Tribute to Aleksandar Petrovic

The year 2024 marks the 30th anniversary since the death of Aleksandar Petrović. To mark the occasion, a tribute will be paid to him from 21 November to 7 December at the Cultural Centre of Serbia and the cinema Le Studio des Ursulines. An exhibition of photographs and posters from the family archives and the Yugoslav Cinematheque together with a programme of his major films present the exceptional career of the director who first made Yugoslav cinema famous abroad. The exhibition has been organised to accompany the publication of his posthumous collection of stories and poems, ‘Perdus dans le temps – Dragan mon fils’ (Atelier Patrix), and highlights moments from his life and films and their close interconnection. Aleksandar Petrović is one of the most famous Serbian filmmakers. He achieved international fame with his film I Even Met Happy Gypsies, which won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix Spécial du Grand Jury and FIPRESCI (International Film Critics’ Prize) at the 20th Cannes Film Festival in 1967. But for the general Yugoslav public, as well as for film specialists abroad, Petrović has been known since the mid-1960s. His film Three, was nominated for an Oscar in 1966 in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. After the success of The Gypsies, while continuing to work with the great Yugoslav actors Bata Živojinović, Mija Aleksić, Pavle Vujisić, Milena Dravić, Dragan Nikolić… he collaborated with the stars of European cinema, among whom: Annie Girardot in Il pleut sur mon village / Биће скоро пропаст света; Mimsy Farmer, Ugo Tognazzi, Alain Cuny in Le Maître et Marguerite / Мајстор и Маргарита; Romy Schneider, Michel Galabru in Portrait de groupe avec dame ; Isabelle Huppert, Avtandil Maharadze, Erland Josefson in Migrations …

Thursday 21st November
7.30pm Exhibition opening followed by screening of the short film Kermesses / Сабори

Saturday 23rd November
6pm Screening of the film And Love Has Vanished / Двоје
A chance encounter. A love story. And the end of an affair and a feeling.

‘Over the years, I’ve had lots of opportunities to analyse old photographs. Believe me, it’s easier to learn about life this way than by looking around you. To a certain extent, I tried to make And Love Has Vanished based on the interaction of images of life and life itself. The film does not aspire to dramatic situations, but to an image of life.’ Aleksandar Petrović

Friday 29 November
7:30 p.m. Presentation of the collection of stories and poems Lost in Time – Dragan my son by Aleksandar Petrović, translated by Radmila Petrović-Čvorić, in his presence. Round table moderated by Irena Bilić (curator of the exhibition) with Vlastimir Sudar (filmmaker, professor of cinema at Kingston University, London), Aleksandar Erdeljanović, director of the Yugoslav Cinematheque Archives.

Saturday 7th December
6pm Screening of the film Days / Дани
A chance meeting between married and lonely Nina and Dragan, a student whose father is seriously ill, and their melancholic walk through Belgrade.

‘Every person, every object, every city has its own soul. Belgrade has it too. Where is this soul, this great heart of Belgrade? The twentieth century is the century of cities… Special cities that people could never have imagined before… It is undeniable that these cities are creating completely new ways of life, new psychology and new sensitivity…
This ‘cityscape’ is not just a simple representation, it is also a code that allows us to decipher the souls of the people who created it and live in it. Who are these people? – How do they feel? – How do they experience the world and themselves? – That’s what I’ve tried to approach and what I’ve tried to discover.’ Aleksandar Petrović
8pm Closing of the exhibition

Saturday 30th November
7.30pm Screening of a film I even Met Happy Gypsies / Скупљачи перја
Tensions arise in a Gypsy community when a local feather seller falls in love with a much younger girl.
‘I Even Met Happy Gypsies is the first film about the Roma people in which they speak their language. Critics have confirmed the general opinion that it is an outstanding work of art. The film has won numerous national and foreign awards: XIV Festival de Pula: Grande Arène d’Or du Film and Arène d’Or de la réalisation, XX Festival de Cannes, 1967: Grand Prix Spécial du Grand Jury and FIPRESCI (international film critics’ prize). In 1968, it was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film and the Golden Globe.

Sunday 1 December
7.30pm Screening of the film Three / Три
During the Second World War, the resistance fighter Miloš comes into contact with death three times. The first time, he witnessed an execution; the second time, pursued by the Germans, he was himself in danger of death; the third time, at the end of the war, he had to decide alone about the lives of others: to condemn or to forgive.

Saturday 7th December
6pm Screening of the film Days / Дани
A chance meeting between Nina, married and lonely, and Dragan, a student who lost his father that very day, and their melancholy walk through Belgrade.

‘One must be against war, but one must be fundamentally against war, against all those who make war and against those who create reasons to make war. … Never before has the horrors of war been looked at in such depth. With such an economy of means, virtuosity becomes truth. That’s why it’s no exaggeration to call Three a masterpiece, and Petrović a master of cinema…’ Tribune de Genève