Figure 1.--The first movie we know of shot in Serbia was a documentary on the coronation of King Peter I in Belgrade. It includes many scenes of the people all dressed up in the streets for the festivities. The cinamaphotographer was British.

We know very little about the Serbian movie industry. Until after World War I, Serbia was an independent country. There was a film distribution system established in Serbia as far back as 1895. The French Luminar brothers first showed their films in Paris in 1895. This included the basic features of a modern movie, Screen and projector with a large audience seeing the same film at the same time. The Luminar film show reached Serbia 6 months later. The film was shown at a cafe in Belgrade. As far as we know, there was very limited film making in before World War I, but there were some. . The first films shot in Serbia were of Kalemegdan Castle and gardens, the tramway and people coming out of a tobacco factory. The films were screened (June 6. 1896). The people doing this were fairground showmen and the film show went from town to town bfore movie theaters existed. An early film maker was Stojan Nanic from Zajecar. He owned the first Serbian Movie Hall (1900). Many films shot around Belgrade were shown. At this time, films were all silent. Thus it was easy to show foreign films. An Englishman named Arnold M. Wilson was the honorary Serbian consul in Sheffield. His camerman was called Frank Mottershow. They made one of the first feature films shot in Serbia (1904). Their film is preserved in the National Archives. A reader in Serbia reports that Serbian movie makers made some romantic films before World War I.

Serbian Kingdom

We know very little about the Serbian movie industry. Until after World War I, Serbia was an independent momarch in the middle of the Balkans. It was only a few decades since it emerged from the Ottoman Empire and was technologiclly znd econnomically very backward.

Movie Theaters

There was a film distribution system established in Serbia as far back as 1895. There are reports of foreign films being shown in Serbia soon after they appeared in other countroes. he first such showings we know of were done by Luminar brothers. The French Luminar brothers first showed their films in Paris in 1895. This included the basic features of a modern movie, Screen and projector with a large audience seeing the same film at the same time. The Luminar film show reached Serbia 6 months later. The film was shown at a cafe in Belgrade. As far as we know, there was very limited film making in before World War I, but there were some. . The first films shot in Serbia were of Kalemegdan Castle and gardens, the tramway and people coming out of a tobacco factory. The films were screened (June 6. 1896). The people doing this were fairground showmen and the film show went from town to town bfore movie theaters existed. We know very little about early Serbian movie theaters. An early film maker was Stojan Nanic from Zajecar. He owned the first Serbian Movie Hall (1900).

Movie Production

Many films shot around Belgrade were reprtedly show in the early Serbian movie theter, wht the Briih call cinamas. shown. At this time, films were all silent. Thus it was easy to show foreign films as all hat need to be chnged was the text segments, if that. An Englishman named Arnold M. Wilson was the honorary Serbian consul in Sheffield. His camerman was called Frank Mottershow. They made one of the first feature films shot in Serbia (1904). The only film we have found so far is a documentary film shot by forigners (1904). We think this may be the earliest film footage from Serbia. A reader writes, "I have been reading about a British cinematographer who made films in Serbia at the turn of the 20Th century. The first film he made has survived and is in the Serbian Film Archive. A DVD of the film was released a couple of years ago as a freeby in a Magazine called NIN. I was watching it today. The film cameraman, Frank Storm Mattershaw, was from Sheffield, Yorkshire England. It was basically a documentary on the cornonation of King Peter I, but added footage turns it into an early travelogue. Apart from the coronation the film recorded how people on the sreets of Belgrade dressed and the reaction of children to their first encounter with movie cameras. Most boys posed as if having a still photograph taken. They looked interestingly at the film camera. However there is always one who rises to the occasion. The boy is not known but I call him Dusan. The film is preserved in the National Archives." We know very little about any Serbian film bia before World War I. A reader in Serbia reports that Serbian movie makers made some romantic films before World War I, but we know nothing anout these films.

Sources

'Serbian film production," CultureImpossible.com, accessed June 22, 2012.

Created: 11:14 AM 7/6/2015
Last edited: 11:14 AM 7/6/2015