The initial material damage caused by the Ministry of Culture and the Film Center of Serbia to the cinematography is about two billion dinars - say, unitedly, the film associations, and for this reason they are filing a lawsuit against them
All associations of film artists, authors, actors and producers, i.e. the entire film industry in Serbia, are united in their decision to prosecute Nikola Selaković and his accomplices from the Ministry of Culture and Film Center of Serbia before the Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, due to the denial of funding for domestic cinematography.
They say that the Minister of Culture in the current Government, Nikola Selaković, may be absolved of criminal responsibility in the General Staff case, but he will inevitably have to answer for the enormous damage he, as a minister, caused to Serbian cinematography.
Namely, for more than two years, all funding has been denied to domestic cinematography, which is defined by the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Serbia as one of the pillars of national culture. They emphasize that cinematography, as is the case everywhere in Europe, is co-financed from the state budget.
Director Miloš Škundrić, the president of the Association of Film Directors of Serbia, admits that "culture may not be the most important thing in the world (although V. Churchill would not agree with this), but imagine a situation in which the ministries of health, education or defense do not perform their primary activity and do not send money to hospitals, doctors, schools and professors, the army..."
"It is clear that this is nothing more than a conscious suppression of Serbian cinematography and those who make it, and the motive is retaliation for the free expression of the opinions of film artists when it comes to corruption and the generally disastrous situation in society."
Škundrić states that the initial material damage to cinematography was about two billion dinars or 17 million euros.
"So many funds were not paid out exactly two years ago, even though they were determined by law for the production of a film in Serbia. The non-material damage, in terms of participation and awards at festivals, international cooperation and the presence of Serbian film on the world stage, and the material damage caused in terms of distribution - are priceless for now."
He says that the nature of film production is such that "the consequences of this retaliation cannot be immediately visible, but they will be in about seven or eight years, when there will be a huge hole in the Serbian cinematography of unfilmed thirty feature films and twenty documentaries, forty short feature films, about 25 foreign co-productions, all of which should have been filmed with these legally prescribed funds."
"So this is a double, low blow - both to the local culture and to the standard of living of those who work in that culture."
Miloš Škundrić recalls that at the beginning of this year, Selaković tried to justify himself by literally calling Serbian filmmakers wasteful, because, as he said then, did not implement 53 projects za who previously received "huge money", so why should we continue to pour into this "bottomless pit".
"It is, of course, a hard lie, in many different ways," Škundrić categorically asserts. He warns that with this attitude of the Ministry of Culture and FCS, "projects and authors who received absolutely no funds are the most affected, as well as that "the funds received are three to five times less than what was necessary and what is allocated by the states in our environment".
"It is clear that precisely because of this, feature film projects are being realized much longer than planned, in an average time of about seven years, while the terms of the unrealized obligations that the minister mentions are three to five years, although even they, in most cases, have not expired."
He recalls that this lie was denied that same week by being documentary Plain, whose production lasted eight years, won the prestigious Sundance Festival and that a few months later, even two Serbian student films participated in the Cannes Festival.
Škundrić emphasizes that "at the same time, those for whom funds and deadlines are not a problem are regime directors: Gaga Antonijevic, Miroslav Lekic, Laza Ristovski and a few more.”
"All state resources are made available to them as compensation for their obedience and courtly self-humiliation. But that doesn't help anything: their results are null and void even with the audience of village festivals. All they managed to do was ruin some of the most important subjects from our history, such as the First World War or Jasenovac. That's how much damage they did to their films - even greater.
"At this point, we already know that in the last two years, the acting directors of FCS acted contrary to the Law on Cinematography, which directly governs their work, as well as the annual contracts they signed with the Ministry of Culture. Their direct responsibility under the Law was to hold at least two annual competitions for the co-financing of domestic films. At the moment, they are obliged to hold at least four or five competitions."
He notes that "The FCS Board of Directors never reacted and took over the management of the Center in accordance with the contracts and the law, but gave an alibi to the directors. Perhaps this should not be surprising, because President of the Board of Directors Miroslav Lekić too busy with the jobs he gets directly from the state, without a competition".
Škundrić believes that the reason for such behavior of the Board of Directors may be that Lekić's conflict of interest would then be established and reminds that "in 2024, the FCS commission chose and financed as a domestic candidate for the Oscar his film, the film of the Board of Directors president."
"For the past two years, the FCS supervisory board has also 'pretended to be dead' and did not even move regarding the obvious illegalities in the work of the institution, although this is their first and basic task."
"We also know that all this took place according to the directives that the FCS received directly from the then Minister of Culture Selaković or his assistants and secretaries, meaning from the most responsible persons in the cultural sector in this country."
It follows, Miloš Škundrić concludes, that "none of those in charge did their job, and yet they received salaries and were rewarded with projects. Therefore, apart from Selaković, not a small number of co-perpetrators will be held accountable."
Where did the money intended for the film in 2024, 2025 and the current year end up, he says, "they didn't want to say. We asked them several times."
"Since they didn't want to tell us why the FCS and the Ministry of Culture exist, they will soon have the opportunity to answer all these questions before the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime."
The criminal complaint against the minister in the current government, Nikola Selaković, and his co-perpetrators are signed by the Association of Film Directors of Serbia, the Association of Film Artists of Serbia, the Association of Film Actors of Serbia, the Association of Film Producers of Serbia, the Association of Screenwriters of Serbia, the Serbian Association of Filmmakers, and Documentaries of Serbia.
So everyone who creates the cinematography of this country.
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