Rise of the Former Yugoslav Coproductions

Bosnian director Danis Tanović's is in the Competition with AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER. Serbian director Srdan Golubović's CIRCLES and Croatian director Bobo Jelčić's A STRANGER are screening in the Forum section.

 

From the perspective of their financing, these titles hint at a new trend. Unlike most of the previous outings from Former Yugoslavia at major film festivals over the past two decades that were largely coproduced from one or more of the major European territories, all three films presented in Berlin this year are made in coproduction between at least 2 respective former Yugoslav countries, CIRCLES coproduction structure in addition to Germany and France, includes Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia. On the other hand, two of them are dominantly regional: AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKEr is an unofficial Bosnian, Slovenian, French coproduction and A STRANGER is an official bilateral, Croatian - Bosnian coproduction. 

 

"Cooperation in the film industry has been in the heart of the regional policy of our fund. Spearheaded by the efforts of the Sarajevo Film Festival, through its CineLink and Regional Forum sections, Bosnia and Herzegovina today hosts a functioning platform for financing, completion and promotion of cinema from Former Yugoslavia and the rest of the Balkans, very much to the mutual benefit of our neighbours." 

 

"Cooperation between our film-making communities is better than before. Probably even better than before the break-up of the Yugoslav Federation. In most of the post-Yugoslav countries, the filmmakers themselves, one way or another, play an active role in shaping public policy and decision-making for film financing. That is how film-making in our region has successfully managed to avoid becoming the plaything of politicians or corporate capital." 

 

"We have managed to formulate and exercise the common interests between our developing film industries. Besides our coproductions presented here in Berlin and other festivals, one can see a palpable example of that in our joint umbrella stand at the Marche du Film in Cannes."

 

In addition to the feature film presented in Berlin, Serbian directresses Ivana Todorović's WHEN I WAS A BOY, I WAS A GIRL is in the Berlinale Shorts competition, RABBITLAND by Ana Nedeljkovic and Nikola Majdak is in the Generation and Marta Popivoda’s YUGOSLAVIA, HOW IDEOLOGY MOVED OUR COLLECTIVE BODY is in Forum Expanded, tipping off a surge in new talent from the region.

 

Now when the basic modalities of cooperation in the spheres of financing and coproduction have been firmly established, film industries in former Yugoslavia are turning to strengthening their market at home hoping to continue emulating the successes of last years Berlinale Panorama entry, THE PARADE, which since then broke the box office records and attracted over 600 000 admissions in Former Yugoslavia.