Ministry of Culture and Film Center of Montenegro announced a public call for a candidate to represent Montenegro at the Oscars in the category Best Foreign Film, however this year, there were no applicants, although there were two premiers – Iskra by Gojko Berkulja and Slucajevi pravde by Zoran Markovic. Both films had premiere at Herceg Novi Film Festival.
Berkuljan said he didn’t apply because his film did not meet one of the requirements – to be played in its home country for seven days in cinemas.
“We still haven’t started the distribution process, so I realized we do not meet the conditions”, Berkuljan said. Zoran Markovic did not wish to make comments on this matter.
Speaking to Dnevne Novine daily, directors Ivan Marinovic and Nikola Vukcevic, whose films represented Montenegro before, said that there are consequences to having no representation at the Oscars.
Condition of distribution represents an issue for candidates, Vukcevic said.
“The problem is, our films usually premiere at Herceg Novi Film Festival in August. Summer is not a good time for cinemas. We played our movie in Gusinje – where it was cold, and postponed the real distribution for November. We met the conditions and everyone was happy”, Vukcevic said.
Montenegro has had a representative four times so far. In addition to Vukcevic and Marinovic, Drasko Djurovic and Ivona Juka had this honor.
