The rich program of the 14th Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival, which will be held from September 9 to 16 in Belgrade, Serbia, includes more than 100 documentaries and VR/AR content. After breaking the ice last fall as one of the first festivals to return to public screenings after COVID-19, Beldocs will once again screen selected films in several outdoor venues, as well as indoor screening rooms. . Most of the films will also be available online at beldocs.rs.
At the opening of the Festival on September 9, in the open air in the warm atmosphere of the amphitheater in front of the Museum of Yugoslavia, the film “La Foi et Branko” directed by Catherine Harte, an intimate documentary following the love and relationship of two musicians from two disparate worlds, British accordionist Faith Eliot and Roma violinist Branko Rosić.
The international competition will feature 11 films from around the world. From the far north of Russia comes the film “Beaumonde Scrapping” by Nikolai N. Viktorov, about the seething milieu of the struggle for secondary raw materials. The Portuguese film “Our land, our altar” by Andrea Guiomar presents an image of the decline of a community. Visually impressive, the Argentinian film “Ski” by Mancque La Banca, depicts all the complexity of colonialism intertwined with folk horror in South America. Other films in this program include IDFA First Appearance competition winner “This Rain Will Never Stop”, Visions du Réel’s Burning Lights competition winner “Looking for Horses”.
This year’s Serbian Competition brings together seven recent Serbian documentaries or made in co-production with countries in the region or in Europe and the world, including two that had world premieres at prestigious foreign film festivals. On the program of the Rotterdam festival competition come the “Landscapes of the Resistance” by Marta Popivoda, which records a trip to the memories of the anti-fascist fighter Sonja (97), one of the first partisans in Yugoslavia, who was among the leaders of the resistance movement at Auschwitz. From the competitive selection of the “East of the West” festival in Karlovy Vary comes “Roots”, a concept documentary by Tea Lukač. Other films in this program include “Dida”, which had its world premiere in the Burning Lights competition and “The Bird (or – Marty, the Clown)” by 19-year-old Oliver Ćirić.
The emphasis on new and bold cinematic voices continues through program sections such as “Fireworks”, which this year will feature new works by Khalik Allah, the Ross brothers and Alejandro Jodorowsky, as well as a screening of François Reichenbach’s restored little-known classic ‘The Winner’ and ‘Meteors’, with new works by Kazuo Hara, Shenzhe Zhu and Nelson Sullivan’s legendary Video Diaries.
Besides these films, the Festival will present the works of other great documentary filmmakers such as “City Hall” by Frederick Wiseman, “War and Peace” by Massimo D’Anolfi and Martina Parenti, “New Gospel” by Milo Rau, “Gorbachev” by Vitaly Mansky. Paradise” and Spike Lee’s “David Byrne’s American Utopia”, Reka Valerik’s controversial “Silent Voice”, recently banned in Russia and many other cinematic delights.
A special event will be organized with two esteemed guests of the festival – Russian director and Artdocfest founder Vitaly Mansky and Serbian director and Golden Bear winner Želimir Žilnik, titled “A conversation between Vitaly Mansky and Želimir Žilnik: Cinema documentary – A mirror or a magnifying glass? The two great authors will look at reality and facts in documentary cinema – what’s the difference and what do they have in common? How does reality impact freedom of expression in cinema and does it really exist in the audiovisual field?
The Festival, as well as the Beldocs Industry programme, which includes Beldocs VR/AR Academy, Beldocs in Progress, Serbian Docs in Progress, Documentaries for Kids & Youth and Beldocs Market, have been developed thanks to the support of Creative Europe MEDIA sub-programme of the European Union.
Beldocs IDFF 2021 Trailer
Beldocs IDFF 2020 after the movie
COMPLETE BELDOCS 2021 RANGE
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
This rain will never stop – Alina Gorlova
Ski – La Banca is missing
Jungle – Louise Mootz
Things we dare not do – Bruno Santamaria Razo
Demolition Beaumonde – Nikolai N. Viktorov
Today’s day – Maxence Stamatiadis
Middle Earth – Juliette Guignard
Holgut – Liesbeth De Ceulaer
Zaho Zay – Georg Tiller, Maeva Ranaivojaona
Our land, our altar – André Guiomar
In search of horses – Stefan Pavlovic
SERBIAN COMPETITION
Telenovela Color Grayscale – Filip Martinovic
Saint Clair Cemin, Psyche – Svetlana Cemin
The Bird (or – Marty, the Clown) – Oliver Ciric
Earth – Marko Sipka
Landscapes of Resistance – Marta Popivoda
Dida – Nikola Ilic, Corina Schwingruber Ilic
Roots – Lukač tea
FIREWORKS
Bloody Nose Empty Pockets- Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross
In my room – Mati Diop
IWOW: I walk on water – Khalik Allah
Psychomagic, an art that heals – Alejandro Jodorowsky
Ski – La Banca is missing
Butterfly – Roxanne Gaucherand
silent voice – Reka Valerik
Drama Girl – Vincent Boy Kars
In shallow water – Marek Moucka
My cousin Andrea’s communion – Brandan Cervino Abeledo
to pluck, wither – Hanna Hovitie
The winner – Francois Reichenbach
Heliconia – Paula Rodriguez Polanco
METEORS
A river flows, turns, erases, replaces – Shenzhen Zhu
Minamata Mandala – Kazuo Hara
out of the present – Andrej Ujica
Chung Kuo – China – Michelangelo Antonioni
our madness – Joao Viana
The Big-Headed Boy, Shamans and Samurai – Bibhusan Basnet, Pooja Gurung
Today’s day – Maxence Stamatiadis
Finfinnee Rift – Daniel Kotter
Exterior noise – Ted Fendt
A gun and a bag – Cristina Hanes, Arya Rothe, Isabella Rinaldi
Nelson Sullivan’s Video Diaries – Nelson Sullivan
BROKEN
i love you i miss you i hope to see you before i die – Eva Marie Rodbro
Meanwhile on Earth – Carl Olson
Party – Vladimir Loginov
All will not be well – Adrian Pirvu, Helena Maksyom
calm about nothing – Nikola Stojanovic
Kachalka – Gar O’Rourke
We are all gonna die – Sashko Potter Micevski
Obrad – Branislav Milatovic
Dzemo – Lejla Kajić, Davorin Sekulić
Last days of the year – Marko Bicanic
Protected – Saskia Gubbels
Waiting – Laura Rantanen
ELEMENTARY
self-portrait – Margreth Olin, Katja Nørregaard, Høgset or Espen Wallin
Beautiful something left behind – Kathrine Philippe
silent voice – Reka Valerik
The first woman – Miguel Eek
The Hero’s Journey to the Third Pole – A Bipolar Musical Documentary with Elephants – Andri Snær Magnason, Anní Ólafsdóttir
COVER PAGE
Long day tomorrow – Pawel Wysoczanski
The struggle for Greenland – Kenneth Sorento
War and peace – Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti
Camorra Girl – Sinisa Gačic
songs of repression – Estephan Wagner, Marianne Hougen-Moraga
My Uncle Tudor – Olga Lucovnicova
The New Gospel – Milo Rau
bella – Thelyia Petraki
An ordinary country – Tomasz Wolski
The last refuge – Ousmane Samassekou
Reconciliation – Marija Zidar
PRIME TIME
Town hall – Frederick Wiseman
David Byrne’s American Utopia – Spike Lee
The mole – Mads Brugger
The truffle hunters – Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw
You can’t kill David Arquette – David Darg, Price James
The painter and the thief – Benjamin Ree
All the light everywhere – Theo Antoine
A bug in the matrix – Rodney Ascher
PROFILE
Roger waters us + them – Roger Waters, Sean Evans
Either water – Bao Nguyen
Gorbachev. Paradise – Vitaly Mansky
Sleep by Max Richter – Natalie John
COUNTRYSIDE
blue breath – Rodrigo Areias
Tame the garden – Salome Jashi
Please hold the line – Pavel Cuzuioc
Prokop – Danilo Stanimirovic
Merak – Dzhovani Gospodinov
the little moon – Elena Kairyte
Spirits and rocks: an Azorean myth – Aylin Gokmen
FOCUS UKRAINE
This rain will never stop – Alina Gorlova
Don’t worry, the doors will open – Oksana Karpovych
Roses. Cine-Cabaret – Irena Stetsenko
As far as possible – Ganna Iaroshevych
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Faith and Branko – Catherine Harte
Save – Matthew Somerville
The Witch’s Cauldron – Branislav Jankic
There is no other place – Anat Phone
TEENAGER
Dear future children – Franz Bohm
love around the world – Anđela Rostuhar, Davor Rostuhar
Chelas nha kau – Bataclan 1950, Bagabaga
Teenage lockdown tales – Charlotte Ballet-Baz, Marie-Pierre Jaury
THESSALONIKI TO BELGRADE
The fourth character – Catherine Patroni
The music of things – Menios Carayanis
The Unknown Athenians – Angelique Antoniou
PEDRO COSTA RETROSPECTIVE
Where is your hidden smile?
Don’t change anything
6 trifles
Pedro Costa
The end of a love story
VR
Astonished – Sara Tirelli
heterotopia – Léon Denise, Samuel Lepoil, Dorian Rigal Midnight