Thirteen Titles in This Year's National Class Selection

This year's edition of the Cinema City International Film Festival, scheduled to be held from September 1 to 3, as part of the Gradić Fest at Podgrađe, in Petrovaradin Fortress, will host thirteen domestic cinematic accomplishments, which will be presented as part of the category National Class. Our audiences will have an opportunity to revel in the selection of films which are yet to be talked about in the coming days, years and decades.

As was the case in the previous years, the festival will feature cinematic debuts – in other words – first or second films by local authors.

“Like a mother who loves all her children equally, the mission of the category National Class is to present and pay homage to the local authors whose first or second films appeared in the past year on the unrelenting national film scene,” says Milan Stojanović, programme director of the festival.

At the end of last summer, Dane Komljen's debut film “All the Cities of the North” had its premiere at the Locarno Festival. Shortly thereafter, it was also screened at Sarajevo Film Festival, reaffirming the potential foreshadowed in this author’s earlier short films. Another domestic movie which was successfully screened at world’s major film festivals is Bojan Vuletić’ second film – “Requiem for Mrs. J”, which was premiered as part of the Panorama Special programme at Berlinale. A couple of weeks later, the film won the Best Film Award at FEST in Belgrade. Another two movies that had their national premieres at FEST are “Wind”, a new film by Tamara Drakulić, which had its world premiere at the Torino Film Festival, and the long-awaited “Afterparty” by Luka Bursać.

The world of documentary cinema has got some new authors this year, and so we had a pleasure to meet Stefan Malešević, whose film “Gora” won the highest prize at this year’s Beldocs Festival, Tea Lukač with her film “The Most Important Boy in the World”, “Why Did Dragan Gather His Band”, a film by Nikola Spasić, and the new film by Tamara von Steiner “Controindicazione”, which had its international premiere at the festival in Trieste.

Thanks to the enthusiasm, dedication and investment of their authors, the national cinema is richer for a number of “unwanted children” – films that slipped beneath the radar during the production stage – “The Return”, a film by Predrag Jakšić, with John Savage playing one of the roles, “Our Fathers, Mothers and Their Children” by Sanja Savić, and the film “The Month of Dreams” by Zoltan Bicskei, whose production took more than ten years.

The directorial debut of the actor Nikola Kojo, the film “The Herd”, was the most watched film of the year, and Danilo Bećković defended the honor of the commercial cinema with his new achievement “The Samurai in Autumn”, a martial arts film recently selected to be part of the Eye on Films platform. 

All film screenings at Gradić Fest will be free of charge, and the unique Gradić setting will give a special touch of magic to each of the screenings.

Hurry up and grab the best seats! See you in Gradić!

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