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International Film Festival - FEST

International Film Festival – FEST always held in the last Friday in February through the first week of March offers the highest achievements in the world of cinema.

The first FEST, under the slogan “A Brave New World” was opened on the 9th of January 1971 in Dom Sindikata, with the screening of Robert Altman’s Mash.

During the first festival, the five programs have shown a total of 73 films seen by approximately 105,000 viewers. The most famous films on the repertoire were "A Space Odyssey" by Stanley Kubrick, Dennis Hopper's "Naked in the seat," but also many films of Eric Rohmer, Louis Bunuel, etc.

The record in the audience, FEST has reached in 1977 when it recorded total of 252,332 viewers. Also, many great actors and directors have been the guests over the last 40 years: Marcello Mastroianni, Harvey Keitel, Liv Ullman, Bernardo Bertolucci, Sophia Loren, Robert De Niro, Johnny Depp, Milos Forman, Catherine Deneuve, Wim Wenders, Abbas Kiarostami, Hanna Schygulla and many more.

During years FEST become one of the most important festivals on the continent and a main event of Belgrade's cultural life. This is all thanks to its openness to films from all parts of the world, as well as to all relevant authors and works that would never have the opportunity to be shown in cinemas.

Since its inception, FEST has always had its main program, along with a few accompanying ones, whose quality often exceeded the expectations put in the name „accompanying“. There were also many „accompanying“ publications, exhibitions and symposiums held during the Festival.

This year, the jubilee 40th FEST will start on 24th of February at the "Sava Center" with the projection of "Tree of Life" by Terrence Malick - the Golden Palm winner at last year's Cannes Film Festival. The FEST will last until 4th of March during which time 72 movies will have its premiere in Serbia. Among the premieres more then twenty films will be presented in the retrospectives.

Films will be screened in cycles: The main program, Hollywood, World Film Panorama, Europe out of Europe, Europe in Europe, Selected documentaries and Special programs Britannica and Canada.

For the main program, planned movies are the ones awarded at Cannes last year - "The Tree of Life" by Terrence Malick (Golden Palm), "Le Havre" by Aki Kaurismaki, "Le gamin au vélo” by Dardenne brothers, "Melancholy" by Lars von Trier. Festival will open the famous Hollywood director of Serbian descent, Peter Bogdanovich, and it will be closed with the premiere of domestic film " Doktor Rej i đavoli" by Dinko Tucakovic.

Tickets will be on sale from 1st of February at the Sava Center, Belgrade Cultural Center, Dom omladine and Museum of the Film Archive box office as well as in Bilet centar.Ticket prices are ranging from 150 to 300 dinars, while for the grand opening price is 500 dinars. Sets of tickets for the whole FEST could be purchased from 1st - 7th of February with a discount of 10 percent.

International Film Festival - FEST