B elgrade will once again be- come the centre of the con- temporary documentary film world this spring – from 20 th to 26 th May, when the 19 th edition of Beldocs will unfold at multiple venues around the city. This year’s edition includes more than 100 films of different formats and runt- imes, including innovative VR creations and video games. The festival’s thematic standouts include documentaries dealing with sci- ence and technology, migration, man relationship towards nature and ani- mals, as well as biographical and musi- cal documentaries, which attract great attention from the audience year after year. This year’s Beldocs will once again provide strong support to domestic filmmakers through a carefully curated national programme, which has been recording continuous growth in terms of quality and diversity. This festival continues to create space for new voic- es and auteur approaches, while simul- taneously connecting the local scene with international currents. Beldocs 19 will formally open with a screening of the film Yugo Goes to America, the directorial debut feature of Filip Grujić and Aleksa Borković. The film follows young friends from Ser- bia as they embark on a road trip from New York to Los Angeles in a legendary Yugo, an iconic car from the 1980s. This year’s Beldocs will also feature documentaries that have already reso- nated at major world festivals and at-
tracted considerable attention from in- ternational audiences. Here we single out three that are not to be missed... 1. In-I In Motion, the directo- rial debut of actress Juliette Binoche, chronicles the creative process, emo- tions, truth and trust. The film re- volves around the unique collaboration between Binoche and choreographer Akram Khan, who both abandoned their established artistic practices in 2007 in order to jointly experience the uncertainty of experimental stage work. Through previously unseen foot- age and the author’s personal reflec- tion, the creative process provides the basis for reflections on vulnerabili- ty, risk and the transformative pow- er of art. 2. Kim Novak’s Vertigo , written and directed by Swiss-American direc- tor Alexandre O. Philippe, represents a portrait of legendary actress Kim No- vak and her unbreakable ties to Alfred Hitchcock’s cult film Vertigo. Through very rare archival footage and person- al reflections of the famous actress, the film explores her rise during Hol- lywood’s Golden Age, but also her sub- sequent withdrawal from public life. The story centres around the relation- ship between the actress and Hitch- cock, but also the way Vertigo shaped her identity, both on and off screen. This documentary sees Novak reflect on topics like female identity and the perception of the audience and the public that shape the image of wom- en in society. 3. Marc by Sofia is Sofia Coppo- la’s unconventional and intimate por- trait of iconic fashion designer Marc Jacobs that serves to unveil his unique creative universe. Through direct in- sight into the creator’s daily work, the film follows the creation of collections and the dynamics of fashion shows, il- luminating the development of one of contemporary fashion’s most influen- tial figures. The film doesn’t focus on- ly on design, but also the relationship between art, identity and personal ex- pression, as well as the closeness be- tween Coppola and her subject, which gives the film a subjective tone.
FROM 20 TH TO 26 TH MAY IN BELGRADE It’s time for another Beldocs Belgrade’s International Documentary Film Festival is this year presenting more than 100 short and feature- length films, as well as VR productions, alongside a particularly strong domestic programme
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