Legacy

In its portraits of three monks, Erik Praus’s documentary captures the inimitable spiritual ambiance and mysticism of Pochayiv Lavra, an Eastern Orthodox monastery on a hill above the town of Pochayiv in western Ukraine’s Ternopil Oblast. Fathers Gabriel, Vicilentius and Nazarij have left their past traumas behind, finding peace, balance and their lives’ meaning at the monastery. Their stories are allegories of spiritualization and purification from human passions against the backdrop of the turbulent Ukrainian reality. Motivated by material need and spiritual desperation, the faithful flock to this place of pilgrimage in search of new strength and forgiveness. The film respectfully observes the monks’ everyday lives, while also noticing the opulent splendour of their surroundings. The road to faith is not a privilege of the chosen few; it is open to all who hear its “calling”.

Paul Pawlikowski's award-winning documentary on life behind Serbian lines in Bosnia. The film observes the roots of the extreme nationalism which has torn apart a country and provides a chilling examination of the dangerous power of ancient nationalist myths.

DEVOUT reveals an archaic utopia, a timeless spiritual sphere that is as beautiful and harsh as the mountain terrain of the Caucasus, tempting but unforgiving, a riddle like God and faith as mysterious as the human condition.

A documentary re-enactment of the last few hundred years in Serbian history.

"The Moscow Pilgrims" is a film that takes you on a tour of Russia’s ancient capital. The film’s main characters – father and son – are doing the most intersting sights of old Moscow, including the Simonov Monastery, the New Spassky Cloister and the Krutitsky Church located on a picturesque bank of the Moskva River. The celibate priest Ilia, the dean of the church of the Holy Mother of God father Vladimir and other priests will help the pilgrims and visitors to see the world of Moscow’s ancient holy sites: the burial-vault of the noble Romanov family, the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of God recently cleared from security services, and the graves of the Kulikovo battle heroes, the monks Oslyabi and Peresvet.

Through the socio-political overview of the problematic structure of fan clubs and football supporters in Serbia, this movie focuses on a particular case of an incident involving a French citizen - football fan in Belgrade, which led to 12 young people being convicted to 240 years of prison. One of them is Stefan Velickovic. This is the story about the man who became a part of a huge political scandal, and his right to defend himself. As someone who has not even been at the spot of the incident, he has been pronounced guilty of a crime. What are the interests and intentions for making Stefan a scapegoat?

A journey into the wedding night, where an ultra-Orthodox Jewish couple gets to know each other for the first time.

Illegal immigrants and asylum seekers in Serbia, placed in asylum centers after their dramatic journeys from war-torn and poverty-stricken areas of North Africa, Near and Middle East go through a period of adaptation to life and social circumstances in Serbia. In most cases, however, their goal is to reach one of the EU countries. Docu-drama is a space for them to, beside the socio-political context in which they found themselves, show their individual values, becoming heroes that viewers can identify with and whose destiny and struggle they can understand.

This is a documentary about a renowned precentor and a church composer Irina Denissova who suddenly becomes a nun in the apex of her career. At the same time, this is a film about God's love towards man. It seemed that a tragedy had occurred: a family of two prominent musicians was ruined, and Irina was abandoned by her husband while struggling with a serious disease of her son.

The "Good News" is a film dedicated to one of the main holidays of Orthodox Christians: the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos. The main idea of this holiday is the beginning of the liberation of the human race from sins and eternal death, the joyful news about the upcoming birth of Jesus Christ. The film shows how people living in the remote Russian village are preparing for the Annunciation, marking the turning point of winter and the beginning of field work. Everyday details of the parish community life help to feel Russian Orthodox customs that have been formed for centuries.

In the Kosovo War, human dignity was shattered by the terrors of the Serbian government and the Albanian liberation army. Truths about the victims’ fates faded away, which is why a Finnish forensic research group led by Helena Ranta got a mission to act as an unbiased agent and investigate the real course of events.

The film features intertwined scenes of young dance troupes' performances and scenes where famous Serbian actors, artists and athletes speak out to young people, in order to inspire them to by their own example to chase after and fulfill their lives' dreams. The 34 minute long film is fast paced and shows different types of dances at several key locations in Belgrade, Serbia. The performances are cut by the interviews with the artists and athletes, addressing the viewer, who talk about their beginnings and the road to success. The third segment of the film are young people, transitioning into adulthood, who talk about what their own dreams are. The idea that the film "Fulfill your dream!" carries is to show young people, through the movie itself, through the testimonies of successful artists and athletes, and finally through the example of the author, that it is possible to start an independent career, thanks to their creativity, ambition and perseverance.

Der Orient - Wiege des Christentums

The film is based on the events of the 4th International Orthodox Music Festival held in Moscow in February, 1992. The Festival featured not only such famous works as Rakhmaninov's "The All Night Service" and "Liturgy" but also the first performance of the latest interpretations of ancient Russian songs and the sensational first performance of Sviridov's cycle of "spiritual songs".

Emir Kusturica views himself as a rock musician and believes that he became a world-famous filmmaker by pure chance, as he shoots his movies only in between concert tours with the “No Smoking Orchestra” band. At these little pinpoints of time he gets “Palms d’Or” at Cannes, “Golden Lions” in Venice, builds his own villages, a power plant and a piste and regrets not becoming a professional football player. Kusturica’s own living is very much similar to his movies, where shoes are polished with cats, death is treated like a story from tabloid press, and life is a miracle...

This documentary was inspired by the artistic life of Serbian actress Sonja Savić. Being a wonder child, a star of Yugoslavian cinematography, a sex symbol, and urban legend of the eighties generation, a fighter against establishment, Sonja Savić had always attracted attention. Simply put, she always looked, spoke and thought differently from others, she was entirely autonomous, an authentic phenomenon of Serbian culture. In the documentary SONJA, friends and colleagues of Sonja Savić testify on many aspects of her life and work, and a special emphasis is put on Sonja’s libertarian, rebellious, Don Quixote type of nature.

Montenegro is the newest European country with a proud history, one that is being falsified for current political purposes, thus creating an alternative identity. In a nation where it possible for two brothers to claim different ethnic backgrounds despite having the same parents, everything is on the table: language, church, democracy. Can the truth set Montenegro free?

By the end of 1915, during the second half of World War I, which had started by the Austro-Hungarian Empire's attack on a small Kingdom of Serbia, Serbian people, its army, and the state found themselves in the greatest tribulation in its long history. Serbia is attacked by the combined militaries of Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, and Bulgaria. Defending every road, every hill, every creek, during the time when every village, every plato, every crossing was becoming a historical landmark, Serbia, relying on the Allies, moved its people, its government, and its remaining troops to Kosovo--the only unoccupied part of the Serbian territory, but soon had to cross Albania in the hopes of reaching the Allies' ships in the Mediteranian.

The war crimes trial of Ratko Mladic, accused of masterminding the murder of over 7000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in the 90s Bosnian war, the worst crime in Europe since WW2.

Still regarded as the best Serbian documentary film account of WW1 ever, it gathers all the available footage of Serbia's army, its battles on the home ground, its refuge on the island of Corfu, its victorious offensive on the Thessaloniki Front and the return to the homeland. The original documentary footage from 1915–1918 was somewhat supplemented in a small measure with some staged reenactments of Serbian army retreating over Albania, and later liberation of Belgrade. The first version of this documentary epic was shown in 1930 under the title "For the Honour of Homeland". Andrija Glisic and Zarija Djokic later made a new sound version of the previous silent movie and renamed it "Fire Over the Balkans".