The EU Delegation to Montenegro has voiced concern after the screening of an Albanian-language film was disrupted on Wednesday evening in Podgorica.

The screening of Stork, shown as part of the “Dzada” international street film festival, in the city’s Zabjelo neighbourhood, was interrupted by a group of young men protesting loudly.

The EU Delegation, which supported the festival financially, stressed that “freedom of artistic expression is an integral part of freedom of speech and one of the essential democratic values”.

Stork is a majority Montenegrin production by acclaimed Kosovar director Isa Qosja, who was born in Vusanje, Montenegro, and produced by Ivan Djurovic of Artikulacija Film.

The film is set in a small Montenegrin village on the border with Albania. As its creators note, it confronts audiences with “universal themes still alive today, such as the degradation of women, human trafficking, arranged marriages, identity, sexuality, suicide, social expectations, and the struggle for existence”.

Festival organisers reminded audiences that the Dzada festival is “a about togetherness, watching films under the open sky, respecting differences and connecting people through film”.

Carna Rastoder, from the Police Directorate, told BIRN that police went to the scene but did not find the people reported to have caused the incident.

“Police proceedings are ongoing, and the prosecutor has been informed,” she said, adding that “the facts and circumstances of the event are being established, and information is being collected from multiple sources”.

But Zoran Radulovic, a journalist with the weekly Monitor, told Vijesti TV that he had misgivings about the response.

“We haven’t heard from the competent security structures how it is possible to have a public event that anyone can disrupt without anyone there to protect those citizens,” he said.

“Where were the police that evening?” he asked. “If someone has a mental problem and is disturbed by another person’s language, nationality, sexual orientation or skin colour – in a normal society, that would be their problem, for their family and the relevant institutions to deal with.”