Read the welcome note from Milan Nikodijević, the student film selector of the first Novi Sad Film Festival.

At the time when one of the important festivals in the former Yugoslavia was launched, the one that will celebrate its fiftieth birthday in a few years, so it has been quite a few years, pieces in the media would appear now and then, the essence of which was reduced to the question: “Do we have many film festivals? Do we need another one?” At that time, in the great Yugoslavia, there were barely a dozen film events with a profiled concept of a film festival.
The initiator of that manifestation, already irritated by caustic remarks about something that had not even seen its start yet, answered the question with, “It’s only a lot when they beat you!”
He silenced many; more importantly, it was a prophetic sentence. Now, in the new states created by Yugoslavia's disintegration, there are hundreds of film festivals. And that’s not many. New ones are being launched. Either way, whether there are many or not, they each contributed to affirming their respective cinematographies in their own way, supported their development, and made cinematography forget about its many problems. The newly launched The Novi Sad Film Festival.
No words should be wasted on the cultural tradition of Novi Sad in this short piece. The second largest city in Serbia was recently the European Capital of Culture. Novi Sad used to have and still has film festivals. Once it used to be the Novi Sad Arena and Cinema City; Novi Sad hosted the first and only National Film Festival; Film Front and Euro In have years of tradition behind them, whereas New Cultural Village, Karlovci Film Festival, and Obnova are little less old. Trying to recall all the festivals from memory, I am sure I must have missed some.
Leaning on the rich tradition, as of this year, the Novi Sad Film Festival is positioning itself as an international competitive festival This, of course, is nothing new; there are such festivals in the world and here as well, but, coming back to the initial thesis that there are never too many festivals, we enter into this project with an open heart and soul. Our idea is to make the Novi Sad Film Festival a mirror of the city that has stood behind it without any doubt as much as the new opportunity to give a new impulse to domestic cinematography, with widely set program contents. Finally, we want to establish new bridges, in addition to those that have lasted for centuries, that will connect us with near and far “brothers in film.”
The concept of an international film festival of the first and second films opens up possibilities for diverse content to find its place in the program, from student films to the first films of established authors. Additionally, it makes it possible for the world to come to Novi Sad through the workshops, but also for Novi Sad to show the world what it offers in the domain of the seventh art. Novi Sad Film Festival will pay special attention to the Industry program. Starting this year, it will actively participate in the co-financing of projects in development through this program and use this festival segment to promote Novi Sad as an exciting destination for all kinds of filmmakers.
This "new" festival takes place at the beginning of autumn and should be interpreted as a pilot project, as an announcement for something that has the potential to grow into an annual event through which the city will be transformed into a big movie screen. This screen will know no boundaries between those who make a film and those who watch it. It will be when "great illusions" will be within reach in every corner of Novi Sad.
With this year’s festival, we are taking the first step towards that.
Author: Milan Nikodijević, program selector of the student films