Within “Exit Point” competition selection of independent international films, ten films will compete for Ibis, a grand prix of the Cinema City Festival, held in Novi Sad from 5-12 June 2010. This selection also gives awards for best direction and best acting. Exit Point brings current, bold and ultimately distinctive film achievements of world cinematography and presents laureates of some of the most significant film festivals, such as Cannes, Berlin, Tribeca, Sundance. This year audience will have a chance to see the most significant achievements from Israel, Germany, India, Denmark, Iraq, China, France, USA and Spain telling stories about people on the edge of society, the forgotten ones, but also warm and funny stories, which can’t be seen every day.
Film authors continue to contribute in drawing attention to current affairs such as world conflicts and the consequences which leave scars on war survivors and their families. Israeli-German film “Ajami” by directors Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani gives a vivid portrayal of cultural conflicts in the Middle East through five stories of Tel Aviv residents. The film was nominated for best foreign feature and it also won numerous awards at Cannes, Thessaloniki, Tallinn… Audience will have and opportunity to see a retrospect of Second Gulf War in Mohamed Al-Daradji’s latest feature “Son of Babylon”. A ruthless saga on Second Sino-Japanese War that started in 1937 and a genocide committed in China’s former capital Nanjing, was told by Chuan Lu in his drama “City of Life and Death”.
The weight of actor’s life, fame and alcoholism is a subject of a charming accomplishment by German director Andreas Dresen, "Whiskey with Vodka". In Danish film “Applause” by Martin Zandvliet, the talented lead actress Paprika Steen played a role of a life time, receiving numerous awards and nominations. Teenage girl’s powerful story on growing up in inaccessible Ozark Mountain in USA, told by director Debra Granik, “Winter’s Bone”, won Grand Jury Prize, category: Dramatic at this year’s Sundance festival and also won awards at Berlin International Film Festival, while Spanish duo Antonio Naharro and Alvaro Pastor made a touching and funny film about a boy suffering from Down’s syndrome, “Me Too”.
“A Matter of Size” Israeli comedy by directors Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor follows the lives of four obese friends who, after getting fed up with dietary tyranny, decide to seek their luck in the world of sumo wrestlers. Another peculiar story and exciting adventure waits for us in “Road, Movie” by Indian director Dev Benegal, and fans of spy features will surely enjoy Christian Carion’s “Farewell”, starring Emir Kusturica.
This year’s Exit Point programme is especially dedicated to people with special needs. Special in literal and metaphorical sense. People born with Down syndrome, war victims, alcoholics, spies, refugees, orphans, morbidly obese people… Too all those who have special need for happiness, understanding and love and to all those who have the special need for a good and consequential film and for a festival which offers such films, announced Dubravka Lakic, selector for Exit Point programme.
