In the New Cinema, as the recently opened Hall of the Film Center of Serbia in the MTS hall in Belgrade is called, the screening of films by director Darko Bajić begins.
From tomorrow, from February 5 to 17, five feature films will be shown - "Starting Shot", "The Name of the People", "We Will Be Champions of the World", "Forgotten", "On the Beautiful Blue Danube", then two feature-length documentaries " Lifeline" and "O Gringo", and the first six episodes of the TV series "The Gray House".
The Film Center of Serbia announces this selection as the most representative of Bajić's work and emphasizes its thematic diversity: from the story of marginals in "Forgotten" from 1988 to the historical-biographical film "In the Name of the People" about Svetozar Marković and the annexation of Vojvodina to the Kingdom of Serbia.
Darko Bajić told "Vreme" that the choice was also influenced by the remaster, the transfer of the film strip to a digitized medium.
"This selection of films was the product of many years of work by the production company Magicna Linija, RTS, Yugoslav Cinematheque and Delta Video, which with the help of a large number of collaborators managed to technologically adapt the broadcasting of films to the changed conditions in cinema and television."
At the same time, he announces that some of his other films - "Black Bomber", "Balkan Rules", "Live War" and six more episodes of the series "Sivi dom" are in the remastering phase, and that by the end of the year they will also be shown in the Hall FCS.
"Some films from the past simply become contemporary." The combination of the imagination of the film's author, today's audience and their uploading of the similarity of the times they live in now and human impotence to stop the repetition of history takes place. That's why it's important to remaster a film strip from the rich Serbian and YU cinematography and give the modern audience the right to choose from the wealth of cinematography," says Bajić.
Since the hall FCS established in order to show local productions, films by Darko Bajić in its repertoire they reminded me of the "Balkan" cinema, when on Bajić's initiative, after years of decay, this one of the oldest movie theaters in the city was once again a cinema. It showed films for which there was not enough interest in multiplexes - for those from domestic production. It was a unique space in the city and in Serbia.
It lasted two years, during which more than 300 Serbian and author's films from all over the world were shown, 12 festivals were held, ten cycles of films by well-known filmmakers were organized, the "Film Hour" project was started with Belgrade high school students, and it was introduced into regular distribution. short, documentary and student film, more than 400 shows about the film were recorded and "Bulevar zvezda" was also opened. Famous actor Danilo Bata Stojković, directors Aleksandar Saša Petrović and Živojin Pavlović and legend of Yugoslav documentary film Krsto Škanata received stars in front of the "Balkan" cinema.
All this stopped in 2010 with the decision of the company "Beobana", which was the owner of the cinema "Balkan".
Darko Bajić says that recently, at the awarding of the Euro Cinema award to the Belgrade Cultural Center cinema, he found out that this biggest European award should have been given to "Balkan", just before its closure.
"This new cinema intended for domestic cinematography is of course necessary because films cannot exist without a cinema, and I am especially glad that it represents a continuation of the former good practice of popularizing Serbian films and their authors of all generations," said Darko Bajić.
