We would like to inform you that this year the 24th International Video Festival Videomedeja is being held, produced and organized by the Association for Video Art Videomedeja. The International Video Festival Videomedeja will be held from October 8 to 10, 2020, for the first time in a virtual cinema. All fans of video art will be able to enjoy the program part of the festival for free from the comfort of their home and will have access to art video works from all over the world.
 
Due to the new epidemiological situation caused by the COVID-19, for security reasons, this year the Videomedeja festival will be realized for the first time via the Internet – LIVE stream in real time. There will be no replays, nor will there be the possibility of delayed viewing. Access will be free, and registration will not be necessary, nor will there be geolocation restrictions.
 
In the competition for the 24th Videomedeja, over 1000 applications were received, of which about 4% were included in the festival program. The festival was open to all, the only restrictions were that the artwork must be from the past two years in relation to the year of announcing the public competition for the VIDEOMEDEJA Festival and that the selection committee will not consider works that contain offensive or aggressive messages or content.
 
The selection committee met this year too, but in a different composition. Aleksandar Davić, a former member of the Art Board of Videomedeja, but primarily a great artist and friend, passed away this year. The new member of the selection committee is Srđan Radaković, film and theater director, animator and lecturer at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad.
 
This year, the selection committee was again challenged to select from a large number of quality works, those that will make up this year’s program and be available to a large number of people through Internetplatforms:
https://www.facebook.com/videomedeja/ 
& http://videomedeja.org/?lang=en
 
This year’s program was selected by Ivana Sremčević Matijević, Željko Mandić and Srđan Radaković.
 
“The biggest impression was a successful film production that was well done, with quality and creativity, with very professional and excellent photography as well as editing, but with common themes: war ideologies, political phenomena, cultural differences, the position of women, to which the stories were told and which stood out from the others, it was crucial that part of this film productions were included in this year’s competition selection.The task was not easy due to the professionalism in most works, which could hardly be ignored, but there were also those works with a sure voice NO, but they were still a minority.”
Ivana Sremčević Matijević
 
“Many works have arrived, almost all of which deserve to be shown at the festival. However, the ungrateful work on the selection required the selection of a smaller part of the submitted works. A large number of quality short film forms are indicative, where the selection criterion tended towards experimental film. The selection of works for this year’s festival was marked by the crisis with the COVID 19, which was somewhat reflected in the submitted works. In that sense, this kind of topicality is something new. “
Željko Mandić
 
“In light of the general democratization of digital technologies, ie the great availability of various digital tools, modern video production is absolutely not dependent on large budgets. Therefore, it is not surprising that modern creators use digital technology eclectically when moving along the line of narrative and rejecting it, guided by the idea of ​​re-examining existing artistic and cinematic paradigms. Therefore, very diverse works appeared in the selection of selectors, which in their entirety primarily reflect the democratization of digital production, but also remain on the line of research of traditional cinematic codes, regardless of whether it is animation, documentary, feature form, experiment or their eclectic combination.” 
Srđan Radaković
 
Works from 18 countries will be presented at the festival. A total of 20 works competing for the Sphinx Award will be streamed in a total duration of 224 minutes, while the revue program includes a special selection Made in Serbia of 6 works by local authors for a total of 47 minutes and a selection Lunartis, from the best graduate student films from world prestigious film academies. Within the Lunartis selection, 11 works will be streamed in a total duration of 186 minutes.
This year’s media installations will not be part of the program due to the lack of adequate conditions, and they will be presented in the physical space next year, when the Bogdanka Poznanović Award will be awarded.
 
The members of this year’s international jury are: Shahar Marcus from Israel, Köken Ergun from Turkey and Greg de Cuir from USA who lives and works in Serbia.
 
All video art lovers and festival visitors have the opportunity to learn more about the authors and their works on our site in the Festival2020 section or to view inserts from the works http://videomedeja.org/videomedeja-video-inserts/?lang=en
 
The program schedule can be downloaded via the following link: http://videomedeja.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/24.vm-programska-satnica.pdf
 
More about the history of the Videomedeja Festival can be found on the website: http://videomedeja.org/about-us/about-festival/?lang=en and about the Videomedeja association: http://videomedeja.org/about-us/association/?lang=en
 
This year’s sponsors of Videomedeja are:
City of Novi Sad – Novi Sad City Council – Culture Department and the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia.
 
This year’s partners and support of Videomedeja are:
Seecult, Radio-Television of Vojvodina, Art Magazine, LIMA (Amsterdam), Av-Arkki (Helsinki), Promofest (Madrid), The House of Films (Madrid).
 
We are very pleased that despite the new circumstances and changes that have affected the whole world, artists from all over the world are once again competing to participate in Videomedeja and thus confirm that video art lives and finds a space through which artists can express their visions and perspectives. Even when the intention of the artist is not completely clear, the audience has the opportunity to experience the personal impulse and spirit of the time that inspired the artists to express themselves through different styles and artistic approaches.