Golden Corn Award for Best Debut Director Goes to Marko Novaković for the film „Accomplices“

The 9th Ravno Selo Film Festival, an international festival dedicated to first and second feature films, concluded with the official awards ceremony followed by the screening of Accomplices, directed by Marko Novaković. Over the course of four days, the festival welcomed filmmakers, guests from Serbia and abroad, emerging talents and audiences to Ravno Selo. A total of 29 films were screened across three competition programmes. The festival programme also featured the official reopening of the renovated House of Culture, a film music concert, an art colony, a comic book workshop, film workshops for young participants, and numerous accompanying events.

The Main Competition Programme, featuring 12 films, including five national premieres, was evaluated by an international jury chaired by Glauce Valdini, Director of the Italian Film Institute. The other jury members were director Dejan Zečević and director and screenwriter Đorđe Milosavljević.

The Golden Corn for Best Director, accompanied by a €1,500 cash prize, was awarded to Marko Novaković for film „Accomplices“. The Golden Corn for Best Film of the 9th Ravno Selo Film Festival was awarded to the film „Bird Boy“, directed by Savely Osadchyi.

The Best Young Actor Award, accompanied by a €1,000 cash prize sponsored by GORKI LIST, was presented to Ubeimar Rios for his performance in „The Poet“, directed by Simón Mesa Soto.

The Audience Award for the Best Film, accompanied by a €500 cash prize, was presented to „DJ Ahmet“, directed by Georgi M. Unkovski. The Audience Jury was chaired by Sanja Mićić, representative of Telekom Srbija, with Mira Gvozdenac, retired professor, and Olivera Pantović, Principal of the „Branko Radičević“ Primary School in Ravno Selo, serving as jury members.

In the documentary competition „Short 100 Minutes“, which this year featured films from Mexico, Canada, Poland, India, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Belgium, Lithuania and Russia. Golden Corn for Best Documentary Film, together with a €500 cash prize, went to the film „Only If the Baby Cries“ by Indian director Shadab Farooq. The winner was selected by a single-member jury chaired by Giuseppe Panebianco, Artistic Director of the i-Fest International Film Festival.

The First Meter Award for Best Student Film, accompanied by a €500 cash prize, was presented to „They Will Love Me Now“ by Nikulás Tumi Hlynsson, a student at FAMU Film Academy in Prague. A Special Mention in the same category was awarded to Petr Vlček for his film „Fathers“.

As part of the closing ceremony, the audience also watched the short films created by local schoolchildren during the Filmić workshop in Ravno Selo, under the mentorship of Petar Pešut.

Lazar Ristovski, founder and festival director, said during the closing ceremony: „I am happy that next year we will celebrate the festival’s first major milestone – the 10th Ravno Selo Film Festival. This year’s edition was truly special, thanks to the large number of guests from abroad and across the region, as well as the video messages of support and congratulations we received from filmmakers and award winners from around the world. All of this came together to create a remarkable success and a shared sense of emotion. I believe this year’s festival has been our finest and most emotional edition to date.“

The festival was supported by the Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the Provincial Secretariat for Culture, the Film Center Serbia, the Municipality of Vrbas, the Vrbas Cultural Centre, the Vrbas Centre for Physical Culture, and the Local Community of Ravno Selo. The festival’s general sponsor is Telekom Srbija.

Over the course of four days, the Ravno Selo Film Festival once again demonstrated that cinema can serve as a powerful platform for bringing communities together, encouraging dialogue, and fostering new cultural connections.

On the occasion of the premiere, film director Paolo Zucca and lead actor Jacopo Cullin arrived in Belgrade. At a press conference that preceded the premiere, they addressed the press, along with Paola Cordone, director of the Italian Cultural Center and host and one of the main actors, Lazar Ristovski.

“I would first like to thank the Italian Cultural Center for supporting us to bring Paolo and Jacopo as guests at the film’s premiere. Distributing films that carry the artistic line is always difficult and we, as Zillion, have ventured to buy this film for distribution. I hope the audience will love and watch this movie, ” Ristovski said at a press conference and expressed special thanks to Marko Ckonjevic and FAME Solutions as distributor for Serbia.

Director Paolo Zuka has also written a screenplay for his film, and the movie is based in his native Sardinia and follows a local fisherman, played by Lazar Ristovski, who has promised a woman he loves to give her the moon. And, the Sardinians are known to always keep their promise.

Special guest Lazar Ristovski was awarded the “Kapija Zvornika” for his contribution to the development of festival and film art in Republika Srpska. The award was presented by Zvornik Mayor Zoran Stevanovic while the symbol of the Festival “Filmska klapa” was presented to Dragan Marinkovic, the director of “Leeches”.

This artistic manifestation as a kind of “cultural bridge” connects the cities of East Sarajevo and Zvornik and best realizes the strategy of decentralization of culture of the Ministry of Education and Culture in the Government of Republika Srpska and this concept implies the uniform development of artistic creativity, but also the development of other cultural activities evenly throughout the area of Srpska, both in its urban and rural parts.

Opening the festival, Ristovski emphasized that he is very important because he shows selected films, which makes him significant, quality and good.
“I’ve been to a lot of festivals – small, big, significant, but I can say that every festival is significant, no matter how small it is by the number of films shown or by the number of audiences present,” Ristovski said.

Marinkovic said that the movie “Leeches” was interesting for many reasons, and that the cast consisting of Mirjana Jankovic, Iva Mihalic, Nikola Djuricko and Lazar Ristovski did something extraordinary and superb. According to him, 13 years of the festival means something in the European context.

This year’s festival “Prvi kadar” is held under the motto “Don’t see evil!”, which is inspired by the folk saying, but also by the thematic frames of filmmaking.

Lazar Ristovski is the founder of the festival, whose main organizer is the production company Zillion film. Ravno Selo Film Festival is a festival of debut, student film and film music, aimed primarily at young people in the area. Through its activities, the festival seeks to bring film, as well as filmmakers, closer to them, thus encouraging them to study and create, but also to enrich their viewing experience, and therefore artistic development.

In addition to the municipal leadership, representatives of institutions, organizations, public companies, provincial authorities and national councils, the session was attended by representatives of municipalities and cities of Serbia, as well as fraternal and partner cities from Montenegro, Croatia and Hungary, reports the willow municipal website.

Attendees were greeted by the Mayor of the Municipality of Vrbas, who congratulated the holiday on the inhabitants of all populated places, and then the Mayor took the floor, using the opportunity to introduce the guests to the results and plans for the future.

The Lazar Ristovski Award was given by Milan Glusac.

– Thank you for this warm acclaim, for the applause you have given me and my colleagues. This is the 40th year I come to this festival. Thank you for all those years, and for being the most wonderful audience in the world – said Lazar Ristovski.

The cast that took the festival stage included Nebojsa Kundacina, Danica Ristovski, Radovan Rasa Vujovic and the young Ivan Vujic who plays the boy-corporal Momcilo Gavric in the film.

As the evening progressed, the audience saw the film “What a country!” (“Koja je ovo država!”), a Serbian-Croatian production starring Lazar Ristovski as well.

It is worth recalling that two years ago, Lazar Ristovski was presented with the “Pavle Vuisic Award”, which is presented for outstanding contribution to Serbian cinema.

On that occasion Lazar noted: – Being a prophet in your village is ever so difficult, and so is getting recognition from one’s colleagues. Thus when you receive those awards, they are truly the most significant. I am delighted to receive this award, and I thank Pavle Vuisic for having been such a great actor. If it wasn’t for him, this award wouldn’t exist, and I wouldn’t have received it. To me, this award represents a Serbian Oscar for Lifetime Achievement.

Lazar Ristovski is the record holder for the number of awards received at the Niš festival. In fact he has won the Grand Prix four times and the Emperor Constantine Award two times, as well as several other awards.

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Here is a review of the most important roles played by Lazar Ristovski.

He has displayed his outstanding thespian skills in „Hajka” (1977), „Svetozar Marković“ (1981), „Igmanski marš“ (1983), „Tako se kalio čelik“ (1988), „Original falsifikata“ (1991), „Tito i ja“ (1992), „Underground“ (1995), „Balkanska pravila“ (1997), „Bure baruta“ (1998), “Belo odelo” (1999), “Bumerang” (2001), „Mali svet“ (2003), „Pad u raj“ (2004), „San zimske noći“ (2004). „Sveti Georgije ubiva aždahu“ (2009.), „Dnevnik mašinovođe” (2016) and „Kralj Petar Prvi“ (2018)

Lazar Ristovski has also worked as a director and producer of the feature “The White Suit“, which had its world premiere in Cannes in 2000 within the CRITIC WEEK program. He directed his second film “White Lions”  in 2011.

He has produced 18 feature films.