Out of 39 candidates who applied for the competition of the Film Center of Serbia for co-financing the production of domestic feature films, the Commission chose - four.
It is futile to doubt that this decision is correct, because each jury has inviolable rights to its evaluation and it cannot be changed, but it is impossible not to notice that two of those four authors are members of SNS, that the Commission that decided on the films is dominated by members or sympathizers of SNS, and that the same applies to the Management Board, which confirmed the proposal of the Commission. In this direction, it is impossible not to think that it was "that" because of which the projects of many award-winning and well-known authors were rejected.
ristovsky
Lazar Ristovski's production company "Zillion Film" was awarded the most funds, 57.040.370 dinars, for the film "Vera Kroner", the screenplay of which is signed by Zoran Solomun, Vladimir Blaževski and Dragan Marinković, who will also direct this title. It is a war story about Vera, who becomes aware that she completely ignored the war danger for her and her Jewish family, only to become obsessed with the idea of escaping somewhere.
In the republican elections in April 2022, Lazar Ristovski was fourth on the "Aleksandar Vučić - Together we can do everything" list, and he actively participated in all SNS pre-election campaigns.
In the explanation of the FCS commission, which consisted of Marko Novaković, Jovan Marković, Milorad Milinković, Nikola Pejaković and Igor Onič, it is stated that "with its experience, composition and reputation, the screenwriting team fully justifies the dynamic story set in World War II in Novi Sad with with a very nice plot and solutions to the situations that are placed in front of the protagonists" and it is emphasized that "the budget is not oversized considering the era".
Furious rhythm
Slightly less funds - 40.000.000 dinars - were allocated to the "Judgment" project, directed by Vasilije Nikitović, who is also a screenwriter along with Dragoljub Stojković and Balša Labović. It is the story of a 50-year-old court clerk who works on stamping court judgments, which gives them legitimacy for execution. because no According to the Commission, the middle is a very likeable and engaging drama with elements of comedy.
They also state that "the furious rhythm of the narration in this scenario heralds a potential film hit and a refresh of the domestic cinema repertoire signed by a director with a recognizable author's handwriting whose previous works introduced a different angle of view into our cinematography".
Vasilije Nikitović directed the films "Four Roses" and "The Crown", whose premiere was announced in the fall, and is one of the signatories of the list supporting Aleksandar Vučić.
Emotional involvement
Nenad Ognjenović, as the screenwriter and director of the film "Sister", will receive 27.831.480 dinars from FCS because with this project "he can bring the audience back to the cinemas". The script, the commission reasoned, deals with the interesting topic of broken families, the fight for inheritance, but above all manipulation, as well as strange deeply erotic relationships.
"The characters are excellent, the plot is original, everything is executed as it should be." Unlike most other projects, this one has what we might call a personal touch. This text has that emotional involvement, which, we hope, the audience will recognize and reward with their own emotions".
25.128.150 dinars were allocated to the project "Virus of Pathological Goodness" by screenwriter and director Predrag Ličina. The scenario deals with the problem of Zagreb's urban Serbs at the beginning of the wars of the nineties.
This film "will be one of the distributor's treats." Especially since it sheds light on a topic that no one has dealt with so far, especially not in this way," concluded the Commission. Petar Ličina directed the film "The Last Serb in Croatia" on the topic of Serbian-Croatian coexistence.
The projects of Srdan Golubović, Zdravko Šotra, Ivan Ikić, Radoš Bajić, Gordan Matić, Slobodan Skerlić, Vladimir Tagić, Ivica Videnović, Filip Čolović, Nenad Pavlović, Balša Đog, Bojan Vuk Kosovčević, Nemanja Ćeranić, director tandem Dušan Zorić were rejected, among others. - Matija Gluščević, and others.
