Belgrade Documentary Film Festival Kicks Off

Last year, the Belgrade International Festival of Documentary Film, better known as Beldocs, was declared to be all about "a blending and merging of cultures." Not surprisingly, the 2018 festival, now in its 11th year, is as much about fostering local talent as about showcasing acclaimed international works that challenge the conventional. 

Two documentaries by up-and-coming Serbian filmmakers will open the lineup of over 100 films on offer at sites throughout Belgrade between May 7 and May 14.  

"In Praise of Nothing" by 41-year-old Boris Mitic features Iggy Pop as the gritty voice of "Nothing," which is "tired of being misunderstood." The monologue is meant as "a commentary both about the state of the world and the state of the film industry," Mitic told the 2017 Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival. 

In 34-year-old Djordje Markovic's "Kaktus Bata's Last Adventure," celebrated Serbian comic-book author and animation artist Aleksandar Zograf discovers a strange comic book from World War II about a tiny cactus called "Cactus Kid." What follows is a complex story about Cactus Kid's creator, the artist Veljko Kockar, who was executed in 1944 as an alleged Gestapo agent. 

As in 2017, to whet outside commercial interest in such works and in the Balkan film market, the European Union will stage a marketing and networking event during Beldocs. 

International documentaries, however, still make up the bulk of the festival. 

They include a variety of edgy and inventive features.

Experimental French filmmaker Agnes Varda's Oscar-nominated film "Faces Places" explores "the power of imagination" via French visual artist JR's large-format images of residents (human and animal) of the French provinces.

That small-town...