40th International film festival in Belgrade opens

The 40th International Film Festival in Belgrade (FEST) was opened by Academy Award winning director Jiri Menzl and by Hollywood director and actor Peter Bogdanovich at the Sava Centar on Friday. The American-born Bogdanovich, whose films will be shown as part of a retrospective, expressed gratitude for the warm welcome he received since arriving in his country of origin. Serbian President Boris Tadic was also among the dignitaries. The theme for this year's FEST, which will run until March 4 is "Among the Greats." There will be 72 premiers, along with 20 retrospectives. Films categories are Main Program, Hollywood, World Film Panorama, Europe out of Europe (competition program), Europe in Europe and Selected Documentaries. Two national film industries will be presented through special programs: Britannica and Canada. According to tradition, FEST opened with the showing of the previous year's "Golden Palm" from Cannes: "The Tree of Life" by Terrence Malick and starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. The "World Film Panorama" category includes "A Life without Principles" by Johnnie To, "The Sword Identity" by Haofeng Xu, and "Poongsan" by Juhn Jailong. Since its inception, FEST has exhibited over 4,000 films and been attended by an estimated 4 million viewers.