Svilicic Opens LIFFE in Leskovac, Unveils Film Ajde

Tonight at 7 PM, at the Leskovac National Theatre, director and screenwriter Ognjen Svilicic, who is also serving as selector of the Main Competition Program, opens the 19th Leskovac International Film Directing Festival (LIFFE). The same evening, in front of the audience in the hall, he will also unveil his own film, Ajde, whose shoot in Leskovac has just wrapped, a coproduction with the festival featuring actors from across the region.

The festival runs from September 15 to 19, at the Leskovac Cultural Center and the Leskovac National Theatre. Srpske novine covered the full program of this year’s edition earlier, in early September. The Main Competition Program, for which Svilicic himself is the selector, carries seven films from the region: the Serbian entry Yugo Florida by Vladimir Tagic, which opens the program itself right after the ceremony, the North Macedonian DJ Ahmet by Georgi M. Unkovski, the Croatian black comedy Juzina by Ante Marin, the Montenegrin Obraz by Nikola Vukcevic, the Bosnian Gym by Srdjan Vuletic, the Slovenian Belo se pere na devedeset by Marko Nabersnik, and the domestic entry Kako je ovde tako zeleno by Nikola Lezaic. The competing films will be judged by a jury made up of film critic Alisa Simon, Slovenian director Janez Burger, and Croatian producer Stanislav Babic.

Alongside the main program, the festival also runs the debut selection Special Treatment, with five films from southeastern Europe, as well as the showcase program Bindzuj, dedicated to regional television series: the first episode of Komara, the third season of Senke nad Balkanom, directed by Dragan Bjelogrlic, the second season of Kotlina, and the series Tvrdjava. Neither of those two programs has a place in tonight’s opening, but both are part of the same five day showcase that Svilicic is officially launching tonight.

Svilicic put together this year’s selection with a clear intention: to restore contact between film and audience, rather than build the program to suit a festival jury. “This time I wanted to choose films that really communicate with the audience, because it feels like European film is drifting further and further away from that audience and neglecting it,” he said, explaining the criterion by which he chose the seven titles. His stance leaves no doubt about what he ultimately expects from festival audiences: “In the end, our job comes down to making people feel good,” the selector said.

By choosing to unveil his own film from the very stage where he opens the festival, Svilicic combines two roles that rarely go together: an author who picks other people’s films for competition, and an author whose own film is still in postproduction. Ajde was made in Leskovac itself, which makes this year’s LIFFE edition something more than a showcase of visiting works, this time the city is also the shooting location, not just the screening venue. Svilicic will reveal details about the film, the crew and the postproduction process tomorrow, September 16, at a press conference at the Leskovac Cultural Center, when it will become clearer just how close Ajde really is to its premiere and what kind of film the coproduction has actually produced.

Alongside the festival opening, organizers are also presenting a special award, the Golden Thread, for contribution to regional film art, to actress and producer Labina Mitevski and director and producer Teona Strugar Mitevski. Their joint film Mother Teresa screens in Leskovac tonight at 9 PM, at the Leskovac Cultural Center cinema, while Yugo Florida, mentioned above, screens at the theatre right after the opening ceremony. The festival has also announced that this year’s Goran Paskaljevic Imprint award, for authentic authorial expression, goes to director Ivana Mladenovic.

For audiences choosing tonight between the theatre and the cinema, the schedule is clear: the opening and Yugo Florida at the National Theatre, Mother Teresa two hours later at the Cultural Center. What LIFFE still has to show, and that already tomorrow at the press conference, is what kind of film has actually been announced before anyone in the audience has had a chance to see it.