Leskovac International Film Directing Festival (LIFFE) was launched in 2008 with the aim to promote productions and authors from the country and region.
During its ten-year history, organized by the Leskovac Cultural Centre and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Information and the city of Leskovac, with the support of many sponsors, it has developed into a prestigious event that exceeds the local framework and has ever-growing popularity among film fans and filmmakers.
Leskovac International Film Directing Festival was founded with the idea of connecting the region.
The cinematography of this region, with its specificities, speaks a universal language that is best understood by neighbours of a similar mentality and sensibility. Apart from the cultural diversity that this festival offers and the development of local recognition of authors and actors, it also provides the opportunity to meet filmmakers, which is the basis for the creation of a higher quality and more diverse market. Over the course of twelve years, the festival has hosted over 80 of the most famous directors of different generations, as well as a large number of actors from the region.
The Grand Prix of the festival is named after the famous film-lover Živojin Žika Pavlović. At the festival, two awards for directing and two awards for acting are given. The three-member jury is made up of two eminent directors from the region and a famous actor. The artistic director of the festival is director Darko Bajić. The two separate competing units are independent films and student films from the academies in the region.
Every year, the festival tries to offer a wide range of supporting programs to the loyal audience as well as to the guests. Book promotions, open forums and discussions with the audience of the famous actors and directors, exhibitions and musical concerts of the regional stars.
The great importance of the festival is given by the traditional conference of directors and producers, which tends to find some new models of cooperation and networking in the production and distribution of films in the countries of the region. A unique platform enables easier cooperation of film professionals and helps the development of the value chain of film production and contributes to the increase of the market and thus to the higher quality production of new film productions.
For 13 years, the most valuable works from the region have been presented at the festival and so far more than 250 films have been shown in front of around 80,000 viewers. In addition, “LIFFE” has had a large number of world and European premieres in Serbia, and famous authors of ex-Yugoslav cinematography came to the festival.