Filming of first Serbian-Chinese movie starts

The filming of Belgrade Escape started on Thursday, July 26, 2018, in the capital of Serbia, symbolically marking the beginning of cooperation between the cinematographies of China and Serbia.

The cooperation between the companies Emote and Broken Star Films from Beijing is officially the first cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and the People’s Republic of China in making a feature film, Tanjug reports.

The movie is inspired by cult feature film Walter Defends Sarajevo, a clip of which appears in the movie when the protagonists sees Bata Zivojinovic on the screen in a movie theater and decides to come to Serbia. The protagonist is Zhou Xiao, a war veteran and former peace mission member, who has been living in Belgrade for twenty years, working as a night watch at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The plot concerns his attempts to get out of gambling debts, as well as the development of his relationship with his daughter. The film is a combination of action, comedy and melodrama.

The main antagonist is played by Serbian actor Dragan Micanovic. He stated for Tanjug that he was lucky that he had already visited China three times.

– I was there as a member of the Yugoslav Drama Theater ensemble and I hope that our colleagues from China will feel at least half as welcome as we did in Beijing and Shanghai – Micanovic said and added that he had already taken part in the filming of a movie in China in a British production.

The star of the movie, Lian Kai, says that he is very pleased that he has an opportunity to work with Serbian colleagues, and Chinese Ambassador to Belgrade Li Manchang said that the filming of Belgrade Escape was a step forward in the development of the relations between the two cultures and the two countries.

The director of the Film Center of Serbia says that the Chinese cinematography is on the rise and that everybody is looking to attract Chinese productions worldwide.

– This is a great opportunity for us. Last year, we signed an agreement with the Chinese Ministry of Culture, but, of course, most credit goes to our producers, who have convinced the Chinese production to film everything in Belgrade – he said and emphasized that Serbia provided excellent conditions for foreign filmmaking teams.

EMOTE DOO BEOGRAD

Filmski centar Srbije Beograd

Ambasada NR Kine Beograd

Emote

Broken Star Films Beijing

Film Center of Serbia

Embassy of China in Belgrade

Belgrade Escape film

Walter Defends Sarajevo film

Zhou Xiao

Dragan Micanovic

Lian Kai

Li Manchang

Boban Jevtic

Serbian Chinese film

filming of Serbian Chinese movie

Serbian Chinese coproduction