Why do they shoot films like "The Wedding" in Croatia and films like "The Gift" in Serbia, and why do audiences in both countries prefer "The Wedding". In ten days, nearly 380.000 viewers saw it
"With our colleagues from Croatia, we made a film that will be loved by the entire region, and we cannot do that in Serbia today," he said. Dragan Bjelogrlic regarding shootingWedding in which he plays one of the main roles.
Wedding is a Croatian-Serbian co-production directed by Igor Sheregi, who is also the screenwriter of the film.
The wedding Both Serbs and Croats love it.i
It premiered in Serbia on January 28, at the Sava Center. The standing ovation lasted ten minutes. During only the first four days of screening in Serbia, more than 130.000 people saw it, which has not been recorded for decades.
Photo: PromoFrom "The Wedding"
Film Wedding has sold 378.007 tickets, including advance sales, from the Zagreb premiere on January 20 to February 1, announced Cinestar Cinemas, part of the Blitz group.
With that, he "achieved a historic result" and "a record income of 2.740.374 euros".
"This exceptional result was achieved in 29 Sinestar multiplex cinemas in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, which have a total of 180 theaters and more than 26.000 seats. This is the highest result that a cinema exhibitor has ever achieved in the region in such a short period of time," the announcement stated.
Such a success of the film Wedding proves and shows many things, including that everything is okay between Serbs and Croats and that politics and politicians cannot do anything to them.
Previous films
As surely everyone already knows, Wedding is a love story that befell two families, one from Belgrade and one from Zagreb. Their children met far from home, fell in love, and had a baby. That's why now, together, we need to organize a wedding. Everything is going on nicely and as it should, with a lot of healthy laughter and joy - even though it is between Serbs and Croats.
Photo: Promo/ Ivan BuvinićFrom "The Wedding"
Pre Wedding and after the last war, more films were made about the coexistence of Serbs and Croats, for example, Star,Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, On the other side, The last Serb in Croatia, The summer when I learned to fly.
They all talk about what makes us different and the same. And all those films were seen both in Croatia and Serbia, as well as in countries outside the region whose audiences have no idea that Serbs and Croats are officially considered enemies.
How do Croats do it?
The interesting thing about this story is that except Leta all the mentioned films come from Croatia.
It's not a coincidence. It's a decision.
While Croatian cinematography has nothing against stories that acknowledge the existence of the other in its own backyard, Serbia systematically produces films that reinforce the narrative of the eternal victim over whom the threat of the enemy constantly hangs. Among which Croatia is at the top of the list.
And how is it in Serbia?
The most obvious example of such a Serbian strategy is Dara from Jasenovac, a film that invokes the trauma of the NDH in order to use it to spread the image of Serbs as victims. Dara was used as a propaganda tool suggesting to the people not to go on vacation to the country on whose territory Jasenovac was once located, and to see in it only an enemy and nothing else.
Photo: Aleksandar LetićFrom the movie "Dara from Jasenovac"
In order for that message to reach everyone in Serbia, the film premiered on RTS, and in order for the world to see it, the film was sent to Hollywood as the country's representative for the Oscar award.
After the television premiere, the media announced for days that Daru was seen by 2.650.000 people, in Hollywood it did not reach the list of candidates for the Oscar, it was shown in America in 21 cinemas and, according to the Film Center of Serbia, it earned about 4000 dollars in the first weekend, which the local regime media interpreted as being the most watched in America, while they did not publish the data on the cinema audience.
Whether it's because of the corona or because of something in the film itself, just yet Dara did not stay in cinemas as long as the government expected.
Year is an exception
The summer when I learned to fly more than 200.000 people saw it only in cinemas, so without television viewers in Serbia and Croatia. Year the story of a twelve-year-old girl from Belgrade, Sofia, who spends the summer on Hvar on the Adriatic Sea with two grandmothers, the Croatian one of which she has never met. New family relationships, new society, new emotions and a new future for Us and Them, untainted by prejudices and imposed attitudes.
From the movie "The Summer I Learned to Fly"
Year was recorded to spread love and not hate. He offered the audience what is close to him and what he needs, contrary to what the local cultural strategy offers him.
Who cares about hate?
The success of films dealing with Serbs and Croats persistently refutes the thesis about the deep, unsurpassed hatred between the peoples, which is proclaimed by politicians. They show that this hatred is a political project. Audiences respond to stories, not flags – and this is perhaps the most inconvenient truth for those who live by division.
Wedding is the latest evidence.
The only difference between Serbs and Croats that this film points to is the difference in production strategies.
And that's why: it's not true that blockers are watching this film because it comes from "there", as is of course commented on the networks, but because it talks about what people feel and love, and because it wishes them well.
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