Cinema
Who's Singin' Over There?
Ко то тамо пева
Slobodan Šijan · 1980
Synopsis
5 April 1941, somewhere in Serbia. A dilapidated coach, run by old Krstić and driven by his son Miško, picks up those who want to go to Belgrade: an apprentice singer, a consumptive, a hunter, a local notable, a veteran of the Great War, an admirer of Germany, then a young married couple. Two little Roma musicians comment on the journey in song, and each stage turns into a quarrel.
Context
This is the director's first feature film, written by Dušan Kovačević and produced by Centar Film on a modest budget; it was released in October 1980. The film has been compared to neorealism, to Italian comedy and to Buñuel's Ascent to Heaven. Released in France in January 1982, restored and presented at Cannes Classics in 2020, it was re-released there in 2021. The duo reunited two years later for another film.
Who it is for
Less than an hour and a half, a single road and a dozen characters. It is better to know that Germany bombed Belgrade on 6 April 1941, the day after the film begins.
Prizes and reception
First on the list of the hundred Serbian films ranked in 2016, a place it already held in several earlier polls.