FILMSKE NOVOSTI - Yugoslav Newsreels
Filmske novosti (literally “filmed news”, also known as the Yugoslav Newsreels) were founded in 1944, following the liberation of Belgrade in the Second World War. They were created by the new communist government of President Josip Broz Tito, to be the central newsreel agency of Yugoslavia. They would produce weekly “film journals” (filmski žurnali), as well as special-issue documentary films, mostly focused on political events, but also industrial and educational films.
Because Tito was a uniquely mobile diplomat, and a rare one who traveled to countries in the West and the East blocs during the period of the Cold War, the cameramen who traveled with him to record his activities had the rare chance to make filmed portraits of newly-emerging countries in Africa and Asia. Stevan Labudovic, who together with Dragan Mitrovic, was assigned to travel with Tito from 1954 until his death, counts that he visited 55 different countries on a total of 56 trips with the president. In many cases, such as Burma in 1954, Ghana and Togo in 1961, Tito was the first foreign head of state to visit the newly-independent country, and the material filmed by his cameramen gives a valuable record of the way these countries articulated their national pride, presenting their national culture and traditions in welcoming the Yugoslav president. Of the elaborate welcome receptions staged to greet Tito, the most extraordinary ones are the ceremonies hosted in Ethiopia by Emperor Haile Selassie in 1958, the confetti-covered streets of Mexico City in 1963 and the hundreds of citizens of Pyongyang performing an elaborate choreography and singing songs in Serbo-Croatian in North Korea in 1977. But in addition to the public ceremonies, the film crews of Filmske Novosti used these trips as occasions to film stories about everyday life in these countries as well, leaving us precious insights into early struggles for industrialization and nation-building.
An extraordinary chapter in the history of Filmske Novosti begins with the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement, which officially came into existence during the first Summit of NAM, which took place in September 1961 in Belgrade. Rising to the occasion as the host, the Yugoslav government charged the newsreels with the task of recording every aspect of the summit, and producing a commemorative color film of this historic event (a task assigned to Stevan Labudovic). Hence began the creation of the film fund known within Filmske Novosti as the “Collection of the Non-Aligned Movement”, which includes filmed material from every meeting of Non-Aligned countries up until the 9th Summit, in 1989, at the moment when the Cold War was ending, and Yugoslavia was collapsing (Belgrade ’61, Cairo ’64, Lusaka ’70, Algiers ’73, Colombo ’76, Havana ’79, New Delhi ’83, Harare ’86, Belgrade ’89).
As a result of its engagement in the non-aligned world, and of Tito's personal diplomacy, Yugoslavia was seen by countries in Africa and Asia as a country that had succeeded in winning its own liberation war, and subsequently charting an independent path to socialism outside of the control of the Soviet bloc. For this reason, Yugoslavia was requested to provide technical aid to newly-created countries, which included assistance in setting up their national film centers and filming images with which to forge their national identity. This ciné-collaboration was inaugurated with the sending of Stevan Labudovic to Algeria in 1959 to film for the FLN during the Algerian liberation war, a mission that he carried out for three years, until Algerian independence. Labudovic's work opened the door for the engagement of the Yugoslav Newsreels and their cameramen in Africa and the Middle East, most notably in Ethiopia, Algeria, Mali, Tanzania and Mozambique.
In addition to recording historic moments of liberation and the creation of new nation states, Filmske Novosti set up a school within their building in Belgrade which was attended by African cameramen and editors, notably from UAR (Egypt) and Mali. In its heyday, Filmske Novosti employed 100 people and built a custom-made building that allowed them to run their film lab 24-hours in order to cope with the volume of production. Today, the archive is a cultural institution, with a mandate to continue video production and preserve their archive holdings.
Because Tito was a uniquely mobile diplomat, and a rare one who traveled to countries in the West and the East blocs during the period of the Cold War, the cameramen who traveled with him to record his activities had the rare chance to make filmed portraits of newly-emerging countries in Africa and Asia. Stevan Labudovic, who together with Dragan Mitrovic, was assigned to travel with Tito from 1954 until his death, counts that he visited 55 different countries on a total of 56 trips with the president. In many cases, such as Burma in 1954, Ghana and Togo in 1961, Tito was the first foreign head of state to visit the newly-independent country, and the material filmed by his cameramen gives a valuable record of the way these countries articulated their national pride, presenting their national culture and traditions in welcoming the Yugoslav president. Of the elaborate welcome receptions staged to greet Tito, the most extraordinary ones are the ceremonies hosted in Ethiopia by Emperor Haile Selassie in 1958, the confetti-covered streets of Mexico City in 1963 and the hundreds of citizens of Pyongyang performing an elaborate choreography and singing songs in Serbo-Croatian in North Korea in 1977. But in addition to the public ceremonies, the film crews of Filmske Novosti used these trips as occasions to film stories about everyday life in these countries as well, leaving us precious insights into early struggles for industrialization and nation-building.
An extraordinary chapter in the history of Filmske Novosti begins with the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement, which officially came into existence during the first Summit of NAM, which took place in September 1961 in Belgrade. Rising to the occasion as the host, the Yugoslav government charged the newsreels with the task of recording every aspect of the summit, and producing a commemorative color film of this historic event (a task assigned to Stevan Labudovic). Hence began the creation of the film fund known within Filmske Novosti as the “Collection of the Non-Aligned Movement”, which includes filmed material from every meeting of Non-Aligned countries up until the 9th Summit, in 1989, at the moment when the Cold War was ending, and Yugoslavia was collapsing (Belgrade ’61, Cairo ’64, Lusaka ’70, Algiers ’73, Colombo ’76, Havana ’79, New Delhi ’83, Harare ’86, Belgrade ’89).
As a result of its engagement in the non-aligned world, and of Tito's personal diplomacy, Yugoslavia was seen by countries in Africa and Asia as a country that had succeeded in winning its own liberation war, and subsequently charting an independent path to socialism outside of the control of the Soviet bloc. For this reason, Yugoslavia was requested to provide technical aid to newly-created countries, which included assistance in setting up their national film centers and filming images with which to forge their national identity. This ciné-collaboration was inaugurated with the sending of Stevan Labudovic to Algeria in 1959 to film for the FLN during the Algerian liberation war, a mission that he carried out for three years, until Algerian independence. Labudovic's work opened the door for the engagement of the Yugoslav Newsreels and their cameramen in Africa and the Middle East, most notably in Ethiopia, Algeria, Mali, Tanzania and Mozambique.
In addition to recording historic moments of liberation and the creation of new nation states, Filmske Novosti set up a school within their building in Belgrade which was attended by African cameramen and editors, notably from UAR (Egypt) and Mali. In its heyday, Filmske Novosti employed 100 people and built a custom-made building that allowed them to run their film lab 24-hours in order to cope with the volume of production. Today, the archive is a cultural institution, with a mandate to continue video production and preserve their archive holdings.
THE ALGERIA COLLECTIONCovers materials created from 1959 to 1986. In addition to the 83km of 35mm films shot by Stevan Labudovic during the war, it extends to material filmed on various anniversaries after the war (1968, 1973). Most importantly, the collection also includes the first five issues of the Algerian filmed newsreels. These were filmed by Algerian cameraman within the framework of a film school created in FLN headquarters in Ghardimau, Tunisia by Filmske Novosti, who set up a film lab, and sent four cameramen to train Algerian fighters to make their own newsreels.
THE TANZANIA COLLECTIONCreated in the period 1965 to 1973. This collection is comprised of 29 numbers of the Tanzanian filmed journals Habari, filmed mostly by Filmske Novosti cameraman Dragutin Popovic, but also Tanzanian cameramen such as K. Bonnyface and S. Kaunda, done mostly in Swahili and English languages.
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THE MALI COLLECTIONCreated in the period 1961 to 1986. Following President Tito’s historical visit to Mali in March 1961 (the country had obtained independence only 6 months prior to his visit), and Modibo Keita’s participation in the Belgrade summit in September 1961, a cultural collaboration was signed, and Filmske Novosti sent their cameramen to help set up the cinema industry of Mali. This collection is made up of 171 filmed journals of the Republic of Mali, various documentary films (such as Tombuktu) and two feature-length fiction films, done mostly in Bambara and in French languages.
THE MOZAMBIQUE COLLECTION
Created in the period 1967 to 1986. It was started by the historical film Venceremos (We will win), the first documentary to be made about the FRELIMO liberation movement, tracing their creation in 1964 and their struggle against colonial rule. The film was made by Dragutin Popovic, who was at the time based in Tanzania, and who became friends with FRELIMO’s leader Samora Machel. His collaboration with the Mozambican government continued once they had won independence and into the 1980s.
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2021 research article by Mila Turajlic published in "Nationalities Papers" the academic journal of the Association for the Study of Nationalities on the history of Filmske Novosti's cinematic engagements in the non-aligned world.
The full text of the article can be read on the publisher's website - Cambridge University Press. |
