I live in a country that used to be called Yugoslavia. Now it is called Serbia, but there are still some places that keep memories of Yugoslavia or contain its name in their name. This is the case with the Yugoslav Cinematheque (Jugoslovenska kinoteka) or Yugoslav Film Archive.
The company I work for pays a lot of attention to socially responsible activities, and one of them is the restoration of old movies, which thus gain new life, colors and duration and are preserved from oblivion as a valuable cultural heritage. Recently, we have restored one more of the many films of Yugoslav cinematography, called Suton (Twilight Time) with the American actor Karl Malden in the lead role.
As the film was shot 42 years ago, I was very interested in watching it now in the restored version, so I went to the premiere and had a great evening there. This was the first premiere for a closed group of people, and after a few weeks the second one was held for a wider audience.
It was a real pleasure to go there and listen to the people who participated in the filming, how the filming was going and what the expectations were then.
Both American and Serbian actors acted, in English. One of the actors, Petar Bozovic, was at the premiere and shared his experiences. His motivational words brightened my day.
The theme of the film is economic migration, which still affects family relationships today, after so many years. The film is about an elderly man, who after returning to Yugoslavia after 20 years in America takes care of his two grandchildren in a small farming village while their parents work in Germany.
It's sad that the children are waiting for them throughout the film and they don't want to come back because they got divorced there and everyone went their own way.
After the movie, I walked through the Yugoslav Film Archive.
It was founded in the middle of the 20th century and today it is the central institution for the protection of cultural assets of Serbia and the former Yugoslavia. It aims to collect, process, preserve and display films, as well as film items.
As this year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famous Serbian actor Miodrag Petrovic Ckalja, there is an exhibition dedicated to him in the hall.
Some of his personal items, as well as a costume from the movie Trip Around the World from 1964, are on display there.
We saw a lot of old film equipment there, from the beginning and middle of the 20th century. Cameras, projectors...
Some projectors were quite large, such as the so-called Dutch Double-headed Eagle projector from 1930.
One was even from 1899, a Mester projector from Germany.
It was also interesting to see a German reporter's camera from the Second World War.
Original script manuscripts, photos of actors, posters with photos and descriptions of cult classic Serbian films were displayed on the walls.
When it comes to Serbian actors, one of my favorite Serbian actors was Ljubisa Samardzic, so I was amazed when I saw some of his personal items that he used in famous films and series.
And the highlight of the day was the dress worn by one of my favorite actresses, Milena Dravic. She wore that dress at the International film festival in Cannes in 1980.
A visit to the Yugoslav Cinematheque made my day different and unusual. I went home with good thoughts and motivation to make every day worthwhile.
Thank you very much for reading.
The images and writing are original and mine.
Jelena
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