Yugoslavia

SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

The largest and most politically influential republic of the former Yugoslavia, Serbia has had a well-developed film culture centered in Belgrade, including several production companies as well as national educational, archival, and publishing institutions. While films by Dušan Makavejev and Aleksandar Petrović are well-regarded in the West, Serbia has been home to many auteurs. Surrealist-inspired Puriša Dorlević was a very prolific director, with some fifty features to his credit, and a major contributor to novi film , a tendency in filmmaking with its center in Belgrade. The directors representing the so-called Black Wave, Živojin Pavlović and Želimir Žilnik, were based there, as well as several members of the Prague Group who established themselves in the 1980s: Goran Marković, Srdjan Karanović, and Goran Paskaljeví. Other directors of this generation particularly active during the 1980s were Miloš Radivojević, Jovan Aćin ( Bal na vodi [ Hey, Babu Riba , 1986]), Slobodan Šijan, Branko Baletić and Boro and Drašković ( Vukovar—jedna priča [ Vukovar—poste restante , 1994]).

Film production as well as film culture in Serbia begun to flourish in the 1990s despite enduring periods of war and considerable destruction to its infrastructure. Many established directors returned to Belgrade to complete their projects, and a new generation of filmmakers began to emerge. They initially focused on documenting the interethnic conflict and the war but soon turned to fictional works concerned with the trauma of the Yugoslav breakup and the social and economic decline of Serbia. Srdjan Dragojević belongs to the youngest generation of Serbian directors who attracted critical attention. His Lepa sela lepo gore ( Pretty Village, Pretty Flame , 1996) is a witty antiwar film. Other directors of note who successfully launched their careers during this period include Oleg Novković, Gorčin Stojanović, and Mirjana Vukomanoví with her Tri letnja dana ( Three Summer Days , 1997). In Montenegro, Levćen Film was responsible for most of the film production. Its first film, Zle pare ( Cursed Money , 1956), was directed by Velimir-Velja Stojanović. Zdravko Velimirović directed Dan četrnaesti ( The Fourteenth Day , 1960) and Derviš i smrt ( The Dervish and the Death , 1974). Other noted Montenegrin directors are Boško Bosković, Milo Djukanović, and Živko Nikolić.