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FOCUS

SERBIA

WAY UPY UP
ON
ON THE THE WA

Facts &

figures

● Population: 7,058,322
● GDP per capita: €4,904
● Regulatory body: © DR
Ministry of Culture The Witch Hunters (Raško Miljković)
● Film supporting institutions:
Film Center Serbia,
Secretariat for Culture THE FILM INDUSTRY IN SERBIA HAS BECOME most important such festivals in the world, Visions du
Autonomous Province INCREASINGLY ACTIVE AND SUCCESSFUL Reel, organised a Focus on Serbia.
of Vojvodina WITH SUPPORT FROM A RAFT OF INITIATIVES. We also reported on the development of the tax incentive
● Admissions per capita: 0.59 scheme launched in 2016. During Berlinale this year, it
PRODUCTION By Vladan Petkovic, Cineuropa.org was announced that the Serbian government had adopted
● Films produced (including the new Decree on Incentivising Investments in
co-productions): 16 fiction Production of Audiovisual Works, offering a 25% direct
+ 12 documentaries cash rebate for shooting on location in Serbia, and
● Co-productions: fiction doubling the budget for 2018 to €6.7m. In 2016, total
(13 majority/3 minority), production in Serbia amounted to €20.8m, and in 2017,
documentaries (12 N our article about Serbia in last year’s Cannes Market the total investment in film production stood at €31.9m,
majority) News, we singled out several events and developments which is a direct result of the tax incentive. The list of
● Average production budget: that showed promise for new Serbian cinema, and the projects completed in 2017 includes McMafia (a BBC TV
€500,000 promise seems to be fulfilling everyone’s expectations, series, serviced by Work in Progress), the Intrigo trilogy by
● Public funding available: I and more. One of them was the success of Ognjen Daniel Alfredson and Extinction (both from Universal
€5,120,000 Glavonić’s Kosovo war-themed documentary Depth Two, Pictures, serviced by Work in Progress), and Incoming
which came out of research Glavonić was doing for his (Benattar/Thomas Productions, serviced by Red
THEATRICAL MARKET first fiction feature film, thriller The Load — and this film Production), as well as the Indian blockbuster Vivegam
● Total gross BO: €13,644,952 is now world-premiering in Director’s Fortnight. (serviced by Clockwork Film Production).
● Total admissions: 4,125,696 Serbian documentarists created their own association Of course, these successes did not simply happen between two
● Average ticket price: €3.3 DOKSRBIJA, and in agreement with Film Center Serbia, editions of Cannes Film Festival. They converged to this point
● National market share based started working on amending legislature, establishing a as a result of work on all levels in Serbian cinema: individual
on admissions (incl. minority continuous collaboration with the national broadcaster, drive and passion of filmmakers, increased participation in
co-productions): 13,97% and organising training programmes. In November 2017, pan-European funding and training programmes, and efforts
● US majors market share based Mila Turajlić’s The Other Side of Everything won the main and actions of various people working in Serbian institutions
on admissions: 73% prize at IDFA, and Boris Mitić’s In Praise of Nothing played and fighting a lack of understanding and inertia in political
● Independent and European in the Masters section — by far the greatest success of structures over a longer period.
market share based on Serbian documentary cinema ever. And this April, Serbia’s MEDIA Desk reports a rare successful application
admissions: 9,84% Switzerland’s premium documentary event and one of the for TV Programming funding among countries of low

10 NEWS