Dear Mr. Plevneš,
Dear participants in the 11th SEEFF of Southeast Europe,
Admirers of the seventh art,
I want to extend a very warm welcome to all of you and wish you a successful realization of the 11th edition of the Southeast European Film Festival SEEFF-Paris-Berlin-Washington 2021.
The global pandemic has forced us to replace direct communication, which is the core of culture, with a hygienic concept of culture. Therefore, festivals, as well as numerous cultural events, have assumed online formats. The 11th edition of SEEFF promotes the idea that culture is indispensable. It always finds a way to communicate, to send a moral and a message, through artistic creation. Montenegrin cinematography will be presented in this festival by means of a selection of Montenegrin feature and documentary films made by Film Centre of Montenegro, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports.
SEEFF's mission has lasted for 11 years. It is reflected in the continuous promotion of film culture of Southeast Europe, its specificity, as well as in universal film themes that are familiar and accessible to the audience in Paris, Berlin and Washington. Montenegrin cinematography has substantially contributed to the profiling of film culture of Southeast Europe. The beginning of the development of film production in Montenegro marks the period after the Second World War and the founding of a film production company "Lovćen film". Nevertheless, the first filmmakers from Montenegro - Vladimir Đ. Popovic, Marko M. Dragović and Pavle Petrović Njegoš, achieved notable results in filmmaking abroad in the first decades of the 20th century. For example, Pavle Petrović Njegoš, the grandson of King Nikola, participated in the directing of the film "Naked Woman" (based on the adaptation of the play of the same name by the French writer Henri Bataille) in Paris, in 1931.
Nurturing the film culture in Montenegro, as well as fostering the development of film production will be one of the priorities of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports in the future, with the aim of making Montenegrin film production even more competitive on the regional and international film cultural scene.
Once again, I want to commend your efforts to make SEEFF grow and enhance it each year. I see this festival as an opportunity for Western Europe and America to mirror the filmmaking of Southeast Europe.
PROF. DR VESNA BRATIĆ, MINISTER OF EDUCATION, SCIENCE, CULTURE AND SPORTS OF MONTENEGRO