As a white South African, I know how negative perceptions of a place and its people are perpetuated through media stereotypes; how often do the hitmen and warlords and drug dealers and psychotics and gangsters in Hollywood movies and video games and tv shows speak with Serbian (or South African) accents? Often, that’s how often….
Read moreFilm Scout Serbia – and (finally) Film Incentives
So the beloveds at the Serbia Film Commission have finally been able to announce the long-awaited film incentive (a not too shabby 20% cash rebate) – and to do so they’ve launched the impressive Film Scout Magazine. Click here for the link to the e-version.
Read moreCoriolanus
Coriolanus is the grim tale of a war-hardened hero who’s forced to play the charming “people’s politician” – a role for which he’s disastrously ill-equipped. Undermined in this uncomfortable, pandering role by two scheming tribunes, and, to be honest, by his own pride, he’s cast out of Rome, where he ultimately joins forces with Rome’s…
Read moreWorld Travel Market
And now for something completely different. Along with my fine colleagues from the USAID Serbia Competitiveness Project, I’m attending World Travel Market in London. According to the blurb, “World Travel Market is a must-attend four-day business-to-business event where the global travel trade meets, networks, negotiates and conducts business under one roof.” Last year, 187 countries…
Read moreBraca Blum
Braca Blum – that’s Brothers Bloom in Serbian, if you really must know. A stylised con-com (confidence trick comedy), Bloom isn’t, to be honest, the kind of movie I’d normally rush out to see. But since it was made here in Serbia, and was premiering in Belgrade during the week – with the aimiable director…
Read moreBehind Enemy Lines
Behind Enemy Lines has Owen Wilson as a corn-fed US airman shot down over Bosnia by those nasty, nasty Serbs (can we say “stereotype”?) and hunted down like a dog. Setting politics aside, it’s an engaging enough film – the music is great, really drives along the narrative – and even the troubled Mr. Wilson…
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