In addition to motivating, encouraging, showing a variety of stories and offering the Montenegrin audience a top-notch program, and bringing the energy of excitement and summer to the capital, the International Feature Documentary Film Festival Underhill Fest also has its educational side, which in many cases results in new filmmakers on the domestic scene.
In addition to the local ones, many regional creators have their beginnings in Underhill and return to the festival later, some as participants, some as jurors, while others continue to spread a good word about the festival and the country.
Springboard and motivation
One of them is a director Mladen Ivanovic whose short film "Vow" was screened on Sunday evening in Njegošev park, on the court of the Budućnost Basketball Club, as part of the "Seven Short" selection. Speaking at the press conference held yesterday, Ivanovic recalled his beginnings, which he links to this festival.
"Underhill is the first and springboard for all of us who create in Montenegro. I will share a slightly more intimate story about my beginnings... It was 2011 or 2012 when by some miracle Vuk (Perovic) managed to film 'Five Broken Cameras' gets before some 'bigger' festivals (a film directed by a Palestinian Emad Burnat and an Israeli Guy David, which was shown at numerous festivals around the world and won a large number of awards including several Emmys and an award at Sundance - prim.nov.). I remember that, when I watched that film, I got a serious inspiration for creativity that can work within me, and maybe that was one of the initial reasons why I went to Cetinje, and later to Zagreb. This is why I believe Underhill just needs to be supported. It is a festival that, in addition to screening, has another extremely important activity, which is audience education. Montenegro is a small country and, unfortunately, it is not as if we have the opportunity to watch some recent documentaries every day, and in our country, a documentary is often understood as an expository, expository, television documentary. That is why I feel that in addition to all that we are talking about in the context of the film festival, there is also the important note of educating the audience," he pointed out yesterday.
Ivanović completed his basic studies in film directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje, and is currently completing his postgraduate studies in Zagreb, at the Department of TV and Film Directing, majoring in Documentary Film. Moderator of the conference and spokesman of the festival Miroslav Minic reminded that there is also a documentary film school "Teen Docs" in progress, which is realized in the premises of the company "One", and one of the mentors is Mladen Ivanović, along with the artistic director and selector of Underhill Fest Vuk Perović. Attendees will shoot short documentaries that will be shown tomorrow evening at the closing of the 13th Underhill Fest in Njegošev park in Podgorica.
A difficult task for the jury
Director from Serbia Ognjen Glavonic is this year's jury member at Underhill, where in 2018 his film "Dubina two" was screened, when he received the Special Jury Award. He pointed out that the task of this year's jury is difficult, precisely because the repertoire is very good.
"Those decisions are always difficult, I'm speaking from the author's point of view, because it's always unpleasant when something you've worked on for a long time finds itself in a selection whose context you have no influence on, and you still have no influence on what kind of criticism and criteria the jury will have. I didn't come here with any prearranged criteria, nor did anyone from the organization of the festival suggest anything to us, and from that point of view, it's interesting to watch films without any burden. The films I have seen so far are very, very different and I will simply talk to the other two members of the jury (Ivan Cojbašić from Montenegro and Dina Pokrajac from Croatia) to see and agree on what will be imposed as something that is most interesting or important to us. It is always the cooperation of the people who perform the work of the jury that decides, and it is impossible to realistically assess which film is better than another," pointed out Glavonić and said that he noticed that the audience had grown, as had the festival itself...
Ivanović added that Glavonic's film "Dubina two" was the inspiration for a landscape documentary such as the film "The Covenant", which was created in the professor's "Hybrid Film" course. Igor Bizinović.
"By combining the contrast between the visual and the narrative, I tried to present what we really are, and what the codes are written in all of us," Ivanović pointed out.
A moment of crisis raises the ghosts of the past
Minic expressed the great satisfaction of the organizers and announced that the opening of the festival was attended by more than 500 spectators, and the large audience later was not swayed even by unfavorable weather conditions. One evening, the festival program was held in the "Radosav Ljumović" National Library, and the night before last, the audience stayed until the end despite the strong wind, which ended up interrupting the screening of the film "The Island - The Lost Island". The film "The Wire" was previously shown Tihe K. Gudac who pointed out that she was especially glad that the Montenegrin premiere took place at Underhill, and she also explained how the film was created and the story developed further in an unexpected direction...
"That film is part of a project about European borders called 'Borders'. Belgian producer Frederick Nicholas who grew up in a free Europe without borders, in adulthood he went and encountered the outer borders of Europe and realized that the people on the borders of the Soviet Union were strongly marked by living on the border. It was a moment of awakening for him, something that was unknown to him, and which made him want to make a big project about the external borders of Europe, and at the same time he wanted to give voice to local authors", says Gudac, who, she reveals, was on the recommendation of a Croatian producer. directed a film on the subject of razor wire that we have on the Croatian border.
She pointed out that it was interesting to make a film for Europeans from the perspective of someone who, she says, is marked by borders, sometimes through conflicts, sometimes through all the vicissitudes of travel...
"The film changed a lot during the shooting and in the end it is a story about a small community, people who live around the Kupa river, on whose banks today there is razor wire that separates people, changes life dynamics, the ecological system and creates a crisis, and some my observational theory was that the moment of crisis raises the ghosts of the past and presents plastic faces in society. I thought that crisis was quite an interesting moment of observation. As emigrants started to come to that area illegally, and since the wire was raised, everyone thought that they would never appear, I expanded the story to include the realities of illegal emigrants and refugee hotspots, and in the end the film focuses on Croatian-Slovenian and Croatian-Bosnian border, one as the first door of Europe, and the other as the second, i.e. the last door of free Europe. It seems to me that my film is a documentation of the contemporary moment in which we have once again assumed the position of the 'door to Europe'. What's happening now is a moment when you have to ask yourself what that means," she explained, adding that during filming she often had a feeling she was afraid to express...
"It seemed to me that through that small community that I am filming, it really shows that Europe is much more unstable and unfree than it is presented. Europe deals with big issues in a very superficial and self-destructive way. Again, my thesis that stands out through my work is that man comes first, but I thought that at least as a person who makes documentaries, I can continue research on that track because the system is, once again, unsuccessful. I hope the film will retain some value as a document of the moment", she concluded talking about the film...
Montenegro is cinematic and potent for documentaries
The fact that even after watching the documentary, the viewer looks at life, everyday or extraordinary circumstances differently shows how unique a documentary is as a means of expression. That's how it was with Mladen Ivanovic, whose watching directed him towards the Academy, and later practical work made him notice what he wouldn't have noticed otherwise...
"Now I see Montenegro as a country with a completely different view and with different eyes. Montenegro is a very filmic and potent country for documentaries. First, we don't have the possibility to do mass productions, which may have been done once, but precisely because we don't, new opportunities are opening up for us to make various other films. Em is a beautiful country, and as a society we are potent for documentary films because of various things, among other things, because of draconian laws and our understanding of how the world (should) work," he said.
On Sunday evening, his film "Vow" was shown, which follows Nikola (33) as he lists all his ancestors, from the beginning of his lineage to himself, over a period of 250 years.
"With each ancestor, he tells in which war he famously fought, which medal he received and where he left his bones. As a contrast to the audio narrative, a visual narrative that reveals an abandoned and contemplative cemetery in the center of the city opposes him. Nikola's plan is to continue the tradition of warfare on, today, foreign territories," the synopsis states.
Ivanović is currently directing the feature-length documentary film "Contra Admiral" about Krsto Đurović, who refused to shell Dubrovnik, and a film with the working title "Petrova Gora" about one of the most significant modernist monuments in the area of the former Yugoslavia is in the post-production phase. Vojin Bakić. At the press conference, he spoke a little more about it...
"During that process, at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, we dedicate a lot of time to practice, and based on what we bring on a daily basis, we can see which topics are potent and interesting for us, and based on them, we can make some other films that concern us. That's how it was created and the idea of a film for my master's thesis, about the monument on Petrova Gora. In addition, I have been working on a feature-length documentary film for some time... The film is set in the year 1991, when the whirlwind of war is raging throughout Yugoslavia. Montenegro from Ulcinj to Slovenia has its two rear admirals, and both of them in a very short period of time end in a tragic way. I focus on one of them, that is the rear admiral Krsto Đurović who refused to shell Dubrovnik in 1991 and to indulge in everything that happened later. A little later, under, to this day, unclear circumstances, it ends tragically with a helicopter crash. It's not talked about, no one mentions it, and that served as an initial capsule for me, although I won't deal with that event later, but it is a kind of catalyst, that is, the initiator of that film. I am working on that in the production of Articulation with Ivan Đurović and Restart with Oliver Sertić", Ivanović revealed, and the Montenegrin audience is looking forward to the achievement, in which a proven and strong team is engaged.
The audience grows with the festival
At the media conference, the director of the Film Center of Montenegro addressed the audience Aleksandra Božović who expressed her pleasure that FCCG supports a festival like Underhill.
"What I'm especially glad about is that the location in Njegošev Park has somehow become established, and therefore the festival is constantly held in one place and the audience gets used to it and becomes more and more numerous every year. I believe that, as the years go by, considering the program and the guests, Underhill will be even more recognized and recognized outside the borders of Montenegro, as proof that you are working, and we are supporting, something that is a very good thing", she said.
Producer of the film "Factories for Workers" Sabina Krešić at the press conference, in addition to the presentation of the multi-award-winning work, she pointed out that she is especially glad that the Montenegrin premiere is at Underhill, because it acts as a festival that nurtures and builds a beautiful audience, but also as a festival that the community sincerely supports...
The screening of the film "Factories for Workers" was interrupted last night due to sudden rain, and the organizers will inform the public about the new screening date today.
"The ITAS machine tool factory in Inaveč is the only factory in the transition countries that the workers managed to take over. The factory was built in the sixties of the last century and once fed half of northern Croatia. Aware of this, the workers inside the factory resisted privatization and looting, which was completely a normal model of taking over social ownership. This film actually follows the workers inside the factory and does not go outside that space. In this way, it actually questions whether self-management, which once in the former system was a very transformed super economic model of business and organization of workers and systems , even possible today, in today's system that is extremely capitalist and liberal? The film also questions how important we are to each other as a collective, and where individualism will actually prevail," she reveals.
Notes from life tonight
Tonight there are three films on the program that bring records from life, memories and memories with a melancholic undertone that can be sensed from the synopsis...
A short film "Pater" Martine Marasovic from Croatia opens tonight's Underhill festival program at 21 p.m. This short documentary film in the "Seven Short" selection brings "our short stories and memories", according to the synopsis.
A film about the friendship between a director and a fisherman who became deaf during the war in Bosnia, then retreated to a lake to live in solitude, called "In Search of Horses" the director Stefan Pavlović will be shown at 21.15.
At 22.45:XNUMX p.m., there is a movie in the repertoire By Robin Hunzinger "Purple and the Blood Spitting Gang" from the international selection.
"After the death of Emma's grandmother, Robin Hunzinger and his mother Clodie find a carefully preserved collection of letters that Emma used to receive from a girl named Marcel," reads the description of the French film.
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