The town of Veliko Gradište and the resort of Srebrno Jezero (Silver Lake) are located in the picturesque region of the lower Danube (Podunavlje). This year, they will again host SILAFEST - the International Festival of Tourist and Ecology Films. 
 
This event, which lasts seven days and which is normally held toward the end of August – early September, was first organised in 2009. It quickly became a member of the International Committee of Tourism Film Festivals (CIFTT). This ensured the event important patrons such as the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the European Travel Commission (ETC) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

This has enabled SILAFEST to host some of the most eminent authors from the former Yugoslavia, Europe and the rest of the world. The president of the jury in the first SILAFEST was Colin Arthur, a makeup, mask and special effects artist, who became famous for his work on films such as 2001: Space Odyssey, Clash of the Titans, Conan the Barbarian and Open Your Eyes, and who had, in the meantime, become a highly respectable author of tourism documentaries. 

The third ever SILAFEST will be held between August 28 and September 3 this year and will show more than 60 films, says film director Boško Savković, the executive director of the festival and one of the festival’s founders to Southeast Europe: People and Culture. 

The authors stand to win various awards such as the Grand Prix for the best film of the festival, the Gold and Silver Wave for the best projects in the general categories of ecological and tourist films and Blue Danube which is awarded to films concerned with wine, sport, cuisine, religious tourism, culture tourism, the relationship between art and tourism, etc.

Both the authors of the films and film fans will be able to take part in specialised workshops and round tables. These were also held in previous years when, for example, SILAFEST invited lecturers from Norway, Spain, Great Britain and neighbouring Croatia, a country where – according to Boško Savković – tourism is a strategic goal. And it is the development of tourism, based on well preserved ecosystems, that is one of the key aims of SILAFEST. 

This is the reason why the festival organisers, together with the help of the local tourist organisation and the municipality of Veliko Gradište, provide their guests with a number of activities which, one could say, are the icing on the top of SILAFEST. 

A boat trip is organised to acquaint visitors with the natural beauty of the Djerdap Gorge scattered with well preserved remnants of the Vinča Culture, a civilization that existed some 8,000 years ago (Lepenski Vir), together with the remains of the Roman Empire, which had the Danube as its eastern border (the town of Viminacium, Trajan’s Bridge, Trajan’s Tablet) and of the medieval Serbian state (the fortress of Golubac). 

In addition, the festival provides a competition in cooking beans (Pasuljijada), fish soup, an angling contest (using the “clonk” or a float) as well as various sports activities at Srebrno Jezero which Boško Savković calls “the sea of Serbia.” 

“It is these special activities that attract tourists,” says Boško Savković. He tries to make the event interesting for both guests and visitors so that they come back in the coming years and tell people in their respective countries about Srebrno Jezero as an ideal holiday resort. 

Getting to Srebrno Jezero from Belgrade is quick and easy – a distance of around 115 kilometres is covered in about 90 minutes (detailed instructions available at www.silafest.com).