The premiere screening of “Leeches”, produced by Lazar Ristovski and Zillion film and directed by Dragan Marinkovic, began the 13th International Film Festival “Prvi kadar”, which takes place in Zvornik from November 11 to November 16.

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.