Mićanović: „I urge you not to turn a blind eye, not to let anyone blindfold us, but to keep our eyes wide open…“
His views on fighting violence and preventing restrictions on freedom of speech, as well as his support for student efforts to democratize Serbia, were decisive in the decision to „remove“ Mićanović from the Festival stage. The organizers were informed of the content of Mićanović’s speech after the actor sent them the text to be translated into English. People from the Democrats then decided to „remove“ Mićanović from the stage and have the Festival opened by Minister Tamara Vujović, who is also a Democratic Montenegro official
Because the speech he had prepared criticized the authorities in Serbia and advocated freedom of speech and artistic expression, prominent Belgrade actor Dragan Mićanović did not open the 39th Herceg Novi Film Festival, although it had been planned.
- In my opinion, the connection between these regions is much deeper than the administrative borders that divide us. What is happening to us here now can happen to you there tomorrow. A year and a half ago, together with my colleagues, I carried a banner that read: „I will rise, crushed, battered, oppressed, against armies of steel with a wooden sword“. We demanded accountability for the great tragedy that affected us all and raised our voices against the violence our young colleagues experienced in front of their faculties - Mićanović wrote, among other things, in the speech he sent to the organizers to be translated into English.
It is evident that his views on fighting violence and preventing restrictions on freedom of speech, as well as his support for student efforts to democratize Serbia, were decisive in the decision to „remove“ Mićanović from the Festival stage.
According to information obtained by ETV Portal, the decision was made by the festival’s sponsors - Montenegro’s Ministry of Culture and Media and the Municipality of Herceg Novi, both headed by officials from Democratic Montenegro.
The Festival was opened without prior announcement by Minister of Culture and Media Tamara Vujović. In an informal telephone conversation with E Television, when asked why Mićanović had not opened the Festival, she briefly said that it was due to „unforeseen circumstances“. Actor Dragan Mićanović left Herceg Novi immediately after the decision that he could not speak at the opening and returned to Belgrade.
ETV Portal publishes Mićanović’s speech in full:
Good evening.
Bogdan Diklić, the recipient of this year’s award and my dear colleague, was supposed to address you and open the festival tonight. But, as so often happens in life, on stage and in film, when someone cannot do something, a replacement is sought - as we would colloquially say, someone has to step in. Well, I must honestly admit that it is an honor for me to step in for Bogdan.
Although he might now say to me what he wrote in his book „Acting Without Acting“: „The fact that someone occasionally recognizes you on the street and that an interview or two sometimes appears in the newspapers does not mean you are an actor“.
Or, knowing that I am nervous about addressing you tonight, he might say to me, from that same book: „Check everything that is on your mind and everything that is in your soul“.
And since we are talking about the soul - it is a privilege to be here with you tonight. And that privilege also carries with it the responsibility to speak from the soul.
In my opinion, the connection between these regions is much deeper than the administrative borders that divide us. What is happening to us here now can happen to you there tomorrow.
A year and a half ago, together with my colleagues, I carried a banner that read:
„I will rise, crushed, battered, oppressed, against armies of steel with a wooden sword“.
We demanded accountability for the great tragedy that affected us all and raised our voices against the violence our young colleagues experienced in front of their faculties.
Since then, and up until today, there has been less and less talk of accountability, while violence has continued to spread.
What followed was the systematic elimination of an entire country’s free-thinking cultural scene.
For almost two years, there have been no calls for new film projects, funding for major festivals is being withdrawn, and our colleagues are being beaten in the center of the capital.
If we are not allowed to create, there will be no new Bogdans, Žmukićs, Žilniks, Živkos, Makavejevs, Vulets, new Šibas, Godinas, Bauers, Afrićs, Sidrans, new Miras, Sojas, Milenas… and so many others, new and original, to step in and continue the chain.
The great filmmaker from this region, Aleksandar Saša Petrović, said: „If we do not love people, we cannot make films either“… „Without a soul, there is no real film“… „Film is like life - everything is in it. You just have to open your eyes.“
I urge you not to turn a blind eye, not to let anyone blindfold us, but to keep our eyes wide open…
I hereby declare the 39th Herceg Novi Film Festival open.