“The air flickers like the sky is on fire. A storm is brewing.” (Valter defends Sarajevo)
A Star Is Born! As Tanjug reports, Serbian Prime Minister and President-elect Aleksandar Vučić met in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang. At the same time, Serbian media reports that the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, "sat alone at the table for some time".
This detail (along with the picture of a lonely Putin at the table) was particularly interesting, bearing in mind the numerous pictures of the cheerful, socially involved and important Serbian Leader, during the same visit to China.
Just two days later, all producers in Serbia received the following email:
"Respected colleague,
We inform you that today, May 18, 2017, the Film Center of Serbia, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Information, has announced: A competition for an original idea for the realization of a feature-length feature film project that shows the relationship between the Serbian and Chinese people.
In search of a connection between these two peoples, social network users found exactly four connections:
Bata Živojinović - as a cult figure in China, due to the role of Walter.
Block 70 in New Belgrade - because of the Chinese shopping center.
Mira Marković, wife of the late Milošević - because she wanted a Chinatown in Belgrade, while there were no Chinese in it.
And the famous moment of fame of the former president Tomislav Nikolić, when he told the prime minister of China a quote from the Kreman prophecy: "People from the east will come, yellow people, and they will rule the world." They will drink water from the Serbian river Morava."
Maybe the Leader wants someone, like Richard Burton, to finally immortalize him on the movie screen? Would his sacrifice in negotiations with China be a big enough movie subject? It doesn't matter if it's not, we're from the movies, we like to make things up!
Okay, the film industry as a means of propaganda or interstate cooperation is nothing new in the world, and not even in our region. Immediately after the liberation of Belgrade, the communist government realized that the film industry, in addition to good propaganda, could also be an economically profitable business. The famous "five-year plan" was created, studios were built in all the capitals of the former country. No savings was spared, cinematography flourished, and the "red western" made us famous.
A little later, in 1962, Ratko Dražević, a controversial UDBA agent, became the head of 'Avala film', who managed to bring some of the biggest film stars of that time to 'Avala' for filming. Dražević opened up the possibility of cooperation with Western countries, brought in stars and brought in money in foreign currencies, through co-productions and the placement of domestic films on the foreign market. At the same time, he gave a chance to authors such as Borislav Mihajlović Mihiz, Slobodan Selenić, Živojin Žika Pavlović, Borislav Pekić, Dušan Makavejev. In addition to his managerial success in placing 'Avala film' on a par with the largest European film companies, Dražević was a man who not only made his (and his party's) decisions, but also implemented them: the film 'Feather Collectors' (1967) by Aleksandar Saša Petrović, created is after the state decision "to make a film that will win in Cannes". These days, the audience in Cannes is watching a restored copy of "The Feather Gatherer", which exactly 50 years ago won the Palme d'Or and almost won an Oscar.
So, maybe so. With some prerequisites: that there is meaning, within it the priorities of the topics and, of course, the knowledge that the idea can be successfully realized. I hope it is not necessary for me to explain on how many grounds this competition is debatable.
The question remains whether the film producers in Serbia, invited to make a film that shows the connection between the Serbian and Chinese people, that is, a connection that would be, say, in the 1th place on some 'list of connections between peoples from 20 to 113' - will they set the question of the meaning of this competition and one's responsibility? Or will they participate and thereby contribute to the meaningless of everything, with the aim of mass hypnosis at all levels?
I will just, like Božidarka Frait in Neretva, say: 'I cut off my hair because it was flying around in battle' and I will wait for some more voices of reason among my colleagues, who would say: 'We will fight as if we were in full force'.
Against nonsense, primitivism, stupidity, arrogance, ignorance and most importantly: against irresponsible cultural politics. And for the creation of a quality Cinematography Development Strategy - in which producers and creators will have equal opportunities, while preserving the dignity of the profession as much as possible.
Walter will return….. (then you know)
(Bojana Maljević is an actress and producer, "Twitter, scumbag, foreign mercenary" in her free time)
Bonus video:
