Yugoslav Cinematheque pays tribute to Aleksandar Petrovic

BELGRADE - A roundtable debate entitled 'Sasa Petrovic's European heritage' was held in the Yugoslav Cinematheque on Wednesday to mark the 20th anniversary of death of famous Serbian director Aleksandar Sasa Petrovic.

Participants of the roundtable debate had a chance to hear speeches by the authors of biographies about the life and work of the world-famous Serbian and Yugoslav film director.

As the author of the first monograph on Petrovic, playwright Petar Volk delivered a speech about the Serbian director who won three Golden Arenas at the Pula Film Festival and whose 1965 film 'Tri' (Three) won the first award of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, while his film 'Skupljaci Perja' (The Feather Collectors) from 1967 won the Grand Prix and the critics' award at the Cannes Film Festival. Both films were nominated for the Academy Award.

The roundtable debate was organised by the Aleksandar Sasa Petrovic Foundation and the Yugoslav Cinematheque.

According to Yugoslav Cinematheque Director Radoslav Zelenovic, the Cinematheque will make new copies of Petrovic's films thanks to the substantial funds bequeathed by the director's wife Branka Petrovic. The list of films that will be copied also includes the cult film 'Skupljaci Perja' which won worldwide viewer acclaim.

President of the Foundation Drasko Redjep expressed gratitude to the Cinematheque for making it possible to bring back the essence of one of the most important and most influential directors who devoted his whole life to the big screen.

Aleksandar Petrovic was born in Paris on January 14, 1929. He started studying film directing in 1947 in the first generation of students at the famous Prague-based FAMU faculty.

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