10/03/2015 - The 43-year-old event has a new concept, featuring international and national competitions

The 43rd FEST – Belgrade International Film Festival (27 February–8 March) for the first time included international and national competition programmes. This festival, which continued for four decades as a non-competitive “best of fests” event, is now headed by a new team, led by journalist Jugoslav Pantelić as artistic director and film director Mladen Djordjević (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang) as programme director.

In the International Competition, the Venice Horizons winner Theeb [+see also:
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interview: Naji Abu Nowar
film profile] by Jordanian director Naji Abu Nowar bagged the Belgrade Victor Award and €10,000, as well as the Best Script Award, from the impressive seven-member jury comprising directors Srdjan Dragojević, Giuseppe Piccioni, Maja Miloš and Liu Jie, actresses Neda Arnerić and Deborah Kara Unger, and cinematographer Ellen Kuras. The Award of the Jury went to Yury Bykov's The Fool [+see also:
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interview: Yury Bykov
film profile]. 

The Best Director Award was presented to Germany's Timm Kröger for The Council of Birds [+see also:
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film profile], which world-premiered at the Venice Critics’ Week. The film also got a Special Mention for its cinematography, by Roland Stuprich. 

Bosnian actor Emir Hadžihafizbegović received the Best Actor Award for his role in Ognjen Sviličić's These Are the Rules [+see also:
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film profile] (Croatia-France-Serbia-Macedonia) after being handed the same accolade at Venice Horizons, where the title had its world premiere.

The Best Actress Award was shared by Joséphine Japy and Lou de Laâge for their roles in Mélanie Laurent's Breathe [+see also:
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interview: Lou de Laâge
film profile]. Lastly in the International Competition, Yann Demange's '71 [+see also:
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Q&A: Yann Demange
film profile] received the Best Debut Film Award, while Damián Szifrón's Wild Tales [+see also:
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In the National Competition, No One's Child [+see also:
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Author Miljenko Jergović, directors Oleg Novković and Predrag Antonijević, producer Torsten Neumann, and actress Anamaria Marinca gave the Jury Award, worth €4,000, to Ivan Jović for his first film, Healing.

Dušan Milić snagged the Best Director Award, which comes with €4,000, and a Special Mention from the jury for Travelator [+see also:
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film profile] (winner of the Innovation Award at the Montreal World Film Festival), while the Best Script Award and €2,000 went to Srdjan Koljević for I Defended Young Bosnia.

The Best Actress Award and €2,500 were presented to Sonja Kovačević for her supporting role in Luka Bursać's Blackness – the jury stated that women were not well enough represented in any of the films in the selection, and thus they decided to choose the winner regardless of the size of their role. In addition, Ivan Ikić's Barbarians [+see also:
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interview: Ivan Ikic
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In the newly established Frontiers programme, dedicated to subversive and challenging films, the Best Film Award went to Till Kleinert's Der Samurai [+see also:
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film profile], while Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz's Goodnight Mommy [+see also:
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interview: Severin Fiala and Veronika …
film profile] received a Special Mention. 

The festival also included the new FEST Forward industry section, which featured discussions on the regional film industry, and a “Bits and Pieces” selection of 11 regional works in progress, which were presented to international sales agents.