November 29, 2019

Again, Belgrade proved its reputation of “the most transformable” city. Tuna+Icon have gain trust of The&Partnership UK agency and together with Stink Films London brought famous brand Lexus to drive their latest RX model around Belgrade streets, which, for this occasion, transformed to New York roads. Impressive CG statues opened the central Nikola Pašić Square with National Assembly and Belgrade City Hall in background, while Ada Bridge got modern business district background. Drone captured stunning moments of Belgrade downtown in the dawn.

For five days, director Salomon Ligthelm and DP Nicolas Karakatsanis filmed all amazing shots at Kralj Aleksandar Boulevard, in front of St Marko`s Church, Main Post Office Building, at Kneza Miloša, Kralja Milana, Svetozara Markovića, 1300 kaplara Streets, Terazije and in front of Hotel Moscow and Yugoslav Drama Theater. For scenes out of the city, Location Manager Ilija Nikolić Svetac suggested roads around Avala Mountain, and its greenery and car absence made this the best option. Each day crew had 120 members, 250 extras on set, and since filming most of the scenes was on the move, it was flawlessly executed with Russian Arm.

The production design sector, headed by Sanela Spajić, successfully transformed the Palace “Albania” and the street in front of it into an authentic venue for parades that are usually organized in front of New York’s Times Square. During this operation, they had to control traffic around the whole quart, as well as to hide bunch of glowing commercials but at the same time add new ones.

“The project was very challenging from the beginning since the production company together with the director had to choose between Belgrade and Budapest as a filming location. After all efforts to bring this job to Belgrade, it was necessary to justify their trust”, says Lada Stamatov, who was executive producer together with Uroš Lazić and Tom Farley, from Stink Films. “In addition, another challenge was also short 2-week deadline for client to accept the proposed sites and for us to obtain permits for them, having in mind that this shooting had to completely block most prominent streets. With the great understanding and the huge help of the Belgrade city authorities, especially the city secretary, Darko Glavaš, everything was ready for shooting on time, and according to the wishes and demands of the director and director of photography. Our collaboration was full of understanding and support. His assistance and commitment was crucial, especially because of the deadlines we worked on and the requirement to close the main streets of the city center.”

Incentive programme of the Ministry of Economy, whose good and quick implementation and simple procedure orderly makes additional distinction compared to other countries of Eastern Europe, was again crucial advantage. Producers had in mind Government support for shooting commercials, and together with experienced and professional crew Belgrade’s vivid streets became best choice for new Lexus RX.

November 15, 2019

Last night Serbia Film Commission has celebrated 10-year anniversary at the gala ceremony held in Belgrade City Hall. Belgrade City Mayor professor Zoran Radojičić, and more than 150 Government and public sector representatives, together with industry members attended this event. It was a great opportunity to take a look at all SFC achievements, film and advertising projects, global artists that filmed in Serbia. To express gratitude to all who continually provide support to every shooting in Serbia during these first 10 years, Serbia Film Commission awarded 32 institutions and organizations with honors in three categories – the most attractive film location, best Film Friendly partners and best business partners.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić send a video message expressing congratulations on the achievements and the warm wishes for years to come with strong support to creative industries which reflect continuous increase of national film budget both through film fund and incentive scheme.

Since 2009, SFC has gathered about 60 members, including most relevant production companies, services, rentals, post production and business members. After years of advocacy, in 2015 we welcomed implementation of Incentive programme for filming in Serbia that enlarged number of foreign shooting in dozens of most attractive interior and exterior locations in Serbia – Sava Center and KPGT, Belgrade downtown, Kalemegdan Fortress, Royal Palaces, City of Pančevo, Smederevo Fortress, Novi Sad and Petrovaradin Fortress, mountains Stara planina and Tara.  Today, Serbian Incentive programme supported over 140 projects providing a 25% cash rebate on qualified Serbian spend for feature films, TV series, animation films and visual effects, TV commercials and documentaries, and continues to expand with 30% cash rebate on qualified Serbian spend for feature films whose budget is minimum 5.000.000 EUR.

Recently conducted analysis of economic effects of Incentive programme of Ministry of Economy produced in collaboration with Faculty of Economic in Belgrade demonstrates that the Incentives contributed to the rise of employment in the film sector by 57%. Each euro invested in servicing production of foreign films and commercials has returned to the state budget with 2,4 EUR, and direct income of our economy on 1 EUR invested is 5,2 EUR. The overall film sector for the past 4 years has generated over 100 million euros to the Serbian economy.

The latest recap of some of the most memorable locations and scenes proves that Belgrade and Serbia have so much to offer to international productions. 

October 1, 2019

Third Computer Graphics and Arts conference Belgrade, set to be held on November 1-2, 2019 at the Yugoslav Film Archive in Belgrade, will shed light upon outstanding local and international talents by bringing together prominent names in the field of computer graphics, visual effects, animation, design and digital arts.

As a joint effort between Serbia Film Commission, Crater VFX Training Center and portal VFX Serbia, CGA Belgrade is growing into a compelling platform for showcasing the development in Computer Graphics industry, further positioning Serbia as one of the CG hubs of East Europe.

The main programme of this year’s conference KNOW-IT-ALL is dedicated to artistic development and innovation in the CG industry featuring keynote speakers like Alwyn Hunt and Igor Jovanović. During the supporting KNOW-HOW programme, participants will gain the opportunity to familiarize more with technical aspects of the industry and enjoy masterclasses held by creative director of Full Scream Ced Pakusevskij, Jurgen Hagler of Ars Electronica as well as dedicated teams from Autodesk, Foundry and Maxon who are supporting the event alongside Epson, Escape Studios and Substance.

Free registrations are open at www.cgabelgrade.com 

Third edition of CGA Belgrade will have a strong focus on education and emerging talent, along with the presence of platforms like The Rookies, Access VFX mixed with studio case studies from 3Lateral, FullScream, The Mill, World Wide FX and Framestore. CGA Belgrade’s ongoing partnership with Escape Studios will put a spotlight on Klaudija Čermak, who has left her mark on some of the industry’s biggest titles and will be among panelists chatting about female representation in CG community.

Speakers list also includes local heroes Sava Živković, director and CG artist from Belgrade, directors Lazar Bodroža and Jovan Todorović, as well as Igor Simić, founder and creative director at the award-winning Demagog Studio, who will share his journey from contemporary art to gaming industry.

Check the full programme of CGA Belgrade 2019.

In partnership with Serbian Gaming Association a special block of programme is curated by leading gaming studios in Serbia – 3Lateral, Mad Head Games, Nordeus and Ubisoft.

Dedicated masterclasses led by both international and Serbian top notch specialist in Nuke, Houdini, Hyperreality, Sound design for gaming are open with limited number of seats and you can register HERE.

CGA Belgrade is part of the “Serbia Creates” platform created through the work of the Prime Minister’s Office of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and its Creative Industries Council with the aim of representing Serbia through a creative, innovative and digital community. Institutions that support CGA include Canadian Embassy in Belgrade, Austrian Cultural Forum, Ministry of Culture and UNDP Speakers programme.

August 21, 2019

In order to encourage internationalization of the film industry and strengthen the position of Serbia for high-budget productions, the Ministry of Economy has introduced a higher rate of 30% cash rebate for feature films with minimum Serbian spend of 5.000.000 EUR. This decision became effective on August 10th, 2019.

The fourth year of the implementation of the Incentive Programme in Serbia was the most successful so far. In 2019 over 40 projects have already received funding from the incentives with call for projects being open all year round. The most prominent titles to receive Serbian cash rebate were Johnny Depp’s Minamata and Crawl, released in cinemas in July 2019.

This brings the total figures to over 150 supported projects since its inception in April 2016. The total level of attracted investments is expected to surpass 100 million by the end of 2019.

New Decree and other information regarding Incentives are updated on page INCENTIVES.

August 9, 2019

The CBS Television Studios show, SEAL TEAM, will shoot 4 new episodes on location in Belgrade this Summer. Two of the episodes will open Season 3 and will actually be set in Belgrade. In other episodes, Belgrade will double for Paris and other parts of Europe.

The series follows Bravo Team, a unit of the US Navy’s elite Seal Team, as they plan and undertake dangerous missions worldwide. Its star is US actor, DAVID BOREANAZ, star of shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Slayer, FBI, and Bones. Boreanaz is also a producer of Seal Team and came to Belgrade for the shoot. The show is one of the most successful on US network television and Season 3 will premiere in October 2019.

The Seal Team production will be shooting on location in and around the city and working with a large crew of Serbian technicians and actors. In particular, local stars such as Nikola Kojo, Bojan Lazarov and Tamara Aleksić have key roles as guest stars in the episodes. The production is also working closely with Serbian police and Ministry of Defense as Serbian armed forces are featured in the episodes working in close collaboration and as a partner-force together with the Seal Unit. The Prime Minister’s office together with the Government, Serbia Film Commission and Mayor’s office have been instrumental in assisting the production and the shoot.

The show is highlighting the city of Belgrade as a modern international capital, full of culture and beauty, and with Serbian people playing positive roles. The show’s producers were drawn by great locations, the collaboration of the Serbian Government and the experience of local film professionals. The film incentive was also a key element in attracting CBS to shoot here.

The local production company is Balkanic Media who recently completed production of the television show, THE OUTPOST, in Serbia of which Season 2 was shot at PFI Studios and around Belgrade. This project, done for NBC Universal and CW Network, is currently playing on Sci Fi channel.

August 6, 2019

Summer internship programme traditionally organised by Crater Studio has got international participants this year. The partnership between Escape Studios and the Serbian VFX industry got three of London graduates to Crater in order to launch their careers in one of the most successful VFX studios and training centers in Eastern Europe. Escape graduates, together with 7 more interns from Serbia, got a chance to put all their skills into practice in a proper studio environment, meeting and working with a highly skilled team, who is always ready to help, share knowledge and give valuable feedback about any work aspect.

In the first month interns have been working on the non-commercial trailer for “Drava“ project, while during the second month of the internship they worked on commercial projects for real clients where main challenge was to work quickly due to tight deadlines. Working at the same pace as other professional artists have made all interns more productive as an artists. As one of the participants said, this internship has pushed them, not only as students stepping into the industry, but also personally. During these two months they made new friends, discovered new places, enjoyed Belgrade and Novi Sad culture and sport scene and even went on famous music festival EXIT.

Students also visited 3Lateral Studio in Novi Sad and especially enjoyed one-day trips with mentors on which they collected references in order to make more realistic 3D models of airplanes and ships they’ve been doing during the internship. 

Finally, Escape graduates have shared impressions about their internship experience in Belgrade on Pearson College London Blog. There you can read in details what Miguel, Sam and Maciej learned in Crater Studio, on which positions they did their internship, how they enjoyed time in Belgrade and Serbia and why they would always recommend Serbian VFX industry as perfect place for learning and starting career in CG, animation and gaming.

If you wish to launch your career in VFX or animation get in touch with us via training@filminserbia.com or school@craterstudio.com.

Los Angeles, July 19^th, 2019 – The 6^th LMGI Awards nominees are officially out and Serbia has been officially nominated in the category outstanding locations in a commercial thanks to the amazing work for Penny retail chain in the campaign “Organic Food For All”. Belgrade`s most famous sights and skyline have been invoked in a creative collaboration between director Martin Aamund and DP Julian Hohndorf, service produced by Serbian Emote Production in association with German Tony Petersen Film. This is the first time a project made on locations in Serbia has been nominated for this prestigious award in the world of locations alongside Nike’s Dream Crazy, National Geographic, Huawei and South India Bank shot in central Turkey. The full list of LMGI Award nominees includes HBO, Amazon and Netflix shows, films Roma, John Wick, Mission Impossible: Fallout…

This nomination is recognition to all crew members and Belgrade city government that offers easily-transformable and always fresh location. In this particular case, Belgrade’s Terazije and Student’s square play two dominant locations where all the action is packed. Rooftops of New Belgrade blocks and train bridge over Sava river got lavish greenery with set design in combination with CG extensions and done by Sehsucht. The final touch gave tender song of German pop icon Nena.

Production designer Tommy Stark and local production designer Sanela Spajić and their mutual team were in charge of making capital of Serbia more green, organic and blossom on screen. Over 400 extras participated just in the main scenes, and over one thousand people were involved in the entire project.

Serbia is the only country in this part of Europe that provides incentives for commercials and Penny was one of the 50 projects that benefited from 25% Cash Rebate in 2018. The list of premium brands, directors and clients Serbia has hosted is getting longer and this nomination is a milestone in Serbian long history of international film productions proving that Serbia takes the creative industries, including creative services very seriously. The Prime Minister Ana Brnabić has made creative industries development a key pillar of her government policy. She has personally championed the Serbia Film Incentive programme and it specifically includes television commercials – one of the few programmes internationally to do so –  in a commitment to provide exceptional support to the global TVC production sector.

Award ceremony will be held on Saturday evening, September 21, 2019 at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

About LMGI Awards

The LMGI Awards spotlight international features, television and commercials in which the creative use of filming locations set the tone, enrich the character and enhance the narrative. The 2019 Eva Monley Award honoree is Oscar-nominated director, producer, screenwriter Peter Weir. The Lifetime Achievement Award honoree is Location Manager Michael J. Meehan, who has worked on over 38 movies and scouted more than 40 countries. Winners of additional awards will be revealed during the formal ceremony.

About LMGI

The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is an organization of experienced career professionals in the Motion Picture, Television, Commercial and Print production industries. LMGI members are dedicated to the establishment of professional standards of personal conduct, safety on the set and business ethics. They support the formation of strong links with business members, governmental agencies and local communities. The Guild promotes awareness of the goals and achievements of members to the general public and within the industry through creative, educational and philanthropic programs.

July 4, 2019

Serbia Film Commission together with Film Center Serbia attended for the first time the Shanghai Film Market from 16th to 19th June, organized as part of the European pavilion led by European Film Commission Network, and represented benefits of filming in Serbia to Chinese production companies. The meetings held with production companies from China showed great interest for shooting in Serbia – primarily due to the visa-free regime, attractive incentive programme and new locations. It is certain that this relationship will be further strengthened in the field of film and TV production given the announcement of new Sino-Serbian productions that are in development.

Beside SFC and FCS, as a national representatives, production company Vision Team from Belgrade has also participated in both Shanghai TV and Film Markets. During the past year and this one, Vision Team has serviced the production of popular TV series “Lion’s Reflection of the Laying Cat” and famous Chinese writer Chen Danyan documentary about Belgrade titled “Where the Sava Flows” with highly expected upcoming premiere. Cooperation between Chinese and Serbian productions has also been established in the field of VFX, through Crater Studio participation in the production of visual effects for the film “Airpocalypse”.

A special short edition of film industry capacities Serbia for Chinese market is available in Production Guide to Filming in Serbia on this link.

May 14, 2019

Serbia Film Commission has launched new edition of the Production Guide for 2019 available in digital and hard copy. This Production Guide provides an overview of some of the latest projects shot on location with insights from international professionals across the industry spectrum about the experience of filming in Serbia. Extensive attention is dedicated to the 25% cash rebate that proved to be the one of the most efficient procedures in Europe.

We focused on projects that are currently being shot or whose shooting was brought to an end in 2018 and 2019, such as the sequels of highly successful series – the BBC’s MC Mafia and The Outpost, commercials for Penny retail chain and ING Direct, as well as films made for Indian and Chinese markets, to whom successful cooperation with Serbian production companies is dedicated a whole chapter of this guide. We also presented many projects made by Serbian visual effects artists who launched our VFX industry into the world orbit, since it is currently experiencing quite rapid expansion. You will be able to read the interviews with Georgette Turner, a location manager who explained her special impression about one location in Belgrade, VFX supervisor Victor Perez, who talked about working with domestic VFX artists, Indian producer Siva Ananth, who shared his impressions about Novi Sad, and Dean Devlin from Electric Entertainment who reveals all the benefits of shooting in Serbia and why the second season of The Outpost is being shot in PFI studios. We put the light on some new

In addition to the production companies that are members of SFC, rentals and studios, we put the light on some unknown “film friendly” locations which are impatiently waiting for some new film crews. Through conversations with Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister for creative industries and tourism Ana Ilić, auditor Nebojša Stanković and Nevena Janković from Samardžić, Oreški & Grbović law office, we made more clear topics such as residence and working permits for foreign film crews, creative industries development and application procedure for incentives, and discovered future plans for further enhance of the incentive program and empowerment of the film industry, among other instruments, through platform Serbia Creates, pointing out the support it intends to provide to domestic creatives.

January 28, 2019

Leading developer of digital humans technology and creative content has joined with Epic in an acquisition that will bring significantly increased investment in the 3Lateral team’s efforts.

It has been officially reported that the two companies’ acquisition has taken place following the news of Epic’s $1,25 billion new investment round that happened end of 2018. Epic and 3Lateral share a track record of groundbreaking Unreal Engine-based collaborations, including the animated short “A Boy and His Kite,” real-time performance capture and moviemaking in “Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice,” and the photorealistic, real-time “Siren” and “Digital Andy Serkis” demonstrations.

The Serbia-based team will continue supporting game industry, film, and television partners under 3Lateral brand while working to advance the state of the art in Unreal Engine’s support for virtual humans and creatures. Vladimir Mastilović will lead Epic’s worldwide digital humans efforts. Prosperous for more than 15 years in empowering innovative technologies for creation of digital life and expanding the number of employees each year, this was a strategic move for 3Lateral where their tech development plans align perfectly with Epic Games and their vision of the future.

“Creating digital humans requires deep understanding of every aspect of our appearance and motion, both of which portray our inner self and tell stories around us. We read all these visual cues with great precision as instinct to analyze an image of another human being is deeply embedded in our DNA”, said Vladimir Mastilović, founder and director of 3Lateral. “Observing, analyzing and reconstructing these mechanisms has always fascinated us at 3Lateral, and we are excited to have joined a like-minded team at Epic Games with such strong desire to solve this near impossible problem”.

3Lateral team will continue to support all of its partners and Epic’s new presence in Serbia will serve as a base for recruiting technical and creative talent in the region, turning the headquarters in Novi Sad into one of leading R&D centers.

“Real-time 3D experiences are reshaping the entire entertainment industry, and digital human technology is at the forefront. Fortnite shows that 200,000,000 people can experience a 3D world together. Reaching the next level requires capturing, personalizing, and conveying individual human faces and emotions”, said Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games.

The vision of virtual production and future of their user base was one of the main topics during the recent CGA Belgrade Conference where Vladimir Mastilović and Unreal’s Ben Lumsden shared the floor in a panel conversation with Mike Seymour.

This ground-breaking news for Serbian creative industry and tech companies is yet another proof of the high-performance talent base that has been increasingly reaching global status and country’s efforts in incentivizing creative industry environment.

About Epic Games

Founded in 1991, Epic Games is the creator of Fortnite, Unreal, Gears of War, Shadow Complex, and the Infinity Blade series of games. Epic’s Unreal Engine technology, which brings high-fidelity, interactive experiences to PC, console, mobile, AR, VR and the Web, is freely available at unrealengine.com. The Epic Games Store offers a handpicked library of games, available at epicgames.com.

Follow @epicgamesinc for updates.

About 3Lateral

3Lateral is built around passion for creating characters and creatures. It gathers diverse people in an industry that has to marry seemingly incompatible skills – rebellious artistry and disciplined engineering practices. This is exactly the type of fusion of skills, and finding inspiration in the opposite character, excites and surprises us. This is where magic, the fundamental force that drives all animators, happens and makes us confident in the path we see to our visions.