Cinema Komunisto

Serbian director Mila Turajlic's account of the development of Yugoslavian cinema between 1946 and 1980 concentrates on the role played by Avala Studios, which was formed under the guidance of film fanatic Marshall Josip Broz Tito as a tool of the state. The leader wanted movies to help create a myth of the fledgeling republic, and promoted the use of army equipment and personnel to make epics that re-created the heroics of the partizans in resisting the Nazis. He also invited Hollywood to join the party in massive co-productions, including Veljko Bulajic's Oscar-nominated The Battle of Neretva (1969), which starred Yul Brynner and featured Orson Welles as a treacherous Chetnik, and Stipe Delic's Sutjeska (1973), in which Richard Burton took the Tito role. More might have been made of the way Avala secured so much international co-operation and a critical assessment of its 700-odd features is noticeably lacking. But the clips of Tito hobnobbing with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Kirk Douglas and Sophia Loren at the Pula Film Festival and the interview with his personal projectionist Leka Konstantinovic provide an intriguing insight into the mechanics of state-controlled cinema.