BIRN Film Charts Rise of Serbia's Ruling Party

A new film by BIRN Serbia, "SNS - pocetak, 2008" ["SNS - the start, 2008"], delves into the origins and rise of the Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, which has ruled the country since 2012.

During the making of the film, BIRN journalists talked with many  individuals from Serbian public life, but also from the US, who had a role in the creation of the SNS.

Among them are the leader of the hardline nationalist Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Seselj, and his party colleague, Vjerica Radeta.

Others include Serbia's former president, Boris Tadic, a former vice president of the government, Bozidar Djelic, a former US ambassador to Serbia, Cameron Munter, and the Balkan analyst and former US diplomat, Daniel Serwer.

.@BIRNSrbija predstavlja dokumentarni film "SNS: Početak -2008." koji se bavi načinom na koji je pre deset godina formirana stranka koja je na vlasti u Srbiji preko šest godina. Večeras u 20h na N1 pic.twitter.com/hCgabiuYNo

— TV N1 Beograd (@N1infoBG) 26 November 2018

 BIRN journalists also spoke with the Economist correspondent and political analyst Tim Judah, from Britain.
The movie starts back in 2008, when a group of Radical Party members, then advocates of the nationalist "Greater Serbia" idea, turned into "Euro-fanatics".

Journalists have used extensive archive material to tell a thriller-style story about how a faction composed of minor political individuals became rulers of a country.

The movie will be shown on Monday, November 26, at N1 regional television, at 8pm.