October 3, 2018

Production companies from India are increasingly choosing Serbia when it comes to locations for shooting. 2018 marks the busiest year for Serbian production service companies in relation to Indian market. Due to the introduction to non visa regime and increase in cash rebate to 25% Serbia has become new go to destination for Indian filmmakers. From June to August Indian films URI and Chekka Chivantha Vaanam were almost simultaneously shot on locations in Serbia which cumulated 100 shooting days serviced by Clockwork Film Production in the past 12 months.

After successful collaboration with Clockwork Film Production on Into the Wild, Mani Ratnam, one of the most internationally awarded Indian directors, returned to Serbia for his upcoming Tamil-language action thriller Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (English: Crimson Red Sky). The film features an ensemble cast including Arvind Swami, Silambarasan, Vijay Sethupathi and Arun Vijay as the lead actors, with a supporting female cast led by Jyothika, Aishwarya Rajesh, Aditi Rao Hydari and Dayana Erappa. It is produced by Mani Ratnam and Subaskaran under their banners Madras Talkies and Lyca Productions. Music composed A. R. Rahman, as for other Ratman’s films. Shooting commenced in February at the outskirts of Chennai, completed in June in Serbia, again with great support of Clockwork Film, and it was qualified for the incentive program of the Ministry of Economy of Serbia. The film has been shown in India on 29th of September 2018 along with its dubbed Telugu version Nawab.

Požarevac and Stara planina were perfect locations for shooting Bollywood drama Uri, directed and written by debutant Aditya Dhar and produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s production arm RSVP. It is all about surgical strike carried out by Indian army on Pakistani terrorists positioned across the Line of Control. Their work in Serbia, which lasted for two months (one part of the movie was shot in India), was successfully done thanks to great cooperation Serbian film crews have with the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Serbia and Serbian army. Sets made for Uri demanded the construction and intervention of local production designers to faithfully show the territory of India, Myanmar and Kashmir. Special forces were portraited with stuntmen team from Asia, Europe and Thailand combined with 600 extras. Film is in post-production with release scheduled for February 2019. Experienced team of Clockwork Film Production again proved to be reliable partner for Indian market.

This huge success of Clockwork Film was announced by July premiered Soorma (The Warrior). This biographical sports hero drama based on the life of hockey player Sandeep Singh, was directed by Shaad Ali, produced by Sony Pictures Networks India and assisted by Clockwork Film for parts shot in Serbia, in the end of 2017. The story of the hockey player Sandeep Singh, played by Punjab star Diljit Dosanjh, victim of accidental gunshot that interrupted his career. Locations in Novi Sad and Belgrade served to portray Singh’s recovery period spent in Europe with supporting cast from Serbian Paralympics team. To celebrate all accomplishments during past year Clockwork Film will organize special screening of Soorma in Yugoslav Film Archive in the end of October for Film Friendly partners.

And it is not only film locations and European looks that have attracted Indian production companies to partner with Serbian conterparts. The other area of collaboration is high end visual effects for Bollywood and box office blockbuster titles. Serbian VFX studios have been collaborating with India advertising market in delivering VFX works, but after the success of Bahubali 2: The Conclusion, the doors have opened for new projects that required high standards and creative dedication to the final look.

The upcoming epic adventure Thugs of Hindoustan with Aamir Khan, Katarina Kaif and Amitabh Bachchan directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya and produced by Yash Raj Films, is the latest release where Serbian team behind Crater Studio paired to deliver the action packed scenes and breathtaking sea combats in the style of Pirates of the Caribbean. Crater Studio portfolio of films for US market have made them specialists for water simulations, so their expertise came to support the segments of Thugs in creating CG sea rocks, water simulations and destruction of ships in the ambush scene.

The other one is long awaited sequel to the Enthiran titled 2.0 done in collaboration with several East European studios where Belgrade based Crater Studio joined the project for final touches.

September 10, 2018

Belgrade continues to grow the status of one of the most attractive locations for shooting in Europe. This August the first Chinese feature film Belgrade Escape wrapped in Serbia after 30 shooting days that started in locations of city center. The film is collaboration between Broken Star Films from Beijing and Emote Productions from Belgrade who serviced the production. Thanks to the introduction of a visa-free regime between China and Serbia, as well as a cooperation agreement in the field of film and culture signed between the Ministry of Culture and Information and the Ministry of Culture of the city of Beijing, Serbia is becoming an increasingly attractive European destination for the giant Chinese film industry. The film is one of the projects that will benefit from 25% cash rebate incentive programme of the Ministry of Economy.

Directed by the debutante Wang Zhongyan, Belgrade Escape main roles are led by Andrew Kai Lin and Serbian actor Dragan Mićanović, playing his opponent. Although complete cast is from China, all members of the team behind the cameras, about 70 people, are from Serbia, which makes a total of 105 people in the film crew. Languages that will be heard in the film are Serbian, Chinese and English.

Director of the film, Wang Zhongyan, said that he chose Belgrade for shooting because of his East European spirit and atmosphere, good geographical position and favorable conditions for filming, although he stylistically relies on the giants of Chinese action movie as well as contemporary Hollywood films. Students’ campus and downtown were some of the shooting locations.

“This is a movie paradise that has been missed. Serbia and Belgrade have such a rich history, an unimaginable imagination; people are passionate and full of energy. Film professionals respect their job and love movies, they are experienced and loyal to their duties and they were great partners in this project – for the whole cast and me, as a director. In fact, every filming is a battle – not only you have to pick the location for the battle, but also, you have to find a trusted comrade. This is a place worth returning to lead another battle”, says Wang.

It is interesting to mention that, the main actor, Andrew Lin, popular in his country for roles in action films, began his career as a makeup artist, and he also dealt with special effects, which brought him in Hollywood. He has been acting in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for the last 20 years. One of the most famous films in which he participated, certainly is “Man with Iron Fists,” from 2012 with Russell Crowe and Lucy Lee.

The overall experience working with Serbian Film Crews and locations used in Belgrade Escape give way to more projects from China shooting in Serbia.

Last year Belgrade became an inspiration for the documentary “Where the Sava Flows”, written and directed by Shangai bestseller author Chen Danyan, known with her multi million fan base as Madam Chen. Film was produced by Tang Media Partners and Shanghai Media Group – one of China’s largest media and cultural conglomerates that also produced Kung Fu Panda 3, Earth: One Amazing Day and Born in China. The executive producer in Serbia is Vision Team who took over the complete production and creative support for the film that portrays Belgrade recent history, cultural events, relevant cultural institutions like Museum of Contemporary Art and publishing house “Prosveta“. Belgrade streets inspired Madam Chen to try driving a motorbike, and like a real biker she filmed some exciting shots of the capital. World premier is expected at Shanghai International Film Festival 2019.

Serbia Film Commission recently produced a special edition of the Production guide for filming in Serbia in Chinese and English available HERE.

July 23, 2018

On Thursday, July 19, 2018, the Crowne Plaza Hotel hosted the ninth annual Assembly of the Serbian Film Commission. On this occasion, the work of SFC in the previous year was presented, as well as numerous activities and projects in the field of promotion, education and development of the industry in which SFC participated.

Among the most important projects, four fam tours organized for representatives of Italian, Indian, British and American production companies were especially pointed out, as well as joint presentation of SFC and Film Center Serbia on the market of India, launch of the Computer Graphics and Arts Belgrade conference (CGA Belgrade) and strengthening the domestic visual effects industry.

In 2017 and 2018, SFC got 12 new members: SKA Team, Production House, AK Marić Mujezinović / Kinstellar, WaveForm 10, Cash Back Imo, Familiy Film, FAME Solutions, Fried Studio, Helivideo, Bunker VFX, Saint Ten and Atlas Security .

After the presentation of Executive Director Milica Božanić, a discussion took place among the present members, during which two topics were highlighted and they will get special attention in the following period: improvement of the program of incentives of the Ministry of Economy for filming in Serbia and strengthening of marketing and promotion of Serbia to distant markets where we have the advantage of a visa-free regime, such as China and India.

Members then voted for the new Board of Directors of the SFC, which will focus on the implementation of all these topics. New members of the Board with the mandate 2018/2019 are:

Marko Jocić (Viktorija Film), Miloš Đukelić (Red Art Workshop), Alek Conić (Clockwork Film Production), Vuk Marjanović (Cyber ​​Few Good Men), Goran Đikić (Media Plus), Dragan Đurković (Vision Team), Barbara Sandić Štetić ( PFI Studios), Ivan Pribićević (DigitalKraft) and Nemanja Mihajlović (Hotel Crowne Plaza)

At the first meeting of the Board of Directors, Dragan Đurković and Alek Conić were elected as the President and Vice president of the SFC.

Marketing materials presented during the Assembly are available on SFC Issuu account.

After the Assembly, partners of SFC, such as DHL, ACB Insurance as well as colleagues who are in the process of joining the association, joined members of the association at a small banquet.

July 23, 2018

Serbia’s booming talents and success in visual effects, gaming and digital arts are getting new flagship event in the Balkans. Computer Graphics & Arts Conference is a joint initiative organized by Serbia Film Commission, Crater VFX Training Center and VFXSerbia.com. CGA Belgrade is fully dedicated to creation of a networking platform for likeminded professionals who share love for digital arts, innovation and tech across visual effects for film, advertising, gaming and virtual reality development. Two day conference was held for the first time in November 24th and 25th in the Museum of Science and Technology hosting latest panels, presentations and workshops with leading industry professionals sponsored by Autodesk and in partnership with Chaos Group and Foundry.

In preparations for CGA Belgrade 2018 Crater VFX Training canter hosted warm up events in Belgrade and Novi Sad. Speakers included fantastic lecture performance by Kostadin Martic of Spring Onion Studio and guests from Sofia’s Bottleship VFX and London’s Foundry and Escape Studios. All presentations are available at CGA Belgrade Youtube channel.

June 5th, 2018 – Serbia Stuntmen Agency (SKA) took part in the European Open Championship for Stuntmen in Moscow, organized by The International Stunt Academy. In addition to European countries, the Championship was attended by representatives of China, Colombia and Iran, which our stuntmen have already worked with. After winning first place in Russia, four years ago, this year our SKA team won two gold medals in disciplines – Group Burning with Explosion and Martial Arts, which put them in the second place of general standing. The championing team was led by Slaviša Ivanović, stunt coordinator and founder of SKA, stuntmen Dalibor Kostić and Borislav Bogodavac and stunt safety & rigger Milan Alavanja. On this occasion, Serbian most prominent  stuntman Slaviša Ivanović received special academic title by the International Stunt Academy. The same title was also awarded to Jackie Chan, Dolph Lundgren, Steven Seagal , Mark Dacascos, Arnold Schwarzenegger, which puts Serbian stuntmen in the top league of the world.

The list of projects Slaviša participated as a stunt and coordinated as choreographer of stunt-fighting includes over 100 domestic and international projects. In the last two years solely the forty members of SKA team have been involved in 24 projects, whose world premiers are just expecting – “Anna”, directed by Luc Besson, remake of “Papillon” by director Michael Noer, as well as the “Intrigo” trilogy of the celebrated Swedish director of Scandinavian noir Daniel Alfredson.

SKA team became irreplaceable part of international projects shooting in Serbia, whether it is US, European or Indian action sequence required. In portfolio of projects that Slavisa Ivanović holds under his stunt belt you will find A list names of Serbian and international film, such as Kevin Costner, Pierce Brosnan, John Cusack, Gerard Butler, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Bellucci, Salma Hayek, Franco Nero, Paz Vega, Olga Kurylenko and many others. 

April 25, 2018

Serbia Film Commission is starting the Film Skills Academy – a training programme aimed at providing training for technical (on-set) film skills and post-production. The total of 6 trainings are modular and structured to appeal to beginners, intermediates and advanced level participants. Tutors are selected among industry experts with established international portfolio. With this project SFC is working on creating a year-long training programme that will be a platform for quality and continuous education in film production and expanding the spectre of people trained to work in film industry.

Film Skills Academy 2018 will be delivered from May to August, starting with most popular courses such as Scheduling and Budgeting in Movie Magic and Location Management. Production Management and Production Accounting will be focusing on experienced producers and people working in the financial side of the film production, while Grips, Gaffers and Lightning Assistants will be assisted with brand new training as well as growing demand for VFX Technical Directors. The methodology will combine lecture, practical demonstrations using project simulation, group work and one-to-one tuition, incorporating valuable advice from experienced producer’s point of view.

Serbia Film Skills Academy project came as an initiative of both, SFC and its partner organisations, following the needs and demands of members of SFC and growing international filming in Serbia that had doubled since the introduction of 25% cash rebate. This project is  extremely important as it allows us to coordinate a number of very different courses and disciplines crucial for skillful film crews. This approach allows us to develop a single entry point for different courses and to design and deliver those courses in partnership with different  service providers, education partners and university whilst raising awareness of the career paths inside broad filmmaking industry addressing both graduates and already working professionals.

The project aims to introduce newly-skilled crew into the Serbian film industry. To assist in the process of moving course graduates into employment, SFC will work with members to develop internship or hands-on experience on film and television productions.

Complete list of trainings and call for registrations will be published in Training and Events section respectively. Early registration and detailed information regarding upcoming trainings are also available via trening@filminserbia.com.

This project is supported by UNDP.

April 1, 2018

From January to March Serbia Film Commission participated in the Project Digital Cities lead by British Council.

Aim of the project was to help developing the capacity of creative hubs, start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises from the Western Balkans working in the field of creative industries, technology and education, and to foster their cooperation with colleagues from Great Britain. It included series of events organized to enable networking and strengthen capacities of organization leading the digital communities in all countries from Western Balkans.

SFC was selected as leading film industry network with the growing potential of the VFX sector to enhance its networking possibilities with other 50 digital hubs and 24 cities from both Western Balkans and UK.

Study tour in London, Birmingham and Bournemouth included visits and meetings with targeted organizations and companies that are involved in professional development of animation and visual effects (VFX) community in UK. SFC team visited Escape Studios, Bournemouth University, Birmingham Custard factory and number of leading London studios such as Framestore, Double Negative and Blue Zoo and familiarization with models and collaboration initiatives such as NextGen and Creative Skillset that propel rise of creative industry in UK.

More information about Digital Cities.

March 1, 2018

India International Film Tourism Conclave establishes JW Marriott Juhu Mumbai as a hotspot that brings together Indian producers and worldwide locations in an networking exhibition and conference. Serbia joined the floor March 1st-3rd together with a handful of EUFCN members and international locations that have been attracting productions across all regional film industries. Award in promotion of film tourism has been given to producers of Vivegam Sathya Jyothi Films starring Ajith Kumar that was shot in Serbia for 60 days. The award was presented by Serbian ambassador in India Vladimir Maric.

Branded under Film in Serbia the team representing Serbia Film Commission, Film Center Serbia and Clockwork Film Production specialized in Indian market is promoting newly lifted visa regime for Indians that allow filmmakers to stay in Serbia without visa for a period of 30 days. Further boost to 25% cash rebate was warmly welcomed by IIFTC participants from both feature film producers as well as TVC content creators. Clockwork Film has already successfully serviced 5 Indian projects on locations in Serbia while Crater Studio worked on VFX for Bahubali: The conclusion.

BELGRADE, February 13, 2018 – After two successful years of running the film incentive programme Serbian Government adopted new Decree on Incentivising Investments in Production of Audiovisual Works (Film Incentives) last week. The new Decree is offering 25% of direct cash rebate for shooting on locations in Serbia and is coming into effect on February 15. The increase in incentive offer for filming is aimed to push for Serbia’s higher ranking on the list of European destinations offering incentives.

After supporting the total of 28 projects in 2017 the Ministry of Economy decided to double the annual budget to 6,7 million EUR available in 2018 for incentivising investments in audiovisual production, while minimum threshold and relevant entry criteria stay the same for most categories with exception of TV series that are required to have minimum spending per episode of 100.000 EUR. 

Ministry of Economy reports that in 2016 total amount of production in Serbia cumulated to 20,8 million eur (2,5 billion dinars) and in 2017 the total ammount of investments made in film production was 31,9 million EUR (3,8 billion dinnars) whiched proved the effectiveness 1: 9,6 of the programme. With these successes in mind, the government has committed to building on these successes and ensuring that Serbia remains an attractive destination for filming of all kinds of entertainment media content.  

Former Serbia Film Commissioner Ana Ilic, now Adviser to the Prime Minister for Digital and Creative Industries has been long standing supporter of the legislation.

“Figures from the previous period show that incentives have attracted 9,6 EUR of production for every euro paid in incentives and created over 2,000 project jobs in first 16 months of implementation. Feature film production alone increased over previous year total productions by 54%. This is a significant boost to the local economy and we are proud of the fact that Serbian incentives are not only supporting feature films and television but are open with opportunities to projects post-production, TVCs and even VR works.” – said Ilic.

The programme has been unique for its strand in support of TV commercials that only a handful of countries in the world offer. In 2017 total of 17 international advertising projects benefited from the scheme. Post-production and VFX works are highly welcome to apply with the Shallows and Bahubali 2 being just two examples of the 5 projects granted the incentives, all supported through work with Crater Studio.

This has been a record year for Serbia incoming productions with almost 30 million in expenditure across all categories envisaged by the programme from over 15 territories and markets. The list of features successfully completed in 2017 includes McMafia (BBC premieres on February 28th, serviced by Work in Progress), Intrigo trilogy by Daniel Alfredson and Extinction (Universal Pictures, serviced by Work in Progress) and Incoming (Bennatar/Thomas, Serviced by Red Production) together with South Indian blockbuster Vivegam (Serviced by Clockwork Film production).

Visit INCENTIVES section for full details and updates of the programme. 

September 4, 2017

Increasing popularity of Houdini software and its high quality performances in creating 3D simulations are bringing Andrew Lowell to Belgrade this November. Andrew is FX Department Head and Lead Instructor at Lost Boys School in Vancouver credited for visual effects on Thor, Transformers and Suckerpunch, to name a few. Intensive 5 day course in Belgrade from November 13th through 17th will offer 30 hours of training with special focus on challenges in creating fluids. This is an excellent opportunity for all freelance VFX artists and studios, within both film and gaming industries, to advance their skills in Houdini, that has been named best software package available in the market, especially praised for it’s tools in dynamic effects. Through partnership with SideFX, Serbia Film Commission and Crater VFX Training Center have created together a program for this course aiming to bring advanced tools and necessary skills effectively deployed in software environment that has become an industry standard. Trainees will be able to learn about aspects, protocols, work processes and experiment with realtime examples.

Detailed course programme is available in our Training and Event section, or simply send an email with your question.

Registrations deadline is November 5th, and  earlybird rate is applicable for registration before September 15th.