One of the most interesting documentary’s I have seen
recently was about something that I knew little about. Mila Turajlics Cinema
Komunisto (2010) covers the politically charged history of Yugoslavian
cinema from 1945 until 1991 and embraces the important part film lover Josip
Broz, known to his countrymen as Tito, played in what was one of the leading
film industry’s in Europe. It is also the story of a country that no longer
exists - except in the movies.
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| Tito with his wife. |
In June 1946 following the end of WW2 the government of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia created the State Committee of
Cinematography to establish film production companies in various parts of the
country. The first and the biggest was Avala Films located in the Socialist
Republic of Serbia’s capital city Belgrade. Built and financed by the State it
became an important part of Yugoslavia’s political regime that was happy to use
it as a propaganda tool. It produced its
first feature film in 1947 and up until its last production, in the year 2000, the studio participated in the creation of 400
documentaries, 200 feature films and 120 co-productions with foreign companies;
its pictures won more than 200 awards in various world wide film festivals.
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| The Avala Film Studios. |
When Yugoslavia split from the
Soviet Union in 1948 it meant that no more films from the Mosfilm Studios were
to be made or shown in Yugoslavia so the studio turned to America and managed
to attract Hollywood productions and actors, including Yul Brynner, Richard
Burton, Sophia Loren and Orson Welles to come and use their facilities. Two of
the best-known movies were The Battle of
Neretva (1969) starring Brynner, Welles, Hardy Kruger and Franco Nero with
Picasso designing its film poster and The
Battle of Sutjeska (1973) starring Burton as Tito. Both were historically
correct patriotic war films depicting the role of the Yugoslavians in fighting
the Nazis. Avala Film Studios became
known as the Hollywood of the East with an instruction from central government
to ‘never let them (the American’s) notice they are not in Hollywood’[1]
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| Tito's private projectionist Leka Konstantinovic. |
It was alleged by his own
personal projectionist Leka Konstantinovic, a man who still obviously has a
great regard for his own boss, that Tito, who was a big film fan, watched a
movie every day for 32 years totalling 8801 films. His favourite genre was the
Western. He also made sure that Yugoslavia had its own Film Festival each year
at Pula.
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| Various A-List Hollywood stars came to Yugoslavia. Tito seen here with Elizabeth Taylor.... |
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| .... and here with Kirk Douglas. |
Jacques Ranciere the French
philosopher said of the cinema that ‘The
history of cinema is the history of the power to create history’ Allegedly
in Tito’s Yugoslavia all school children, along with the countries workers were
expected to see the films made in their own country. Yugoslavia
was second only to France for being a European country in which domestic films
were more watched than foreign films. But unlike almost anywhere else behind
the old Iron Curtain Western films were widely distributed.[2]
A most interesting and informative piece of documentary film making that I would
highly recommend.
[1] Liberated Cinema. The Yugoslav Experience by Daniel J
Goulding first published in 1985. It was the first book on Yugoslav cinema
written by a western scholar. Goulding’s interest started in 1972 by accident knowing
nothing at that time about their film industry. Long visits and study trips
between 1972 and 1980 resulted in the most thorough research into Yugoslavian
films ever undertaken. To write about the films accurately Goulding had to
watch hundreds of films without the help of any under titles. In 2002 he
returned to the former Yugoslavia to carry out research for an update to his
book.
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