Liberating Cinema Film Series 2025-2026
By Mina Radovic
Guest Curator Cassie Robinson
Liberating Cinema is honoured to celebrate 10 Years of The Liberating Cinema Film Series and for this special anniversary launches the international programme of The Liberating Cinema Film Series 2025-2026, inviting you to join our largest and richest edition to date. Discover restored classics and contemporary gems on the big screen, meet the filmmakers, learn from world-leading experts in our Restoration Lab and experience films for the first time as we uncover the history of cinema. Embark on the voyage with us as we journey from 19th century Native Alaskan culture and spirituality to comprehensive pictures of life in modern-day Slovenia, early medieval Byzantium to the trenches of the First World War on the Serbian Front, the Classic to New Hollywood of Paramount Pictures to the wonderful world of Karel Zeman a la Jules Verne and Georges Méliès spanning outer space and the moon to exotic lands and the deep sea – as well as renowned cinematic movements by way of the Yugoslav Black Wave.
Learn about film restoration first-hand from Charlotte Barker, Head of Restoration and Preservation at the Paramount Archives, visit our Classic Cinema strand at the annual St Andrews Film Festival and meet our Guest Curator Cassie Robinson (Birkbeck, University of London) to find out more about our programming and what it takes to make Liberating Cinema.
The 10th Anniversary Film Series is curated by our founder and director Dr Mina Radovic and takes place year-round, UK-wide in Edinburgh, St Andrews, London and internationally – with digital programmes and participation – and comprises film projections, introductions, Q&As with filmmakers, educational workshops and the expert-led Restoration Lab. We resume in publishing original essays on the films from our programme by world-leading film scholars, curators, and archivists. Our essays aim to present the community with first-time studies of these important works in the English language.
Liberating Cinema would like to extend its deepest gratitude to all partners, hosts, and collaborating institutions in realising this programme. We are particularly grateful to institutional partners and their staff for their generous support of our Film Series: Paramount Pictures Archives, Finsbury Park Picturehouse, The Cameo Picturehouse, Close-Up Film Centre, Birkbeck, University of London, St Andrews Film Festival, Delta Video, Avala Film Way, Forum Ljubljana, Slovenian Film Center, Aleksandrija Film, Spas, Ison Film Productions, Archangel Digital, and Second Run.
Our Film Series is educational and non-profit, with the aim of facilitating dialogue between academia, archives, and the film industry and engaging them on a wide range of cinematic works and topics with our audiences across the UK and internationally.
W1 (29th Apr 2025) – Liberating Cinema Presents: Sacred Alaska (Simon Scionka, 2023) + Q&A with the Director – The Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh
Book: Sacred Alaska + Q&A with Simon Scionka | Showtimes and Tickets
Sacred Alaska is an award-winning documentary that offers an intimate look into Native Alaskan culture and spirituality, showcasing the profound influence of Orthodoxy, introduced by Russian monks in the late 18th century, on Alaskan society. The film highlights the unique way Alaskans have woven their indigenous beliefs with Orthodox traditions, deeply influencing their worldview. Central to this is the concept of learning to become a “real person.”
Through beautiful cinematography and powerful storytelling, Sacred Alaska – presented here in the UK premiere of the film – underscores the profound, sacred bond between the Alaskan people, their faith, and the formidable landscape they call home.
The programme will be introduced and followed by a Q&A with film director Simon Scionka. Special Thank You to Trikirion Films (Colorado).
W2 (8th Nov 2025) – Aleksandar Petrović and The Yugoslav Black Wave: Three (Aleksandar Petrović, 1965) – 60th Anniversary – New Picture House, St Andrews
Find out more: SAFF | The St Andrews Film Festival
Three is a poetic triptych of stories set before, during, and after the Second World War connected by the theme of human agency in the face of death and three characters played by screen legend Velimir Bata Živojinović. Karlovy Vary grand laureate and Oscar nominated Three is a strong contender for one of the greatest films ever made.
Aleksandar Petrović is a household name of European cinema and quintessential auteur who spearheaded the Yugoslav Black Wave from its groundbreaking emergence to the infamous ‘bunkering’ of the movement. Petrović spans an impressive body of work including the classical studio system, modernist tradition, international epic and literary adaptation and regular presence at Cannes, Venice Biennale and the Academy Awards.
The programme is presented in partnership with St Andrews Film Festival. Special Thank You to Delta Video and Avala Film Way, Belgrade.
W3 (3rd Jul 2026) – 10 Years On: The Cinema of Vinko Möderndorfer: Inferno (Vinko Möderndorfer, 2014) – Finsbury Park Picturehouse, London
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Liberating Cinema Film Series with a film screened at the inaugural Film Series programme in 2015 – Inferno focuses on a young unemployed working‑class family and their everyday struggle for survival, tracing the Sisyphean journey of a father to save his children after a tragedy.
Directed by the preeminent Slovene auteur Vinko Möderndorfer and evocative of Yugoslav and Third Cinema, to rival any Ken Loach film, Inferno is a powerful and subversive film that offers a critical picture of modern-day Europe.
Curated by Dr Radovic, the programme is introduced by Cassie Robinson, Birkbeck, University of London. Special Thank You to the Director Vinko Möderndorfer, Producer Eva Rohrman, Forum Ljubljana and The Slovenian Film Center.
W4 (10th Jul 2026) – Avala Film at 80: First World War on Film: The March on the Drina (Živorad Žika Mitrović, 1964) – Finsbury Park Picturehouse, London
International Premiere of Film Restoration
The Great War forms a central part of cultural memory in both Britain and Serbia and even more interestingly, a central part of cinematic tradition. The March on the Drina follows a Serbian royal artillery battery and its journey in western Serbia to face Austro-Hungarian troops at the Battle of Cer, the first Allied victory of the war.
Rediscovering a vital chapter of the First World War on film and 80 years of Belgrade’s Avala Film studio, The March on the Drina is one of the great war epics produced in Yugoslavia and an essential film by genre pioneer Živorad Žika Mitrović.
Curated by Dr Radovic, the programme is introduced by Cassie Robinson, Birkbeck, University of London. Special Thank You to Delta Video, Belgrade.
W5 (24th Jul 2026) – Verne to Méliès: The World of Karel Zeman: The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (Karel Zeman, 1962) – Close-Up Film Centre, London
Curated and Introduced by Cassie Robinson, Birkbeck, University of London
Book: CLOSE-UP | The Fabulous Baron Munchausen introduced by Cassie Robinson
A highly-stylized romantic adventure inspired by the historic tales of Baron Munchausen: live action paired with various forms of animation allow this Czechoslovak classic – spanning the moon to the deep sea – to come to life in this meticulous restoration.
“Zeman’s movies openly mix live action with every analogue tool for exploring the fantastic, including hand-drawn and cutout animation, puppetry, mattes, double exposures, miniatures, and optical illusions, such as forced perspective” notes film critic Michael Sragow. A visual feast à la Verne and Méliès The Fabulous Baron Munchausen invites discovery of the wonderful world of Karel Zeman.
Special Thank You to Second Run, UK.
W6 (8 Aug 2026) – Faith and Film II: A Cross in the Desert (Hadži-Aleksandar Đurović, 2022) + The Service (Andrej Šepetkovski, 2024) – Edinburgh
Information to Follow on Booking.
A Cross in the Desert: Set in the 10th century, young Paraskeva leaves her life in the city of Constantinople and retreats into the Jordan desert, where she spends the next 40 years in ascetic struggle. Steeped in the legacy of Byzantium and finely exploring the relations between Christians and Muslims the multi-award winning film is an inspired rethinking of art and faith by Hadži-Aleksandar Đurović, one of the most exciting Serbian filmmakers working today.
The Service: In 1960s Yugoslavia two members of the national security services arrive at an impoverished, remote female monastery to find a suspected monk. Capturing the epoch with vivid detail, the film invites us into an encounter that redefines our notion of what it means to serve in the directorial debut of Andrej Šepetkovski, an accomplished playwright and one of the most celebrated actors of his generation who has starred in more than 20 films, 30 television series and 50 plays.
Special Thank You to Aleksandrija Film, Spas, Ison Film Productions and Archangel Digital.
W7 (Sep 2026) – RESTORATION LAB 2.0: Charlotte Barker, Paramount – Digital Programme
Information to Follow on the Restoration Lab: Restoration Lab – Liberating Cinema
The Liberating Cinema Restoration Lab returns with a conversation and selection of films presented by Charlotte Barker, Head of Restoration and Preservation at Paramount Pictures.
Special Thank You to Paramount Pictures Archives, Hollywood.
W8 (Nov 2026) – Classic Cinema Strand at St Andrews Film Festival – St Andrews
World Premiere of Major Film Restoration
Information to Follow: SAFF | The St Andrews Film Festival
Special Thank You to St Andrews Film Festival.
