Film and Theatre in Serbia

Serbs are big on art. Yes, I’m reffering those “barbaric”, “ruthless”, “backward” heathen from the Balkans. They’re really big on art. I’m not saying that the average Serb can tell a Monet from a Manet (c’mon…) but they can certainly tell a Kubrick or Ridley Scott from a Michael Mann. We admire all forms of art yet, like in many Eastern European countries, cinematography and theatre are the front-runners among our favorites.

This evening, an article from wharf.co.uk about Serbian shorts being featured at the Canary Wharf Film Festival this year (September 3-7) triggered memories of all the stories I’ve heard about the golden days of film and theatre in Serbia. Buckle up and let me take you for a little ride through history.

Cue piano music and fade in: It’s late spring of 1896, just months after the first ever public unveiling of “moving pictures” in Paris, and Andre Carr, a representative of the Lumière brothers arrives in Belgrade from Lyon. He is welcomed by government officials and recieved by King Aleksandar Obrenović himself and the Queen Mother Natalija. Days later, on June 6th, a privileged group gathers at At the Golden Cross cafe on Belgrade’s Terazije for the first film projection of all time in South Eastern Europe. “Wow” didn’t even begin to cover it.

Months later, in March of 1897, Carr would make a second visit to Belgrade to make the first films in Belgrade, “The Kalemegdan Promenade”, “The Tramway Station at Terazije” and “Workers Coming out of the Tobacco Factory”, none of which were preserved. The first picture houses opened, spreading like wildfire among the masses, and projections even toured the smaller towns and villages regularly. The first audiences were hooked and many of those that went into the projection rooms came out wanting to be producers and directors. It was the miraculous conception of Serbian cinematography.

The Lumiere Brothers

Theatre in Serbia not only wasn’t far behind, they were pioneering a movement. In 1861, the Serbian National Thatre was established in Novi Sad by Jovan Đorđević, an author (also wrote the national anthem for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which, in a slighly modified form, is the anthem of the current Republic of Serbia), and remains one of Serbia’s most prominent theatres to this day. After a guest appearance of the ensemble in Belgrade in 1868, Đorđević was invited by knez (prince) Mihailo Obrenović to found the National Theatre in Belgrade. Both theatres have seen two World Wars and a decade of sanctions and have not only survived but have spawned numerous other theatres in the country and won over the hearts of audiences from around the world.

With an established crew of actors and directors from the theatres and the early introduction of the new technology of cinematography by Carr and the Lumières, the Serbian film industry was on a roll. Of course, with the establishment of a centralized government, censorship soon became an issue but not as much of one as in other countries. In fact, actors, ballet dancers, directors and other members of the theatre and film industry were deemed to be of the highest importance to the overall moral of the nation. According to the late Serbian opera singer and my voice coach at the Academy of the Arts in Belgrade, Divna Đoković, members of these two industries were included in the first category for receiving rations in the post WW II reconstruction period, a category otherwise reserved for hard laborers and miners. Again, Serbs are really big on art, whatever their political convictions.

The National Theatre in Belgrade

The former Yugoslavia, with Belgrade as its official and film industry capital, became one of the most sought after locations for filming in Europe, offering fantastic scenery, some of the largest studios in the region and top notch professional crews. Over a period of several decades, one of the world’s largest film collections was gathered.The Yugoslav Film Archive was founded in Belgrade in 1949, first known as the Central Film Archive of Yugoslavia, and is one of the founders and among the most outstanding members of the International Federation of Film Archives. It also contains some of the oldest existing viable reels in Europe. Due to poor conditions, lack of financing, and inadequate storage space, many of these reels have been lost forever and the Archive struggles to preserve the remainder of this cinematographic treasure with little help. A recent blog post on Belgraded.com, however, tells of signs of a brighter future.

These days, a group of individuals from over 20 film and production companies in Serbia, with the help of the USAID Competitiveness Project, have formed an alliance to restore that former glory that was lost during the 90’s. On their site, simply named Film in Serbia, they remind us of the recent and growing international interest:

“In recent years, several high profile actors have shot films in Serbia. They include Oscar winners Adrien Brody, Christopher Walken and Rachel Weisz, Oscar nominees Bob Hoskins, Vincent Perez, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Huston and David Thornton, among others. Most recently, Ralph Fiennes has selected Belgrade as the location for his upcoming directorial debut, Coriolanus.”

Some films of epic proportions, both Serbian and international, have been either made here or with the involvement of the Serbian film industry. I feel that there are many more to come. I think I could even be so bold as to say that I even feel another golden age coming on. Time will tell, as it always does.

Pandora’s Box: The Mishaps of a Serbian Consumer

I was hoping this blog would have a more positive note and wouldn’t be just another collection of my socio-political and (anti) cultural rants. Well, Pandora’s done it again! I’ve just spent my Monday waiting in lines at several unorganized counters, spending my hard earned dinar on overpriced products and listening to half-ass excuses on why a simple task that takes minutes to be accomplished in any civilized country can’t be done at all in this one. Then I came home to find this REUTERS article on loan guarantors in the Balkans and their mentality. So we can lock hope up in that pretty little box and talk about the countless economic evils we’ve unleashed on our world.

Today’s particular rant is about the concept (or lack) of a consumer based economy in Serbia. I’m the farthest thing from an expert on the subject, but I happen to think that the term “consumer based” economy is redundant in the first place, a pleonasm if you will. I mean, what else are you going to base spending and profit on if not consumers?! I suppose I’m stupid and someone will have to explain that to me someday. For the purposes of this blog post we’ll accept the generic definition of that term. A definition that Serbia in general is having trouble understanding. As a prime example of a Serbian consumer, I have a problem with that.

The vast majority of Serbian consumers still have that apathetic, somewhat socialist mentality. The average Serbian consumer will walk into a Costa Coffee, Greenet or SpeakEasy (coffeehouse chains)  and pay twice the amount for slow service and a  cup of crappy brown colored liquid than they would for a real double espresso at any decent local cafe in town.  And it’s not ignorance. Serbs know their coffee. It’s just that “nothing-to-be-done-about-it-now” attitude.  The average bank customer in Serbia will quietly complain to the person sitting next to them while waiting hours at their bank to get the simplest transaction or task completed. Any Serbian homeowner trying to get an official deed for their property  will be given a runaround that Kafka couldn’t have come up with only to either give up after a couple of years or just go nuts. (Note: about 70% of property in Belgrade still has recorded by not officially registered ownership as the state used to own most property in the former Yugoslavia.)

Will they complain on the spot or to any official? Nope. They’ll come home and rant (ehem… or blog) about it. Hell-oooo? YOU are the consumer, YOU are providing the company (from top to bottom) with earnings, it’s YOUR money that feeds them. React, fer cryin’ out loud! Ask to speak to the manager. File a complaint. Do something!

I’ve been using the same cable Internet provider, SBB, for years and I’m not happy with the on and off relationship I’ve had with them at all. In fact, I’ve had booty calls arrangements that were more stable than the connection they provide. Very often, about seven or eight days per month, I don’t have a connection for most of the day. I’m probably among their best customers in the area and I pay my bills on time or even a few days in advance. Why would I do that if I’m not happy with the srvice I’m getting? It just so happens that they’re the ONLY cable Internet provider in my area. I pay on time or in advance because there is no place where I can pay if it’s a weekend or holiday but guess what – their automated service will cut your connection off if the period you paid for has expired.  Now, that’s your typical Serbian-style efficiency.

Recently, the lovely @aurorans told me about a similar experience she had had with a different provider. Obviously more intelligent than yours truly, she kept track of when she did and didn’t have an active connection and, when she went to pay her bill, presented the provider’s representative with this record and her bill was reduced. Eureka, it worked!  Well, of course it did. All a consumer needs to do is file an official, documented, logical complaint. I’ll admit I knew that and was too apathetic to react. Obviously, one of the many bad habits I’ve picked up as a consumer in Serbia.  The average Serbian consumer isn’t yet fully aware of their consumer rights and the government and other interested parties are doing a good job keeping this amazing concept under wraps.

Over the past months, as Serbia has begun to really feel the global recession, there have been cut-backs and bankruptcies at several fairly large companies and lowered sales of FMCG and agricultural products. Last week, over 30 thousand disgruntled workers and several thousand farmers took to the streets in Belgrade. I watched, knowing their meek protests in the steaming August weather wouldn’t do anyone any good, and I suddenly saw the irony of it. What if they hadn’t taken to the streets as workers but as consumers, which they all in fact are? Hm… now there’s an idea.

Yes, the main problem with the Serbian economy lies in the inaptitude of the Serbian government and financial institutions. (The global recession just happens to be the excuse they’re currently using for their lack of good judgement in the past.) Yes, the few major private and government corporations that have cornered markets and have the Serbian economy in seemingly permanent head-lock are a huge part of the problem. But where are the consumers in this equation? Will they learn to ditch the proletarian mentality and embrace the consumer mentality to become part of the solution?