WORLD PREMIERE IDFA 2010 (First Appearance Competition)
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE TRIBECA 2011 (World Documentary Competition)
★★★★’ – THE TIMES
Cinema Komunisto” is one of the most riveting, well-researched, elegantly-rendered chronicles of a fallen era to ever be captured on film – and a must-see for film aficionados. ’ SCREEN COMMENT
‘…a challenge that could have stumped even the most seasoned filmmaker: create a movie about a country that no longer exists.’ NEW YORK TIMES
[critic’s pick] ‘…a documentary collage of 60 years of Yugoslavian film under Communist rule.‘ WALL STREET JOURNAL
Reviews for Cinema Komunisto
Gold Hugo for Best Documentary Chicago International Film Festival, USA
Alpe Adria Cinema Award for Best Documentary Film Trieste Film Festival, Italy
Grand Prix for Best Documentary Film Festival International du cinéma engagé, Algeria
FOCAL International Award for Best Use of Archive Footage in an Arts Production 2011
FIPRESCI Serbia Best Documentary Film in 2011
Cinema Komunisto on Facebook
SELECTED REVIEWS & PRESS
[critic’s pick] ‘...a documentary collage of 60 years of Yugoslavian film under Communist rule.‘ - Wall Street Journal
‘...a challenge that could have stumped even the most seasoned filmmaker: create a movie about a country that no longer exists.’ - New York Times
“The fascinating and absorbing documentary Cinema Komunisto is a must for film fans.. quite wonderfully tracks the history of former Yugoslavia through its cinema.” - Screen International
“Cinema Komunisto” is still one of the most riveting, well-researched, elegantly-rendered chronicles of a fallen era to ever be captured on film—and a must-see for film aficionados..” - Screen Comment
‘Yugoslavia no longer exists, but its story still does. Who will tell it? Turajlic begins the conversation with this beautiful film.’ - Capital New York
Assembling through skilful editing, film clips, exclusive archives and interviews with onetime protagonists of the Balkan ‘cinema’, the documentarian unpacks a political myth constructed in 35mm.” - Telerama (France)
“Behind the title “Cinema Komunisto: once upon a time in Yugoslavia” hides an extraordinary documentary, a mad adventure of the seventh art, as written by Marshal Tito, at the head of a Yugoslavia that was transformed into a gigantic European Hollywood. Cinephiles seeking curious stories will be astounded, but also history lovers, and more generally, all those interested in plunging into the heart of a disappeared country, seen through the eyes of a camera.” - La Croix (France)
SYNOPSIS
Recommended as a ‘must-see’ by critics of the Wall Street Journal and indieWIRE and proclaimed as the ultimate festival film at Tribeca Film Festival CINEMA KOMUNISTO takes us on a journey through the crumbling remains of Tito’s film industry, exploring the rise and fall of the cinematic illusion called Yugoslavia.
Using rare footage from dozens of forgotten Yugoslav films, never-seen-before archive from film sets and Tito’s private screenings, the documentary recreates the narrative of a country, the stories told on screen and the ones hidden behind it. Stars such as Richard Burton, Sofia Loren and Orson Welles add a touch of glamour to the national effort, appearing in super-productions financed by the state.
Tito’s personal projectionist who showed him films every night for 32 years, his favorite film director, the most famous actor of partisan films, and the boss of the central film studios with secret police links – all tell how the myth of Yugoslavia was constructed on the screen. Fiction and reality diverged until it all collapsed, leaving behind rotting sets and film clips from a country that no longer exists.