The program Creative Europe and its subprogram MEDIA have supported the Film festival Free Zone.

European Commission has, once again, recognized Free Zone as one of the most significant festivals in our country.

The organizers of the first festival of socially engaged film in Serbia and the region are announcing the new festival edition that will take place from November 5 to November 10. In these challenging times, they point out that support is of great importance, above all for the future and further festival development. Free Zone is the third most visited film festival in Serbia and it is important for us to bring the latest films and authors from this country and region, and the whole world – say the organizers.

The wider mission of the Free Zone includes developing and attracting audiences, organizing the new and innovative program lines, and year-round projects such as the Tour and educational projects Free Zone Junior. Tour of the Free Zone screens the best films from previous festival editions in 50 cities and smaller places, and the Junior program, founded to include film as a tool in class, screens them to primary and secondary schools. For now, this program has involved more than 500.000 scholars in 186 places in Serbia and covered 65% of the total educational program.

Subprogram MEDIA within program Creative Europe encourages the advancement of the audiovisual and multimedia sector, supporting: development, distribution, and promotion of the European featured, animated and documentary films and TV shows; improvement and promotion of the new media content; professional advancement of the film professionals and development of new technologies and platforms for distribution of the audiovisual content, film festivals and audiences.

The sixteenth edition of the Free Zone festival will take place at ten cinemas in Belgrade, Novi Sad, and Niš. A great piece of news this year is the platform KinoKauch for online program watching.

This year’s edition of the Festival, besides the MEDIA program, was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, Reconstruction Women’s fund, French Institute, and Movies That Matter.