Serbian Film Festival UK
London: 7-9 March 2025
By Mina Radovic
Liberating Cinema is honoured to launch the Serbian Film Festival UK, inviting you to join the inaugural edition in London from 7-9 March 2025 – in collaboration with Serbian Council of Great Britain (Serbian Month 2025) and playing at Finsbury Park Picturehouse and Bertha Doc House, Bloomsbury – and celebrate the very best of Serbian cinema, discover restored classics and contemporary gems, and journey through the cultural relations between Serbia and the United Kingdom.
Spanning the silent era to present day the festival celebrates landmark achievements in the history of Serbian cinema, including the UK premiere of Great War docu-epic The Calvary of Serbia (1932/1940) across the 60th Anniversary of Aleksandar Petrović’s Yugoslav Black Wave landmark Three (1965) to the brand-new restoration of Goran Marković’s modern classic Tito and Me (1992) made from the original camera negative. The festival also provides first-hand insight into new directions in Serbian cinema and spotlights contemporary auteurs, showcasing Hadži-Aleksandar Đurović‘s A Cross in the Desert (2022) that in the spirit of Bergman and Tarkovsky looks at the life of beloved woman saint Paraskeva and Andrej Šepetkovski’s The Service (2024) that announces a bold directorial vision from a figure recognised as one of the finest actors of his generation.
The festival will also host a range of interactive in-person events including introductions, Q&As and panels with film directors, scholars and archivists. Our guests of honour this year include Hadži-Aleksandar Đurović, Andrej Šepetkovski, Vlastimir Sudar and Milja Radovic together with our founder and director Mina Radovic who will introduce the films and moderate the programmes.
We would like to thank our sponsors Serbian Council of Great Britain and Wolf Entertainment, airline sponsor Air Serbia and our partners Finsbury Park Picturehouse and Bertha Doc House for kindly hosting the festival and the Yugoslav Cinematheque, Avala Film Way, Delta Video Belgrade, Aleksandrija Film, Spas, Ison Film Productions and Archangel Digital for generously providing the films and images included in this programme.
Programme 1 – 60th Anniversary: Three (Aleksandar Petrović, 1965) + Q&A with Dr. Vlastimir Sudar, 7 March 18:00 – Finsbury Park Picturehouse
Book: https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/031/HO00015913/aleksandar-petrovic-s-three-q-a-60th-anniversary
Aleksandar Petrović is a household name of European cinema and quintessential auteur whose films span the classical studio system, Black Wave, international epic and literary adaptation.
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 Academy Award favourite – with breathtaking cinematography by Tomislav Pinter – Three is a landmark of the Yugoslav Black Wave and strong contender for one of the best films ever made.
Programme 2 – Restored: Tito and Me (Goran Marković, 1965) + Introduction by Dr. Mina Radovic, 7 March – Finsbury Park Picturehouse
Book: https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/031/HO00015914/restored-goran-markovi-s-tito-and-me-introduction-by-mina-radovic
Goran Marković – renowned film and theatre director, screenwriter, author and member of the Prague School of Yugoslav cinema – blends unforgettable aesthetics, original narration and brilliant humour in generation-defining chronicles of everyday life.
Tito and Me follows 10 year old Zoran who, surrounded by a large idiosyncratic family living under one roof, grows up in 1950s Yugoslavia and ventures on a school trip to visit the birthplace of his idol Josip Broz Tito.
Winner of Best Director at San Sebastián, featuring an all-star cast led by unmatched child actor Dimitrije Vojnov and Zoran Simjanović’s classic score, Tito and Me – presented in a brand new restoration – is one of the most popular of all Serbian films and an essential and critical reflection on the Yugoslav legacy.
Programme 3 – The Service (2024) + In Conversation with Andrej Šepetkovski 8 March 17:30 – Finsbury Park Picturehouse
Book: https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/031/HO00015915/the-service-in-conversation-with-andrej-epetkov
An accomplished playwright and one of the most celebrated actors of his generation Andrej Šepetkovski has starred in more than 20 films, 30 television series and 50 plays. His directorial debut The Service announces a bold vision of human connection, community and faith tested in adversity.
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 – from Yugo-Mex musical heritage togesture, mood and decor – only to turn its aesthetics inward the film invites us into an encounter that redefines our notion of what it means to serve and unexpectedly rediscover the transformative power of love.
Programme 4 – A Cross in the Desert (2022) + In Conversation with Hadži-Aleksandar Đurović, 8 March 19:30 – Finsbury Park Picturehouse
Book: https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/031/HO00015916/a-cross-in-the-desert-had-i-aleksandar-urovic
Hadži-Aleksandar Đurović is one of the most exciting Serbian filmmakers working today. Graduate of the Belgrade Academy of Arts and director of 12 short and documentary films, Đurović’s dramatic feature A Cross in the Desert brings to life a beloved woman saint.
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 and fantastic continuation of a tradition started by Bergman and Tarkovsky.
Programme 5 – 85th Anniversary: The Calvary of Serbia (1932/1940) + In Conversation with Dr. Milja Radovic, 9 March 15:30 – Bertha Doc House Bloomsbury
Book: https://dochouse.org/event/the-calvary-of-serbia/
The most important documentary film made in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia blends profound historical insight, innovative visual style and riveting use of archives to document the Great War in this 85th anniversary of the film.
The Calvary of Serbia follows the tumultuous years 1914-1918 documenting the Serbian experience from Austro-Hungary’s declaration of war to the life of ordinary people and the army, battles on the homefront, the allied relationship with Britain and the United States, the Golgothan ascent over Albania, the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki Front and the ‘blue tomb’ in Corfu through to the liberation of Belgrade.
This programme will be followed by a Q&A with scholar Dr Milja Radovic reflecting on the film’s significance and archival journey from its initial production as a silent film in 1932 to the final sound version completed in 1940.
