THE INTERNATIONAL JURY

The main competition program will screen 16 films from 13 countries: France, Iran, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Israel, Mexico, Vietnam, Italy, Croatia, Guatemala, Bulgaria and US. An international five member jury will decide on the prizes in the following categories: best film, best script, best director, best actor, best actress, and best debut. The best film will take the prize Belgrade Victor, and the jury prize will also be awarded.

Esteemed Russian director Pavel Lungin will preside over the jury. He started his career as a screenwriter, and debuted as a director in 1990. with the film Taxi Blues, that brought him the award for best director at Cannes. His second feature, Luna Park, was in the competition for Palme d’Or, while The Wedding (2006) and Tsar (2009) were also screened at Cannes. He is well known for the highly regarded and influential film The Island (2006), about the Orthodox monk trying to repent for a sin from his youth. The film was screened at the closing of Venice film festival, and Lungin got commended by the Russian patriarch.

 Darko Bajić is one of the cult Serbian directors whose career started in 1982. with his graduation feature  Live broadcast. A popular TV show The House of Gloom followed, as well as movies such as The Black Bomber, Balkan Rules and War Live. Last year he directed one of the most watched films in Serbian cinemas We Will Be the World Champions. He is a professor of film direction, founder and president of the Association of Serbian film directors, and one of the founders of FCS.

Hristina Popović, Serbian actress, made her acting debut in the theater at the age of 7, and on film in 1991. with a role in Night in the House of my Mother. She had notable roles in TV shows Lime Street and The Storks Will Return, films White Lions, Circles, Parade and Next to me, and her new film A Good wife will be screened at FEST.

Janko Popović Volarić is a Croatian film, theater and TV actor. He graduated from the Academy of dramatic arts in Zagreb. He made a dozen short and feature films such as Mother of asphalt, Vis A Vis, as well as some TV shows (Rest in peace, The Ratkaj pride). He also acted in about twenty theater plays. (Tribes, Thelma & Louise).

Gjermund Gisvold is a Norwegian writer and screenwriter. He recently published a novel Gjøkungen (2015), well received by the critics, and he visited Balkans a number of times working on various projects. He wrote a script for the film Goran, directed by an award winning Croatian director Nevio Marasović.