On Sunday, November 10, 2024, the third international short film festival, Beneath The River Danube, was held in the cultural center “Dom ¬kulture” in Belgrade. In the competition of 1123 submitted films from 102 countries from all over the world, 31 were chosen in the official selection and shown to the present filmmakers and the domestic audience.

The historical phenomenon of humans gathering around the hearth, which creates the process of developing cultural, spiritual, and creative heritage, gave man sociability as an essential property. Theaters, museums, and galleries preserve this phenomenon as an important pillar of social communities. However, modern times are characterized by the pretension of obstructing the spark of this type of social communication and coexistence.
The ideal of the Beneath The River Danube is a return to social interaction and the film screen as a modern embodiment of the hearth, because only as a social being, man is also a thinking being. For the third year in a row, the cinema hall was full, and in addition to watching films, the audience had active participation in discussions with the authors on topics that went beyond the film’s theme. After the completion of their films, the authors once again had the opportunity to present themselves and their previous work. The special feature of this edition was the masterclass of our prominent cinematographer, Professor Goran Radovanovic. After the completed screenings, divided into four blocks, prizes were awarded for the four best achievements of the third Beneath The River Danube.

For the best experimental film, the award was given to the British author Eluned Zoe Aiano for the film “I Have a Song to Sing You”.
In the best short fiction film category, French director Laurent Rouy triumphed with his social drama “At the Border”.
For the first time, the organizers and the expert jury awarded the Founders Award for the film that best represents the spirit of the festival, which was solemnly presented to our respected director and a giant of Serbian cinema, Goran Radovanovic, for his iconic creation, “Columbus Urbica”.
The Grand Prix Award “Sterlet of Steel”, for the best film of the festival, was given to Nebojsa Ilic Ilke for the documentary “Forever Koce”. It was the festival premiere of Ilke’s empathetic elegy about a family that saved 28,000 human lives with its humanity.
The idea of the festival is to remove any cultural and religious boundaries and cosmopolitanize the authors of independent films. Also, festival organizations are 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 Sport Film – The Last Sticker (Italy) – directed by Luca Dal Canto
– Best Animation – Bird Drone (Australia), directed by Radheya Jang Jegatheva
– Best Drama – Affect (Sweden), directed by Sandro Khafor
– Best Story – The Best Moment of the Day (Hungary), directed Zsuzsa Sándor
– Best Socially Conscious Film – My Crutch (Palestine), directed by Ahmad Tariq Hamad Hamad
– Best Director – Picnic in Palavas (Switzerland) – directed by Hugues Beauregard & Mit Jarouble
– Best Screenplay – The Choice (Italy), written by Lorenzo Mombelli
– Best Cinematography – The Stream XII-II (Japan) – Hiroya Sakurai
– Best Original Music – The Veil of Thanatos (Spain) – Blas Payri
– Best Comedy – Al fresco (Spain), directed by Ignacio Rodó
– Best Actor – Jordan Broisin, for the film Second Wind (France)
– Best Actress – Agata Pisiewicz, for the film Stray Dog (Georgia)
– Best Philosophical Film – Food (Philippines), directed by Breech Asher Marfil Harani
– Best Debut Film – When You Return (Belgium), directed by Vicky Van Hemelrijck
– Best Environmental Film – Planet SOS (Bangladesh), directed by Md Shahadat Hossain
– Audience Award – The n-th One (Netherlands), directed by László Lenhardt.
The festival has secured five world and two European premieres, as well as the presence of numerous creators and film critics. All of them joined forces towards a lofty goal: igniting a new hearth and taking over the flame that they would carry with them until the next Beneath The River Danube. With it, they will try to shed light on contemporary social whirlwinds. It requires a “sacrifice”, but only by sacrificing ourselves for the sake of a higher goal can we reach entelechy.