Balkan Filmmakers Present their Work at Berlin

A scene from the trailer of the movie "Parade" | Photo by Youtube printscreen

Visitors to the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, also known as the Berlinale, will get a chance to see a popular film from Serbia about gay rights which will be screened four times in the out-of-competition Panorama programme.

The festival organisers describe "Parade" as a movie that brings together two very different worlds.

"Old school machismo meets gay obsession for interior design, homophobia meets overblown gender display as a number of former foes – Serbs, Bosnian Muslims, Kosovo-Albanians and Croatian war veterans – find themselves obliged to form a tenuous bond with a bunch of gay activists," reads the description on the festival's web site.

This year’s Panorama programme presents 53 feature films, with 34 productions from 33 countries screening as world premieres.

As well as being represented by “Parade”, Serbia will also have five young filmmakers at the Berlinale Talent Campus - Srdjan Keca, Davor Bosankic, Ivan Knezevic, Maja Radosevic and Jelena Stupljanin. Also, director Milos Pusic will take part in this year's platform for developing scenarios "Script Station" with the project "Heroes of the working class"

The 62nd Berlinale jury President Britain's director Mike Leigh, 2nd from left, is flanked by jury members French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, 2nd from right, German actress Barbara Sukowa, left, and French director Francois Ozon, right, as they pose for a photo at the eve of the 62nd Berlinale, International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012. (Beta/AP/Markus Schreiber)

Besides "Parade", which is a co-production of several ex-Yugoslav states, the Balkan region will also be represented by Macedonia, which has two films at the festival.

The short film “Bardo”, by the young director Marija Apcevska, will be Macedonia's first appearance in the long-running Generation programme which promotes young talented artists.

In the Panorama Special programme, Macedonia will present a film by Teona Mitevska, "The Woman Who Brushed Off Her Tears", in which the starring role is played by the renowned actress Victoria Abril, famous for her work with Spanish director Pedro Almodovar.

A scene from the trailer of the movie "In the Land of Blood and Honey" | Photo by Youtube printscreen

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie will also present her directorial debut, "Land of Blood and Honey", a love story set during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a part of the Berlinale Special programme.

Seventeen movies are competing this year for the Golden Bear prize, which will be awarded by a jury led by director Mike Leigh.

The Berlinale will take place from February 9 to 19 at more than 20 locations throughout Berlin. The opening ceremony will be  held by tradition in the prestigious Berlinale Palast venue and will feature the world premiere of “Les adieux à la Reine“ ("Farewell My Queen) by Benoït Jacquot, at 7:30 pm.