The festival that doesn’t end with the film
The Herceg Novi Film Festival, between heritage and a new role.
Over the years, the Herceg Novi Film Festival has evolved into a festival where film projects are developed and filmmakers from the region and Europe meet. Photos: Milos Samardzic / Herceg Novi Film Festival.
The dissolution of Yugoslavia dismantled that system, forcing the festival to redefine its role within a fragmented landscape of national film industries.
For many years, directors from the region were expected to make films about war and conflict, as if these were unavoidable, according to Perović, director of public radio in Montenegro.
According to Božović, small film industries also face a shortage of specialised crews and limited production capacity.
The festival brings together audiences and film professionals in open-air settings. Photo: Milos Samardzic / Herceg Novi Film Festival.
After the wars of the 1990s, many documentaries were built around the “us and them” divide, while now directors are increasingly turning their cameras towards their own communities and families.
Uran Haxha
Uran Haxha is a journalist at K2.0 and the host of the show “Pak ma Drejt” on Paper Radio. He’s covered economic issues and human interest stories for a number of Kosovo media outlets. He studied marketing and management.
This story was originally written in Albanian.