On Saturday, June 1st 2024, the Second International Film Festival “Beneath the River Danube”, was held at Dom ¬kulture, in Belgrade. Among 1321 submitted movies from 97 different countries, 31 were officially selected by the Jury and shown to the Serbian audience.
After the film screenings, divided into five blocks, the Jury of the Festival presented its winners list. The awards have been given to the four best film achievements at the “Beneath The River Danube”.
For the first time, as main prize of the festival, Award for the Best Animation is assigned to german author Anna Benner and her artwork “Chicken”.
At the festival category “Life is a Sport”, Award for the Best Sport Film went into the hands of a Croatian director, Marko Plejic for the movie “As One”.
Award for the Best Short Fiction Film was handed to the filmmaker from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Husnija Coralic, for his romantic drama “Parallels”.
And finally, “Sterlet of Steel”, a Grand Prix of The Festival went to Denis Nazzari, for his masterpiece Proof of Love. In addition to the main prize, the film also won the Special Award for the Best Original Music, which was awarded to Maestro Nicola Piovani, and the Special Award for the Best Actor, which went to Alessandro Haber.
The idea of the festival is to remove any cultural and religious boundaries and cosmopolitanize the authors of independent films. Also, festival organization is trying to make ordinary men closer to movie theaters and to the big screen. Thus, and because of the excellence of selected films, the festival Jury presented its Special Award Winners:
– Best Drama – The Absent Soul (Peru), directed by Sonja Ortiz
– Best Story – Trails of Doubt (Madagascar), directed Raoelijaona Gourio Laurino
– Best Socially Conscious Film – When War is Over (Italy), directed by Simone Massi
– Best Director – Samuel Gonzalez, for the film Boogeyman (Spain)
– Best Screenplay – Coldness (Denmark), written by Andreas Lübker & Alfred Rubin
– Best Cinematography – I love you even when you win (Italy) – directed by Giordano Toreti
– Best Comedy – RH (France), directed by Jan Caplin
– Best Actress – Elaheh Bakhshi (Iran), for the film Cocoon
– Best Philosophical Film – Run Carlos, Run (Armenia), directed by David Sarkissian
– Best Experimental Film – Thin Ice (Austria) – directed by Sam Heydt
– Best Debut Film – Water Seller (DR Congo), directed by Vainqueur Adan
– Audience Award – Sights (Pakistan) – directed by Syed Saif Uddin
Considering the nine-hour duration, and that the movie theater was fraught from the beginning, during the screening, and until the very end of the screenings, it seems that the festival has completed its objective, once again.
After the first edition of the festival that created the base of the alternative commune, this edition brought a lot of new authors, film workers and lovers of independent cinema to the Dom ¬kulture. Our great audience were delighted with the repertoire and enthusiastic with festival’s good vibes. The festival soul continues to live on in everyone who is a part of it. This festival and everything around it is proof of sincere and true love for independent film, freedom and social justice, and that fighting spirit must be maintained in the future.