21-06-2021

Montenegrin Films I Was 10 and Rainbow Achieve Success Abroad

By
    Rainbow by Aleksandar Vujovic Rainbow by Aleksandar Vujovic

    PODGORICA: The long documentary I Was 10 by Velibor Covic and the short fiction film Rainbow by Aleksandar Vujovic are gaining recognition abroad, although very few feature films were completed in Montenegro in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

    I Was 10 recently received a special prize for outstanding contribution to documentary film at the International Filmmaker Festival in New York (IFFNY), held 21-24 May 2021.

    Produced by Montenegrin A Production, with support from the Film Centre of Montenegro and the Fund for Minority Rights, the film records the memories of immigrants from Kosovo. In 1999 more than 100,000 Kosovars found shelter in Montenegro, all under the same label of “refugees”. The film’s author found inspiration in photographs which recorded their arrival, new life and survival in the new country.

    The short fiction film Rainbow has been selected for 40 festivals and won 15 awards, making it the Montenegrin film with the highest number of awards. The film was awarded the Yellow Umbrella Award for the Best Film at the Balkan Panorama Film Festival, Izmir, and Best Fiction Short Film at Aphrodite Film Awards, New York, among others.

    Rainbow is based on the autobiography entitled Dipingo dunque esisto! by the artist Gaetano Grillo and subtly recounts an event from a 5-year-old boy’s memory, when he embarks on a journey with his father and experiences a magical moment, realising his life’s vocation.

    The film was produced by Italy’s Apulia Film Commission and the executive producer is the Montenegrin Boka F.