Avala Studios, formerly known as Avala Film (), is a Serbian film studio, founded in 1946 as the first studio founded in post-war Yugoslavia.
Overview
In June 1946, the government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia created the State Committee of Cinematography, in order to replace the provisional Film Enterprise of the SFRY. The Committee set out to establish film production companies in the various constituent states of Yugoslavia: the first and the largest of those was Avala Film, in the Socialist Republic of Serbia's capital Belgrade, which was founded on 15 July. The company was located in the future complex of Filmski Grad, which the committee had only begun planning.Daniel J. Goulding. Liberated Cinema: The Yugoslav Experience, 1945-2001. Indiana University Press (2002). . pp. 3-4.
In 1947, Avala Film produced the first feature film made in postwar Yugoslavia, Vjekoslav Afrić's Slavica.Miera Liehm, Antonin J. Liehm. The Most Important Art: Soviet and Eastern European Film After 1945. University of California Press (1977). . p. 129. Until 2000, the studio participated in the creation of 400 documentaries, 200 feature films and 120 co-productions with foreign companies; its pictures won more than 200 awards in various festivals.Avala Film on the Serbian Film Commission's website .Avala Film Facing Bankruptcy . Pravda Belgrade, 16 February 2011.
After the Breakup of Yugoslavia, the studio was partially privatized and 51% of its shares were sold to a company called Jugoexport, while the rest were retained by Avala Film's management.Hollywood, the Serbian Way. novosti.rs, 1 April 2010. Since the mid-1990, it has produced only a few films, and its last one - Shadows of Memories - was released in 2000.
In early 2000-s, the studio was facing financial troubles, and was threatened with liquidation after Jugoexport was declared bankrupt. Since 2005, plans to fully privatize it were proposed.Avala Film Threatened by Going Bankrupt. novosti.sr., 15 March 2011. In 2008, the studio was valued at 105 million euros and had 84 employees. In June 2011, the studio was announced to be bankrupt, after accumulating a debt of 111 million dinars. Pravda Belgrade, 6 July 2011. The company's real estate, film rights, costumes, props and studios were scheduled to be sold-off in spring 2013."Tito's pet film studio at risk of Yugoslav fate" Reuters, by Matt Robinson, 7 March 2013
Selected filmography 1953 - Perfidy 1957 - Priests Ćira and Spira 1961 - Siberian Lady Macbeth 1964 - March on the Drina (Marš na Drinu) 1965 - Three 1966 - The Dream 1967 - I Even Met Happy Gypsies 1968 - It Rains in My Village 1970 - Liberation 1987 - Reflections 1989 - The Meeting Point
Selected international co-productions 1954 - The Last Bridge 1962 - Taras Bulba 1963 - The Long Ships 1964 - Marco the Magnificent (La Fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo) 1965 - Genghis Khan 1967 - The 25th Hour 1968 - Kelly's Heroes 1969 - Castle Keep 1972 - England Made Me 1984 - Quo Vadis? (miniseries) 1986 - Escape from Sobibor (TV movie) 1987 - The Fortunate Pilgrim (miniseries) 1987 - Crusoe 1988 - Around the World in 80 Days (miniseries) 1989 - Boris Godunov
References
External links
Avala Film on the IMDb. A short history of the studio.