53rd FEST Closes at Sava Centar With 12 Awards Tonight
The final night of the 53rd FEST brings awards in 12 categories, the first Slobodan Novakovic prize for debuts and the closing film Sense and Sensibility.
On the Sava Centar stage on Thursday, October 8, after the screening of “Budi Bog s nama” (God Be with Us), Slobodan Sijan, Biljana Maksic, producer Marko Paljic, actress Aleksandra Balmazovic and costume designer Boris Caksiran took a bow. Three days later, on Sunday, October 11, 2026, the 53rd FEST International Film Festival closes in the same hall, and twelve awards are handed out before the final film.
How do you get to twelve awards?
The math is simple. Best film, best director and best screenplay are awarded in each of the three competitive programs, European, World and Regional, which makes nine. The other three are side awards given by organizations outside the festival.
- “Milutin Colic” for best Serbian film, an award from the daily Politika
- “Nebojsa Djukelic” for best regional film in the main competitive program, an award from the Nebojsa Djukelic Foundation
- “Slobodan Novakovic” for best debut film, an award from the Belgrade Film Critics Society, presented for the first time this year
The winners had not been announced at the time of writing, and the schedule of the ceremony is not listed even on the festival’s website. All we know is the order: awards first, then the closing film.
Who decides the awards?
The World program jury consists of Sasa Radojevic as president, Martin Milinkovic and Sali Saliji Salini. In the European program the judges are Boris Trbic, Jasmin Durakovic and Jani Bojadzi. The Regional program is judged by Gianluca Curti as president, Slavica Bogdanov and Julian Richards.
Sense and Sensibility to close
The closing film is “Sense and Sensibility” by director Georgia Oakley, a new adaptation of the Jane Austen novel. What sets it apart from earlier screen versions is that the emotional center shifts from the suitors to the relationship between the two sisters.
Two premieres from the final stretch of the program
“Budi Bog s nama” is about Bosko Tokin, the first film critic and director in Serbia and one of the founders of the avant-garde. The screenplay was written by Biljana Maksic, Vladimir Mancic and Sijan himself. At its center is the disappearance of Tokin’s film, whose very existence was shrouded in secrecy for years. According to the film, its making involved the cultural elite of the day, from Ivo Andric, Milos Crnjanski and Tin Ujevic to Zanka Stokic, Ita Rina and King Alexander Karadjordjevic.
The next day, Friday, October 9, the Regional competitive program screened “Otpisana” (Verified Target) by Milena Grujic, an American film made as a Serbian co-production and shot in and around Belgrade. The premiere was attended by actresses Dominika Valo, Maria Ervolter and Katrin Vankova, guests of the festival, along with actors Radomir Nikolic, Aleksa Muzdeka and Tamara Grujic and producers Marija Bereta and Dragan Ivanovic. Before the screening, Grujic addressed the audience:
“This film was made in an American production, Catalyst, with the idea of giving women directors a space and an opportunity that is rarely found.”
She then added that they wanted to “weave our own sensibility and some Belgrade flavor” into a classic American action story. In the film, a person someone labels a “virus” is declared a confirmed target and eliminated, and the killer, Blake, discovers that her target is innocent and runs into a far larger conspiracy.
A festival that was talked about outside the hall
This year’s FEST opened on October 2 with “Zlatni rez 42 (Djeca Kozare)” (Golden Cut 42, Children of Kozara) by Lordan Zafranovic, and the run was accompanied by controversy in parts of the film community, including criticism of the organization and the decision of some filmmakers not to attend the opening.
Director Srdjan Dragojevic joined the debate. On his Facebook profile he called on the selectors of the Auteur Film Festival to include Zafranovic’s film in that festival’s program, “which has nothing to do with the ‘caci Fest’,” as he wrote. He added that it is not known whether this is feasible:
“Whether what I am wishing for is possible, the time ahead of us will show. It is not ruled out that the film’s producer will not allow it. Unfortunately, the Author does not own his work, but in normal circumstances he has a say and the power to decide.”
Dragojevic also judged that such a move would refute the claim from pro-government media that a large number of filmmakers skipped the premiere because of the film’s subject. One Facebook user suggested in a comment that Sijan’s film be shown at the Auteur Film Festival as well, and Dragojevic said he agreed. We found no response from FEST to this call.
The awards are handed out today at Sava Centar, and the festival had not announced the winners at the time of writing.
