Wednesday, March 5th 2008 at 19h50;
Thursday, March 6th 2008 at 13h50
L’Entrepôt Paris

Friday, March 14th 2008 at 20h00
Centre Culturel de Serbie

Belle Epoque

Directed by: Nikola Stojanovic
With: Davor Janjic, Vita Mavric, Petar Bozovic, Alain Noury, Rade Markovic, Radmila Zivkovic, Mira Banjac…
Produced by: Bosna Film (Sarajevo)

Synopsis:
Anton Walitz (Davor Janjic) is a young man from a well-to-do background and looking forward to his engagement to a suitable match. But he is also fascinated by the arrival of the motion picture camera to the city, and a childhood sweetheart is urging him to become more involved in the struggle to liberate Bosnia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The film takes the real-life historical figure of Walitz and uses his experiences as a springboard for a fictional history of the years leading up to the outbreak of World War One (the Belle Epoque of the title) through the eyes of a varied and vibrant cast of characters.

Review:
“This film is a unique take on pre-First World War Sarajevo, seen through the eyes of the first Bosnian motion picture cameraman Anton Walitz. Walitz’s excavations on this period have become significant in the country’s cultural history. Here, we witness the preparation and the execution of Franz Ferdinand’s assassination. Amongst the spies, contra-spies, prostitutes and swindlers appears a French man and along with him a camera. This camera soon becomes the young Anton’s inspiration, and offers him a lens through which he can record these historical events. Facts that become a backdrop upon which an unusual epoch, its bizarre atmosphere and turbulent times can be explored. With cabaret scenes that are bound to liven up any audience, Belle Epoch brings dramatic humor and wit to what would otherwise be known as a distressing time at beginning of the century in the Balkans”.
Andreja Kmetovic

Links:
www.raindance.co.uk
www.filmskifestivalsrbije.org