Feature: Victoria Abril opens Serbia's biggest film festival

Famous Spanish actress Victoria Abril opened on Friday the 44th FEST international film festival in Belgrade that will screen more than a hundred domestic and international films, most of which will have their premiere in Serbia.

This year's edition of the FEST international film festival opened at Sava Centre in Belgrade under the slogan "Erasing Borders", with the screening of the Serbian film "Humidity", debut by director Nikola Ljuca about a young man who tries to move on with his life after his wife suddenly vanished.

Opening ceremony was held in front of several thousand film fans and numerous Serbian stars and filmmakers, FEST's artistic director Jugoslav Pantelic, Culture Minister Ivan Tasovac, Belgrade mayor Sinisa Mali and this year's special guests -- U.S. film director John McTiernan and Victoria Abril who were awarded with Belgrade Victor for their creative achievements.

"All this is a big surprise for me, I am glad and fascinated with the honor that FEST has shown me. I am very happy that I had the opportunity to come here this year and participate in this festival for a couple of days with Belgrade's citizens," Abril said at the opening of the festival.

The main (out of competition) program consists of Oscar contenders such are "Brooklyn", "Carol", "Spotlight", "The Danish Girl", as well as movies by famous directors such as "Hail, Caesar" by Ethan and Joel Coen, "Youth" by Paolo Sorrentino and "Irrational men" by Woody Allen.

This program also includes "Nie Yin Niang", a coproduction film of China and France set in 9th century and directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien which tells a story about a ten-year-old girl from China who transforms into a professional assassin.

Main competition program of the festival will feature 15 films from 13 countries: France, Iran, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Israel, Mexico, Vietnam, Italy, Croatia, Guatemala, Bulgaria and the United States.

The national competition program consists of 19 domestic and coproduction films, some of which will be premiered here: "Humidity", "A Good Wife", "Patria", "Rift", "Apophania", "Open Wound", and "Signature Work".

In accordance with this year's festival's slogan which is "Erasing Borders", audience will have the chance to watch several movies about the refugee crisis, among which are "Mediteranea", a debut film by Jonas Carpignano which deals with African migrants who risk everything to start a new life in Europe, and "Dheepan", a movie directed by Jacques Audiard which won the Golden Palm of last year's Cannes festival.

The opening ceremony also included the presentation of Belgrade Victor Award to well-known Serbian and international filmmakers. Besides Abril and McTiernan, Serbian actor Velimir Bata Zivojinovic (starred in 1972 movie Walter Defends Sarajevo) received the Belgrade Victor for outstanding contribution to film art.

First edition of the FEST film festival was held in 1971, and since then festival premiered numerous movies and presented famous filmmakers from around the world to the audience of former Yugoslavia and Serbia. So far it has screened around 4,000 movies to the audience of 4,000,000 people in total, while since last year it has grown into a competitive festival.

FEST will take place until March 6, when juries will announce best films, scripts, actors and directors in international and domestic selections. Endit