We tried to release the film theatrically in Serbia in February, but no one wanted to have anything to do with it. But it’s a conservative country, and after all those years under a hard communist regime we have a kind of self-censorship. In Serbia we don’t have ratings, there is no law forbidding anything from being shown in a film and there is no law forbidding anyone from buying a ticket. Serbia is a very specific place, so we had lots of problems there but of a different kind. SS: Of course I cannot be happy about it, but then I can’t be too stubborn, and this is the only way for audiences here to see it. VS: How do you feel about the fact that the film had to be released with cuts in Britain? Virginie Sélavy talked to director Srdjan Spasojevic about censorship and the true meaning of exploitation and pornography. But those disturbing images and situations are the expression of a deeply felt anger against the moral corruption of authorities and the grotesque, absurd hell to which they subject the people they rule. A Serbian Film contains extreme imagery and is certainly not for everyone. Soon Milos is caught in a nightmare that drags him further and further down into the most revolting horrors. Vukmir is willing to pay Milos an astronomical fee to star in his new project on the condition that he agrees to shoot the film without seeing the script. One of his former co-stars introduces him to Vukmir, a mysterious filmmaker with powerful political connections. It is profoundly worrying and dispiriting to see such levels of cinematic illiteracy among the people entrusted with judging what the adult British public may or may not see.Ī Serbian Film centres on Milos, a retired porn star with a wife and son, who struggles to make ends meet. It is because the British censors can only see cinema as entertainment that their understanding of A Serbian Film remained shockingly literal, and that they misconstrued the film as a violent spectacle, instead of seeing it for the denunciation of violence that it very clearly is. The issues surrounding the censorship of the film have been discussed at length in our blog since FrightFest, but it is worth pointing out that the BBFC’s decision is symptomatic of a general reluctance among certain British institutions to consider film as art. The only opportunity to see it uncut was at an invitation-only screening in October, organised by the Raindance Festival to circumvent the BBFC’s ruling. UK audiences will now be able to see the film, albeit in its censored form, in theatres this month. Writer: Aleksandar Radivojevic and Srdjan SpasojevicĬast: Srdjan Todorovic, Jelena Gavrilovic, Katarina Zutic, Sergei TrifunovicĪfter provoking heated debate at festival screenings around the world, A Serbian Film came to the attention of the British public in August, when it was pulled from FrightFest following a decision by the BBFC to cut it by nearly four minutes.
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