Martovski Festival | Tourist Calendar of Serbia

Martovski festival is a cultural event dedicated to documentary and short films, which takes place in Belgrade and is one of the oldest festivals of its kind in Europe.

From the Yugoslav Film Festival held in Pula in 1954 and later moved to Belgrade six years later, the event known today as the Martovski festival emerged. From the very beginning, it has been dedicated to promoting domestic documentary, short fiction, animated, and experimental films. Many giants of Yugoslav cinematography won their first awards at this festival.

However, over time, it has grown into an international festival that offers the local audience an opportunity to see some of the award-winning works from around the world. The Martovski festival today is a meeting place for domestic and foreign professionals, film school and academy students, and film enthusiasts.

The competition section includes documentary films of over 50 minutes, experimental films, video art, animated films, and short fiction films. Awards are also given for best direction, cinematography, editing, and sound. In addition to film screenings, the festival also hosts educational panels and workshops where producers, distributors, representatives of other film festivals, journalists, critics, and those who are learning about film exchange their experiences.

This multi-day event offers the audience the opportunity to see quality films that are not part of regular cinema programs. In addition to film premieres, films that have been shown in other European cities and have won awards at those festivals are also presented. The festival also includes a non-competitive section where the most interesting films from previous Martovski festivals are screened.

The diverse program is particularly contributed to by the fact that it showcases professional, student, and amateur works. The selection committee must choose several dozen films out of several hundred that will be screened at the festival. According to their words, the selection of films is becoming more diverse and challenging, and it is impossible to summarize them thematically. They cover stories about Vlach fortune tellers, mass graves, the production of New Year decorations in China, fulfilled dreams, migrations, and planets.

At the end of the festival, after the awards ceremony, there is a "Martovski festival encore." On that occasion, the audience can watch a showcase of the award-winning films.

The organizer of the Martovski festival is the Belgrade Youth Center, and you can find more information about this event on the official festival website. The event is supported by the City of Belgrade, the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, and the Serbian Film Center. Special benefits are available for film academy students, who have free admission with their student IDs.

This year's 70th edition of the Martovski festival is scheduled to take place from March 28th to April 2nd.