History of Serbian Cinema
On June 6, 1896, André Carr, an operator for the Lumière brothers, gave the first film performance in Belgrade in the history of the Balkans. He was also the first to capture the city on film, although these images have been lost today.
In 1909, the first permanent cinema was set up in the capital under the name of Grand Cinema, quickly followed by others, including the Kolosseum in 1911 with its Art Nouveau façade. This cinema, which became the Zvezda and then the Novi Bioskop Zvezda, is today a temporary occupation cinema, preserved by a group of enthusiasts. Despite its hundred and ten years, the cinema remains one of the most popular theaters in the city. Between the aged carpeting and the vintage ticket booths, you will find your happiness in front of screenings of classics as well as hidden nuggets. How about the first Serbian feature film?
The Life and Deeds of the Immortal Leader Karađorđe, or simply Karađorđe
, is a silent film released in 1911, directed by Ilija Stanojević and starring Milorad Petrović. Long lost, this film was miraculously found in the Yugoslav archives before being restored and digitized for future generations. Narrating the story of the first Serbian uprising and its leader Karađorđe, the film is now considered Serbian national heritage. During the interwar period, competition became fierce as more and more French, German and American international productions invaded the screens of the young Yugoslavia. Many companies went bankrupt, and it was not until 1931 and a protectionist law that production increased. Notable films from this period include Josip Novak's The Happiness of a Miner (1926), or Maks Kalmić's short film The Story of a Day , which he shot in the Belgrade of 1941. After the war, the new regime reinvigorated film production with major projects about Yugoslav partisans and real or legendary national heroes. At the same time, the creation of the Academy of Arts in 1947 attracted many students to the cinema, contributing to make Serbia the cinematographic heart of post-war Yugoslavia. However, as in France, Germany and elsewhere, this entertainment cinema soon gave rise to a more provocative and politically committed cinema. The Black Wave, as its detractors call it, is a movement of young filmmakers who use black humor in the late 1960s to convey their pessimism about their own future and that of their country. Dušan Makavejev was one of the leading figures in this movement, making the 1971 film Wilhelm Reich: The Mysteries of the Body, a work that won international awards but was harshly censored in his country and forced him into exile. Another figure of the movement, Aleksandar Petrović will be excluded from the Academy where he practiced, after the release of his film I even met happy gypsies (1968). At the same time, the American Peter Bogdanovich, Serbian by his parents, is part of the figures of the new Hollywood and rubs shoulders with John Cassavetes, Sofia Coppola or Agnès Varda, oscillating between actor and filmmaker over the projects.Kusturica and the contemporary Serbian cinema
In Serbia, it is in the posterity of the Black Wave that the filmmakers of the Prague group, of which Kusturica is undoubtedly the best known, are inscribed. Holder of two Palme d'Or awards for his films Daddy's away on business (1985) and Underground
(1995), the director questions through his cinema the drifts of his country, while the upheavals of the post-Tito period and the war invite themselves in the artists' frames. A poetic cinema, where music plays a dominant role, accompanying the abandoned and marginalized that the filmmaker likes to put in images. The international fame that Kusturica acquires also leads to the discovery of many other Serbian artists. In 2006, the secession of Montenegro plunges the Serbian cinema in a great crisis. Hundreds of cinemas closed down following the privatization of Beograd Film, the main chain of exploitation of the country. Since then, multiplexes have been installed on the outskirts of major cities and there are only a few cinemas (including the Zvezda mentioned earlier) that are still standing today. However, it would be premature to announce the death of Serbian cinema, as there is a lot of state support for production and the public is still fond of national productions. In 2011, director Mila Turajlić caused a sensation with her documentary Once Upon a Time in Yugoslavia: Cinema Komunisto, while on the other side of the Atlantic, actress Stana Katic, also of Serbian origin, played Kate Beckett in the successful crime series Castle (2009-2016), alongside Nathan Fillion. Just recently, the film Impure Blood-Sin of Ancestors (2022) by Milutin Petrović became the first Serbian film to be distributed on Netflix.Cinema moments in Serbia
Since 1971, the FEST has been welcoming the biggest international film stars to Belgrade every year. A festival rich in history, as it was for a long time the only "Eastern" film event where Western stars went. A festival where 2001: A Space Odyssey, Easy Rider, M*A*S*H
and so many other classics were screened and where Wim Wenders, Krzysztof Kieślowski, David Cronenberg or Werner Herzog met. Alongside this event, the capital also hosts two other major festivals, the Martovksi, dedicated to short films and documentaries, as well as the Beldocs, devoted solely to the latter. In the south-west, go to Mokra Gora, and more precisely to the Küstendorf Music and Film Festival, in a village recreated by Kusturica for his film Life is a miracle (2005) and in which he lives himself since. Finally, end your Serbian film journey with the Palić European film festival, an opportunity to discover this idyllic little town and its tranquil lake, a few kilometers from Hungary.
