Biography

Igor M. Toholj programmer

Born in 1968 in Belgrade. Editor of SCCC film program. Author of twenty-five experimental and documentary films, which were screened and awarded at festivals in the country and abroad. Producer – Zero production, art director, programmer of several film festivals. Publishes works on film theory and criticism.

∙ Studied Sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, graduated in Film and TV Editing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDU) in Belgrade, where he won the Slavko Vorkapić award for the best student in his generation with an average grade of 9.48.

∙ Since 1994, he has worked as the Film Program Editor at the Student City Cultural Center (SCCC), where he has curated over 1,000 film programs during 22 years of work. This includes screenings, retrospectives, series, panels, and lectures in the field of aesthetics, history and theory of feature and documentary films.

∙ From 2000 to 2003, he taught the Basics of film editing at the Camera Department of the BK Academy of Arts. ∙ He was a Goethe Institute scholarship holder in the Berlinale for Film Experts study program during the 55th International Film Festival in Berlin in 2005.

∙ Scholarship holder of the Italian Center for Culture and Federazione Circoli del Cinema, at Dante Alighieri University, Reggio Calabria, Italy, during 2005.

∙ Participated in numerous juries and as a programmer at both national and international festivals, including Alternative Film-Video, Cinema City, Balkanima, Underhill, Bdenje Duše, Short Form (Gornji Milanovac), Beldocs, Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival (“Martovski festival”), 51st Roshd Festival Tehran, and the 15th First Frame.

∙ Eco Dox and New European Documentaries programmer at the European Film Festival Palić since 2008.

∙ Has been publishing articles on aesthetics, criticism and history of film in the film magazines Filaž and Camera Lucida since 2012. - Regular member of the documentary film authors' section of the Association of Film Artists of Serbia (UFUS)

∙ Regular member of the Board of Screenwriters and Directors of Documentary, Short and Animated Film of the Academy of Film Arts and Sciences – AFUN since 2012.

∙ Member of the Artistic Council of the Film Center Serbia 2012-14, as well as of the Film Commissions during the competition of this Cultural Institution of National Importance.

∙ Organizer of the Regional Conference - Shattered Mirror: The Problem of Identity in Post-Yugoslav Documentary Film, SCCC 2014.

∙ Co-author/ program coordinator of the project Regional Conference: The Future of European Film – Gender Equality from the Perspective of Young Filmmakers, supported by Eurimages, the EU Cinematography Commission and the Council of Europe. The conference was held in May 2014 at SCCC.

∙ Member of the Council and programmer of the international program of the 62nd Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival, March 2015.

∙ Regular member of the Association of Documentary Filmmakers of Serbia, DOKSERBIA, since 2016.

∙ Member of the Expert Board of the Academy of Film Arts and Science - AFUN for the selection of Serbia’s candidate for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2016.

∙ Program director and programmer of the Doc'n'Rhythm International Music Documentary Film Festival from 2016 to 2023.

∙ Selector of the documentary series Beyond the Dark about classic cinema, screened at the Golden Beggar festival in Košice in 2016 and at the Kino Climates conference at SCCC in 2018.

∙ Programmer within the IPA project Filmy, Open University Subotica and Zsigmond Vilmos Cine club Szeged, 2017. ∙ Artistic director of the International Documentary Film Festival DOK #1-7, MTS Hall since 2018.

∙ Belgrade – Hollywood Retrospective and Lectures: Program Editor, in collaboration with the US Embassy, SCCC and the Yugoslav Cinematheque, 2019.

∙ Programmer of the Road Movie program, the Yugoslav Cinematheque, 2019.

∙ Author and initiator of the Inclusive Film Screenplay Workshop INTERACTIVE FILM, the Yugoslav Cinematheque, 2020-2021.

∙ Programmer of the Serbia.Docs program + interviews with 6 Serbian documentary film directors for the web platform Lightbox DK Čačak, 2021.

∙ Programmer of the competition program of short documentary films at the 4th Ravno Selo Film Festival 2021.

∙ Artistic director of the silent film festival SILENCE IS GOLD, SCCC since 2021.

∙ Jury member at the 51st ROSHD Festival, Tehran, Iran.

∙ Member of the Selection Committee of the 69th, 70th and 71st Martovski Festival, Belgrade.

∙ Programmer of the IPA project Filmy, Open University Subotica – Contemporary Hungarian Cinema, 2022. ∙ Programmer of the Eco East section at the 32nd Go East Cottbus festival.

∙ Jury member at the 8th ARUFF short film festival in Istanbul.

∙ Participant of the International Conference within the History-Film-History project as a member of the delegation of the Yugoslav Cinematheque, Tbilisi, Georgia, February 2023.

∙ Jury member at the international History Film Festival in Rijeka in 2023.

∙ Member of the international jury at the 24th Short Film Festival in Izmir, Turkey.

∙ AUTHOR’S FILMOGRAPHY - director: 1984. Veliki pad (The Great Fall) experimental, 11’ 1986. Ratovi zvezda (Star Wars) experimental, 13' 1987. Fantazma smrti (Phantasm of death) feature short 15' 1988. Smrt metalosaurusa (Death of Metalosaurus) experimental, 3' 1988. Shooting experimental 3' 1988. In movie experimental 3' 1992. Vazdušne puške (Air-guns) feature-experimental, 13' 1994. Ostali su samo amateri documentary, 9' 1996. Hodnik (The Corridor) feature-experimental,11' 1999. Bangla Borča, (co-directed with Dragan Ve. Ignjatović) documentary, 57' 2000. Noćne kretnje, dnevni snovi (Night Movements, Day Dreams) documentary, 6', 2000. Apsolutna pobeda (Absolute Victory) experimental, 4' 2001. Kontraafekat (Counter-effect) documentary 6' 2003. Kino Arhaik: poslednja turneja (Cinema Archaic – The Last Tour) documentary, 41' 2003. Metež (Turmoil) experimental, 13' 2005. Tri kape za čuvanje (Three Hats for Keeps) documentary, 50' 2008. Tačka prekida (The Br(e)aking Point) documentary, 28' 2011. Preko granica (Crossing the Borders), documentary, 58', 2011. Tačka prekida 2: Fizički fenomen (The Br(E)Aking Point 2: A Physical Phenomenon), documentary, 11' 2012. Šta nedostaje na ovoj slici? documentary, 39’ 2015. Čovek koji je pojeo sebe documentary 22’ 2017. Transfiguration, experimental 5’ 2017. Na kraju rata, documentary (co-directed with Milan Milosavljević)13’ 2018. Siguran posao, documentary 14’ 2018. Lost highway revisited, experimental 13’ 2018. Svedok jednog vremena, documentary 74’ 2018. Transpozicija (Transposition), experimental, 5’ 2020. Havana dreams, documentary, 52' 2020. Zatvaranje (Closing Time), documentary, 12’ 2021. Kontrafaza (Counter Phase), documentary, 19’ 2022. Idu dani (Uploaded memories) 18’30’’ 2022. Ana Rafai 21’30’’

MASTERCLASS sessions: - Creative use of Found footage - archive footage, Alternative film-video 2022. Synergy of man and algorithm in the creation of doc and exp film: DOB, 70th “Martovski festival”, 2022. Creative use of Found footage - archive footage, 7th HFF Rijeka, 2023. Creative use of Found footage History-Film-History as a member of the Yugoslav Cinematheque delegation, Tbilisi, Georgia, February 2023.