats, as well as immersive experiences, in 14 different sections, four of which were competitive, on eight screens in the Serbian capital.

The festival wrapped up its official part with an awards ceremony that took place in the Makavejev hall of the Yugoslav Cinematheque on Tuesday 28 May, while the winner of the EU Audience Award for Best European Film (Nikola Polić’s How to Be Slobodan?) was announced before the screening of the closing film, Film Changed the World by Darko Bajić and Siniša Cvetić. This was the second award at the festival for Polić’s film, since it also won a Special Mention in the National Competition.

The jury – consisting of Adriana Belešová (head of the programme department at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival), film programmer and curator Andrei Tănăsescu, and Cineuropa’s own Vladan Petković – decided on the award winners in the National Competition. The Grand Prix, along with a €2,000 prize, was bestowed upon Dane Komljen’s The Garden Cadences, which was praised for “the complexity of its aesthetics and time constructions that are fluidly presented through detailed scenes of everyday activities”, as per the jury statement. The Awards for Best Editing and Best Camerawork, along with €500 prizes, went to two short films: Corina Schwingruber-Ilić was rewarded for her editing work on Nikola Ilić’s Exit Through the Cuckoo’s Nest, while Miloš Radovanović was recognised for his efforts on Tara Gajović’s Minel.

In the International Competition, the Best Film Award, along with the €2,000 prize donated by the DoxTV channel, went to Liis Nimik’s Sundial [+see also:
film review
film profile]. “With a great deal of attention and precise framing, showing the change of seasons and everyday life in rural Estonia, Liis Nimik creates an unobtrusive, yet ravishingly lively, world imbued with an almost animistic power,” stated the jury, consisting of film critic Carmen Gray, filmmaker Luka Papić and FIPADOC festival director Chirstine Camdessus. Guo Zhenming’s Tedious Days and Nights was rewarded with a Special Mention.

In the Teen Competition, KIX [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Dávid Mikulán and Bálint Révész scooped the Award of the Teen Jury, while James Erskine’s and Rachel Ramsay’s Copa 71 [+see also:
film review
film profile] got a Special Mention. The shorts jury, consisting of film critic Iva Rosandić, filmmaker Zsófia Paczolay and writer-playwright Filip Grujić, decided to single out Norika Sefa’s Like a Sick Yellow as the Best Short Film at the festival while giving a Special Mention to Dzhovani Gospodinov’s Meadows Wait, Mist Diffuses.

The industry strand of the festival, Beldocs Industry Days (23-26 May), also handed out its awards at a separate ceremony held on Saturday 25 May after the pitching forum, the section’s crowning event.

Here is the complete list of award winners:

International Competition

Best Film
Sundial [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Liis Nimik (Estonia)
Special Mention
Tedious Days and Nights – Guo Zhenming (China)

Serbian Competition

Grand Prix for Best Film
The Garden Cadences – Dane Komljen (Germany)
Special Mention
How to Be Slobodan? - Nikola Polić (Serbia)

Best Camera
Miloš Radovanović – Minel (Serbia, short film)

Best Editing
Corina Schwingruber-Ilić – Exit Through the Cuckoo’s Nest (Switzerland/Serbia, short film)

Shorts Competition

Best Film
Like a Sick Yellow – Norika Sefa (Kosovo, short film)
Special Mention
Meadows Wait, Mist Diffuses – Dzhovani Gospodinov (Luxembourg, short film)

EU Audience Award for Best European Film
How to Be Slobodan? - Nikola Polić

Teen Competition

Award of the Teen Jury
KIX [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Dávid Mikulán, Bálint Révész (Hungary/France/Croatia)
Special Mention
Copa 71 [+see also:
film review
film profile] - James Erskine, Rachel Ramsay (UK)

Beldocs Industry Days

Film Centre of Montenegro Award
Balcana Presenta – Maja Novaković (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Al Jazeera Balkans Award
This Is to Be Done – Srđan Kovačević (Croatia)

Forgrade Post-production Award
Another Film About the War, Father and Home – Damir Markovina (Croatia)

Current Time TV Award
Serozhik – Lusine Papoyan (Armenia)

Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Award
Glorious Utopia – Marek Moučka (Slovakia)

DAE – Documentary Association of Europe Talent Encouragement Award
Serozhik – Lusine Papoyan (Armenia)

Ji.hlava New Visions Market Award
Zanki – Marcella Zanki (Croatia)

East Silver Caravan Award
Beautiful Void – Andris Gauja (Latvia)

DOK Leipzig XR Award
Entropia – Jovan Mijušković (Montenegro)