Asterfest film festival opens, Želimir Žilnik receives lifetime achievement award
Strumica, 6 August 2022 (MIA) – The 17th edition of the Asterfest International Film Festival opened Friday evening in Strumica. The theme of this year’s edition is Aster Lights.
Aster laureate for lifetime achievement in film art, Serbian filmmaker Želimir Žilnik, a legend of Southeastern European film who created a series of cult films including Early Works, which was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, was presented with the award by the Mayor of Strumica, Kostadin Kostadinov. In his thank you message for the award, Žilnik pointed out that film art is complicated and costly, and some spend four to five years to find big budget for big films, then after making the film, it can live on as a genuine classic, but sometimes it can also vanish. “When you’re making low-budget films, you have the freedom to get the job done faster, to react to some things that are current and then turn to other things. I managed to build an opus of over 60 films, and I saw it all in Germany when I decided to go there in the seventies to make a living like many others. There I came across a situation when the new wave of German cinema was being born, and they told me that in their work the Germans were following the example of our black wave film movement, with the likes of films such as those by Makavejev, Žika Pavlović and others,” said Žilnik. The festival’s creator, filmmaker Goran Trenchovski, said he was especially thrilled seeing a packed auditorium of film festival-goers. Seven exclusive short feature films were screened at the opening on Friday evening, including Marija Apchevska’s North Pole, Aleksandar Vujović’s Rainbow, Nash Edgerton’s Shark, Martin Strange-Hansen's On My Mind, Elvira Lind’s The Letter Room, Ali Asgari’s Witness, and Valéry Carnoy’s Titan. Documentary short films are on Saturday’s program of the festival, including Diana Kadłubowska and Krzysztof Kadłubowski’s Balcony Concert, Daniel Cook’s The Bayview, Samir Karahoda’s Displaced, Olga Lucovnicova’s My Uncle Tudor, and Ben Proudfoot’s The Queen of Basketball. The festival’s jury panel includes Mimi Gjorgoska-Ilievska, Vladimir Perović, Mimoza Reyl and Stole Angelov. In addition to the film screenings, events will also take place at the Europe House in Strumica. Asterfest is supported by the Municipality of Strumica.
