When Belgrade got its International Documentary Film Festival – Beldocs in 2008, probably even the greatest enthusiasts could not dream that, in the Western Balkans in the next decade and a half, it would become one of the largest and most prestigious festivals and the networking point for film professionals from all over Europe.
On the eve of the jubilee, 15th Beldocs, which will be held this May, its founders remind us that the mission of the festival is to celebrate the specificity of documentary film, but also to be a space for freedom of expression and thought, to promote brave, young authors, to celebrate established big names in the film world as well as to acquaint the local audience with the constant evolution of film language and visual arts. Mara Prohaska Marković, director of the Beldocs Festival, reminds us that this festival has been continuously engaged in education, promotion, audience development and production and post-production in the field of contemporary world and national creative documentaries for 14 years. “The vision of Beldocs is to offer the audience in Belgrade a wide range of contemporary documentary production that is really very rich and visually attractive, culturally and thematically tremendously diverse, which raises really important questions, points to current issues which today’s society, individuals and groups are facing,” Prohaska Marković said. She says that a documentary film is a democratic medium that addresses everyone. It is grounded in reality, telling stories about real people, their real lives, problems, issues or phenomena. Beldocs also supports the development of domestic film and helps young Serbian authors by establishing strategic partnerships with documentary film festivals across Europe, thus facilitating potential co-productions of domestic films. “We try to show films not only in cinemas and not only during festivals, but also in various alternative places. So we had, for example, a screening in a hair salon, or in pastry shops, or in some cafes. We tried to reach a new audience that is not a standard festival and film audience,” the director of Beldocs points out. Beldocs participates in several projects funded by Creative Europe MEDIA. The Republic of Serbia has been participating in the Creative Europe programme since 2014, while in 2015 it became a member of the MEDIA sub-programme. In the period from 2015 to 2020, 12 projects were implemented that supported film festivals in Serbia, the development of 23 films was supported – one animated project, nine documentaries and 13 feature films, a total of 43 organisations implemented 153 projects, while companies and organisations from Serbia withdrew over 3.6 million euros in grants through various Creative Europe calls for proposals within the MEDIA sub-programme. The Republic of Serbia signed a new agreement on Serbia’s participation in the Creative Europe 2021-2027 programme, which was ratified by the National Assembly on December 24th. With a budget increased by 50% compared to the previous programme (2014-2020), Creative Europe 2021-2027 will invest 2.44 billion euros in the projects and initiatives that promote cultural diversity and respond to the needs and challenges that the area of culture and creativity faces. The innovations brought by the programme will contribute to the recovery of the sector, by strengthening digital transformation and eco-sustainability, thus developing greater resilience and inclusiveness.
