BITEF ON FILM
Editor: Vera Konjović

September 14th , 15th, 16th and 17th, 17: 30
Muzej jugoslovenske kinoteke

FILM EXPEDITION TO THE TRUTH: DICTATORS

Three things cannot be hidden: the Sun, the Moon and the truth
Buddha

It is fortunate for the rulers that people do not think
Adolf Hitler

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth had a chance to get its pants on
Winston Churchill

The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth
Edith Sitwvell

There is nothing better than visiting a nice, idyllic or amusing place. You set off, arrive, have a good time or not so good time and come back.
It is also interesting to set off on an expedition to the truth. A sea of surprises awaits us there. It is, however, easy to lose one’s way, easy to be tricked and end up in a mire of untruths in no time at all. How much rubble, earth and lies the archaeologists need to remove to dig out the truth several thousand or hundred years old?
But don’t we know or see the truth not yet covered by the deposits of time? We who have facts, experience and knowledge bout events, our contemporaries at our disposal, we who have experienced, learned, touched it all?
Wherefrom the fascists and the communists in Europe and the rest of the world? How is it possible that we do not remember what happened yesterday? How are we to understand or justify the fascist groups and movements here and elsewhere, let alone how are weto understand Hitler’s fans in Israel?
This year’s BITEF on Film wishes to refresh memories about things and people we believed have disappeared from the historical stage once and for all; that they are no more and will not be, that they have been and will be prevented from acting; the historical déjà vu and the dictators wo have existed always as they were made possible by those who did not recognise and stop them in time believing they were cleverer, laughing at them because they looked funny. And – let us not forget those who are not politically active because they despise it.
In the films to be shown during 35th BITEF on Film the stars are Hitler, Franco, Mussolini and many others as well as people who elected them, people who admired them, people who suffered because of it and paid for it.

Vera Konjović