At the invitation of the film organization Roskino, which promotes Russian films on the world market, film producers from Serbia visited Moscow and St. Petersburg where they discussed the possibilities of co-production between Serbian and Russian film companies. The opportunity for a more significant development of this cooperation will be possible already in August 2024, at a specially organized film competition within the prestigious event Lendoc Film Festival, which is traditionally held in Saint Petersburg.
Filmmakers from Serbia visited the most important film locations in Russia and talked with their Russian colleagues at a round table whose topic was "Serbia and Russia. Love for film and a general view of film production". Both parties have found interest in bonding and recording opportunities in Russia, particularly in St. Petersburg. The representatives of Serbia were also interested in the distribution of Serbian films in Russia, and the possibility of the audience in Serbia seeing the new Russian film "Zlato Umalte" signed by the Lendoc studio was also discussed. It is a new Russian action movie that the creators say is the first big Easter movie in modern Russian cinema.
As the program was implemented as part of the "Filming in Russia" project, film producers from Serbia were able to visit important locations where filming is possible, such as: Red Square in Moscow, The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Novodevichy Convent and the Moscow Metro. In St. Petersburg, the Serbian delegation got acquainted with the infrastructure of film production at Lenfilm and Lendoc Film studios, and they also visited iconic places in the city on the Neva - the Peter and Paul Fortress, The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Hermitage Museum and other locations.
The representatives of Serbia were Igor Stojanovic (producer, Nira film), Nebojsa Cvetkovic (producer and executive director of Art Vista), Igor Gordic (head of the operations and distribution department of Art Vista), Masa Cvetanovic (head of the international distribution and marketing department of Art Vista), director and screenwriter of the film "Indigo Crystal" Luka Mihailovic and actress Milena Predic, who plays the main role in the drama "Saint Paraskeva of the Balkans - A Cross in the Desert". This particular film was screened at the Days of Serbian in Russia, which were held in Moscow and Saint Petersburg from 1st to 3rd December. At free screenings in four cinemas, which were also supported by ROSKINO with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Russian audience could watch the latest Serbian films. More than 2,000 viewers watched the latest Serbian films, and the comedy "Comedy on three floors" directed by Sandra Mitrovic became the leader in terms of the number of viewers in both cities.
The opportunity for Serbian and Russian filmmakers to meet is a great way to establish even stronger cooperation between the two cinematographies. There are already numerous joint projects between Russia and Serbia that are popular with the public. For example, at the Russian Film Festival held in Belgrade and Novi Sad at the beginning of November, the premiere of the Serbian-Russian film "Nasi" attracted a lot of attention from the audience, and it starred Serbian actors Daniel Kovacevic, Ksenija Repic, Djordje Markovic and Mihailo Laptosevic.
*** The project "Filming Locations in Russia" promotes Russian regions as filming locations for foreign filmmakers. It is a project of the Roskino organization, which is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. The goal of the project is to open Russia to the international film industry, promote the development of Russian regional film production and increase the country's tourism potential. The project "Filming Locations in Russia 2023" includes Moscow, Moscow Region, Krasnodar Krai (Region), Kaliningrad Oblast (Region), Saint Petersburg, Leningrad Oblast (Region), Khabarovsk Krai (Region) and Novgorod Oblast (Region).
