For almost 120 years, Serbian film has been following the world’s trends, and numerous awards confirm the top quality of Serbian cinematography.
Only six months after the first moving images were presented in Paris in 1896, the representatives of the Lumière brothers have presented the first film to Serbian audience in the kafana (traditional tavern) “Kod zlatnog krsta“ (At the golden cross) in Belgrade. Even the royal couple, Aleksandar and Natalija Obrenović, attended the first cinema show.
Serbian cinematography has never been too far from the world’s, which is proven by the fact that 12 movies, some of which can still be seen in the Yugoslav Film Archive in Belgrade, were filmed in Serbia before World War II.
In 2011 Serbia has celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first film made in Serbia. The movie was named “Karađorđe“. It is about the life and work of the eponymous leader of the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman rule, and was found in the Austrian film archive after six decades of searching. The oldest documentary is “Krunisanje kralja Petra I Karadjordjevića” (The Crowning of the King Petar I Karadjordjević) shot in 1904, and can nowadays be seen in the Yugoslav Film Archive or Film Archives in Belgrade.
A long time ago, one had to wait in line for hours to get cinema tickets in Serbia, and every film screening was a true holiday. The visitors of Belgrade’s FEST even waited in line for more than 10 hours to buy tickets for “The Godfather” and “A Clockwork Orange”.
Today, there is no more queuing, but FEST, the oldest film festival in Serbia, is still here. It celebrated its 40th birthday and during its long existence it welcomed world renowned film stars like Robert de Niro, Elisabeth Tailor, Jack Nicholson, Kirk Douglas…
Serbian cinematography has had numerous fruitful stages and one of the most popular and most important is the tradition of “partisan films” with some of the best achievements of Serbian and Yugoslav cinematography. Not even the biggest film stars like Orson Welles, Richard Burton and Yul Brynner resisted the temptation to play in partisan films.
The most expensive Yugoslav film was a partisan film “The Battle of Neretva” with the budget of 4,5 million dollars and more than 10,000 soldiers participating as extras. The popularity of this genre surpassed all frontiers, even the language limitations, since these movies have become highly popular even in India and China. In China, a Serbian actor Velimir Bata Živojinović is still recognized as “Valter” from the famous “Valter defends Sarajevo” partisan film.
Serbia has recently become a desirable location for filming Hollywood blockbusters. Untouched nature of extraordinary beauties, historical locations as if they were made for film sets and hospitable hosts always ready to help, attract the attention of numerous producers. The celebrated actor Ralph Fiennes came to Serbia and filmed “Coriolanus“, his directorial debut. Gerard Butler also filmed here and walked the streets of Belgrade to the delight of all the local girls.
Serbian directors have won important awards of the prestigious European festivals. For example, Emir Kusturica won the Golden Lion in Venice for “Sjećaš li se Doli Bel?” (Do You Remember Dolly Bell?), Aleksandar Saša Petrović was an Oscar nominee for “Skupljači perja” (I Even Met Happy Gypsies) and one of the best Serbian films of all time “Ko to tamo peva” (Who Sings Over There) by Slobodan Šijan won the Audience Award at the Cannes film festival.
