More great news for Serbian film comes from Berlin. Eurimages, the Council of Europe’s film fund, has supported the project of another Serbian production. May Day, a new feature film directed by Mladen Đorđević. This film was also supported by Film Center Serbia.
The session in which May Day was supported was held from December 9th to December 12rh, 2019 in the German capital, and Đorđević’s project was presented aby our representatives in Eurimages: Boban Jevtić and Iva Plemić-Divjak. May Day has thus entered into the prestigious group of 16 selected projects and can count on support in the amount of 110,000 euros. This is a great success for Serbian cinema, especially since Eurimages has already supported a number of majority and minority projects in Serbia, including new films by Srdan Golubović, Mila Turajlić, Stefan Arsenijević, Srdjan Dragojević, Ivan Ikić and Duđan Milić; In the last 12 months alone, from December 2018 to December 2019, Eurimages has supported Serbian projects with € 888,000.
The project for the film May Day (intial title Ilija’s Return) was supported by Film Center Serbia at the Contest to co-finance the production of feature films. The new film by Đorđević, who is the author of the award-winning and acclaimed film Life and Death of a Porn Gang, is set in a small town in Serbia that is dying due to the closure of the nearby factory. His screenplay, as sttated in the explanation of the commision of Film Center Serbia, in a bold and unusual way linked the legacy of Yugoslav black-wave film to psychological horror with supernatural elements. The story of former factory workers who are desperate for justice and are ready to seek the aid of “force majeure” is deftly told through different characters found in the “purgatory” of Serbian transition from socialism.
The project is being co-produced by Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece and Hungary. Produced by Milan Stojanović and Mladen Đorđević, for SENSE Production and Corona Film. Greek co-producer is Maria Drandaki of Domestic Movies, Bulgarian co-producer is Martichka Bozhilova of Agitprop, Montenegrin co-producer Ivan Marinović for Adriatic Vestern, and in Hungary the producer is Patricia D´Intino in for Good Kids Production. The filming is scheduled to commence in early 2020.