It is easier to make a film than to get it released: Goran Radovanović

Rooted in modest budgets, local realities, and the art of storytelling. Serbian filmmaker Goran Radovanović offered his take on the roadmap for regional cinema at the ongoing Pune International Film festival (PIFF).

Speaking at a workshop titled ‘Lessons for Regional Cinema’, Radovanović urged young and independent filmmakers to rethink success itself.“It is easier to make a film than to get it released. Without festivals, I would not have a career”- Radovanović on the future of meaningful cinema, which, according to him, lies not in chasing A-category festivals but building careers through small festivals and digital platforms. Drawing from his own career, he shared how one of his earliest films, made for just $1,500, went on to win awards, travel across festivals, and eventually became a part of the syllabus in film schools across Europe and Cuba.

“Cinema was once a way of living. Today, the collective experience has shrunk, and arthouse films are often left without screens. European co-productions look international, but they often kill authorship. Too much bureaucracy, too many compromises, and very little art”-Radovanović was particularly critical of the contemporary European festival ecosystem, pointing to bureaucracy, political gatekeeping, and an overdependence on distributors. According to him, many co-productions now resemble what he called a “Euro-pudding”. Films assembled to satisfy funding requirements rather than artistic intent, often taking years to materialise and struggling to find audiences.“The importance of big festivals is declining. Ask anyone today who won Venice or Berlin three years ago—very few remember. What lasts is the journey a film takes. Big festivals no longer discover films; they protect distributors, politics, and safe names. Real cinema survives in small festivals and on digital platforms”-He remains optimistic about alternative pathways, citing the rise of small festivals, regional circuits, and digital platforms as spaces where independent cinema can still breathe.“Stories will move to platforms, to digital spaces, to small festivals. But the need to tell them will always remain”-Radovanović on being hopeful of cinema’s future, where theatrical films may increasingly resemble opera, but storytelling itself will never disappear.“Start small, stay local, and let the film travel—slowly, but honestly”-Radovanovic’s advice to young filmmakers.