PODGORICA: The Montenegrin Cinematheque and Music Centre of Montenegro officially moved to their new building after two decades, with an opening ceremony taking place on 3 November 2020. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the event was attended by a few select invitees, which included the President of Montenegro, the Mayor of Podgorica and the Minister of Culture.

PODGORICA: The 2020 edition of Green Montenegro International Film Festival (GMIFF), which usually takes place at the Dumitor National Park during the first week of August, will take place online from 18 to 20 December 2020, due to the Covid pandemic restrictions.

PODGORICA: The Georgian/German coproduction A Tunnel, directed by Nino Orjjnikidže and Vano Arsenishvili, was awarded the Dandelion prize in the International Competition of the 11^th edition of UnderhillFest International Film Festival, which ran from 16 to 23 June 2020. Honeyland, directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov (North Macedonia) won the main prize in the Regional Competition.

PODGORICA: The Film Centre of Montenegro gave over 700,000 EUR in grants for production, development and related cinema activities.

PODGORICA: The Montenegrin Cinematheque / Crnogorska kinoteka, which will move into its long-promised new premises later this summer, has been keeping cinema alive during the COVID-19 lockdown. Among its activities is a partnership with public broadcaster RTCG under the title We Live the Culture.

PODGORICA: Many film projects in development have been suspended or cancelled, and the postproduction of some films has stopped in Montenegro, but the industry is stepping in to make film and culture accessible for the general public, and exempting television from the payment of broadcasting fees.

PODGORICA: Montenegro, the last European country to be hit by COVID-19, has announced actions intended to help the film industry during the crisis. They include a set of emergency measures which will delay tax payments of commercial film companies for the next three months, enacted by the government of Montenegro, as well as a public call for emergency support for the cultural sector, and a public call for the co-financing of script and film development from the Film Centre of Montenegro.

PODGORICA: The budget of the Film Centre of Montenegro was 1.1 m EUR in 2019 and will be increased by 40% up to 1.6 m EUR in 2020.

PODGORICA: Renowned writer / director Milan Karadžić has begun filming on the second season of his popular TV series Diamond of Bojana / Biser Bojane. The series is a coproduction between MM Production Montenegro and Serbia’s Vision Team, which also produced Karadžić’s rom-com Diamond of Boyana (2017) and the first season of the TV series with the same title (2018), both very popular in the region.