Following the attempt to censor actor Dragan Mićanović’s speech at the opening of the Herceg Novi Film Festival (FFHN/MFF), which led him to decide not to deliver the speech, we strongly condemn the suppression of critical voices and pressure on artistic freedom. The unacceptable conduct of the Ministry of Culture and Media and the local authorities in Herceg Novi has brought shame both upon a film festival with a tradition spanning more than three decades and upon Montenegro.

Public funding of a cultural institution does not give the authorities the right to abuse their power or diminish the content and programme of a festival by allowing only politically acceptable speech at its opening. On the contrary, public institutions should encourage dialogue and a diversity of views on the realities of our society, just as the films selected for the festival do.

We emphasise that this is, unfortunately, part of a broader pattern in which the Ministry of Culture and Media, rather than serving as a safeguard for artistic freedom and the development of creative work, has become an instrument for catering to narrow party interests and the dictates of the ruling structures. The consequences are felt throughout society: from withholding support for authentic projects and marginalising independent artists, through controversial decisions on prestigious national awards and the targeting of critically oriented media, to restricting critical thought.

This latest attempt at censorship is a serious sign of institutional pressure on freedom of artistic expression. Throughout history, art has been and remains a bastion of freedom – a space for rebellion, individuality, resistance to imposed boundaries and an uncompromising questioning of social reality. One of the clearest signs of a government’s decline is the moment it begins to impose limits on culture and artists.

It is deeply troubling that such a practice is taking place in Montenegro in 2026, a country that publicly prides itself on European values and announces its imminent accession to the European Union, while acting according to authoritarian models that run counter to the very foundations of that same EU – freedom of expression, pluralism and the protection of the independence of artistic and cultural creation. Commitment to European values is not demonstrated through bureaucratic declarations, but through a genuine willingness to engage with differing views and open up space for new perspectives. These should also be the values of the Herceg Novi Film Festival, whose universal principles were not upheld on this occasion.

We demand accountability to the public and an explanation as to who was behind the ban – was it a decision of the Ministry of Culture and Media itself, the local authorities, the Prime Minister or the Government?

We express our solidarity with Dragan Mićanović. In the speech he was not allowed to deliver, he intended to draw attention to the rise in violence in Serbia, whose victims have included students and a professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, to the lack of funding for film, and to what he described as the “systematic elimination of the free-thinking cultural scene”. He wanted to use his speech to highlight the injustices he sees around him, just as Shakespeare did in his Sonnet 66, which Mićanović himself is known for performing to remarkable effect.

Mićanović’s message, grounded in experience, is universal – it is a message about people’s right to life, dignity and freedom of artistic expression. These same themes are also addressed by films in this year’s programme of the Herceg Novi Film Festival, which deal with suffering in Kosovo, Srebrenica, Palestine and elsewhere. Denying an artist the right to speak at the opening of such a festival about the circumstances in which artists in his own country find themselves is senseless, unacceptable and contrary to the spirit of this cultural event.

We call on Montenegro’s artistic and cultural community to express solidarity with actor Dragan Mićanović, who was subjected to an attempt at censorship, and to join the protest against the unacceptable conduct of state institutions controlled by the ruling Democratic Montenegro.

Jovana Marović, civic activist
Dina Bajramspahić, civic activist
Daliborka Uljarević, Centre for Civic Education (CCE)
Paula Petričević, civic activist
Tea Gorjanc Prelević, Human Rights Action (HRA)
Milena Popović Samardžić, NGO Ipso Facto
Maja Raičević, Women’s Rights Center