Four candidates involved in different fields of culture were selected to travel to Japan on a study and research work in the second round of the Kizuna exchange programme.

The ‘Kizuna’ programme is implemented by the ‘Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture’ in cooperation with the ‘EU – Japan Fest’ organisation.

The candidates whose projects are supported in the second selection in 2019 are:
• Marko Kaćanski –  a director who created numerous, mostly documentary films and computer games;
• Lena Pucarević – a painter who, in addition to painting, deals with drawings, graphics, illustration and design;
• Ognjen Petković – an audiovisual artist and director engaged in experimental and documentary film;
• Jovana Stević – an actress, producer and general manager of the JSFF (‘Japanese Serbian Film Festival’).

The aim of the ‘Kizuna’ project is to encourage exchange and collaboration between the local and Japanese cultural scene. It is also an opportunity for artists and cultural workers to gain new experiences, travel, get new ideas, meet colleagues and launch new projects.

So far, 16 cultural workers have visited Japan within the ‘Kizuna’ programme.

The selection was made by the selection jury, which afterwards sent the proposals to the EU-Japan Fest for confirmation, after which a final decision on the selection of candidates was made. The total amount of the financial grant for realisation of the study trip for applicants is JPY 100,000.

We would like to remind that the public call for ‘Kizuna’ programme is continuously open, and the ‘Novi Sad 2021’ team will continue to work on development of suggested projects in order to provide help with drafting successful applications.