27-08-2021

Serbian Firefly Productions Has Earned Its Wings

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    Ivana Miković and Boban Jevtić Ivana Miković and Boban Jevtić

    BELGRADE: Serbian drama mini-series The Family by Bojan Vuletić, which has recently won the Heart of Sarajevo for best drama series and best leading actor (Boris Isaković) at the Sarajevo FF and which has been sold to North America to the OTT service MHz Choice, is reaping the benefits of the arduous work of the Belgrade-based Firefly Productions.

    “In only two years we managed to make our production house and our projects completely visible in the field of series production and I would say that we have become an integral part of the local creative industry with an already recognisable approach to this branch of the entertainment industry”, Boban Jevtić told FNE.

    Firefly was founded in 2018 and now it is being led by Ivana Miković, former CEO of Radio Television of Serbia, and Boban Jevtić, the former head of Film Center Serbia. The company now has a long string of new projects in various stages of development and production.

    A new series Black Wedding / Crna svadba by Nemanja Ćipranić, which screened at the CineLink Drama during the Sarajevo FF, is expected to premiere soon and another series, Block 27 / Blok 27, directed by Momir Milošević and Milica Tomović, is currently shooting.

    Firefly Productions is also shooting new seasons for its 2021 premiere series The Clan / Klan and Underneath / Močvara, directed by Boban Skerlić and Oleg Novković, respectively.

    The pandemic affected the company, which had to re-organise its strategy. "As expected, the pandemic considerably affected, directed and shaped our plans and concrete endeavors, but as we can conclude this far,  Firefly is able to cope with this challenge, as well, of course, in full compliance with the prescribed prevention measures", Boban Jevtić told FNE.

    Firefly is also planning to produce TV series in English. This will come with the adaptations of hit novels Rabies by Borislav Pekić and Fatal Ally by Tim Sebastian, which are both planned as international productions. “Both productions, whose directors are to be revealed soon, will be shot in English and Firefly has been looking for international coproducers for these two exquisitely demanding projects with high coproducing potential”, Ivana Miković told FNE.

    Other new projects in development include Frust, a dramedy series directed by Bosnian filmmaker Danis Tanović and produced with Hungary’s Joyrider, as well as Tremor, an eight-part drama series directed by Bojan Vuletić and based on the true story of a popular Serbian actor who was imprisoned for murder and whose prison journal is still a bestseller in the post-Yugoslav area.

    One of the most ambitious series projects is Constantine's Crossroads / Konstantinovo raskršće, which is based on the bestseller by Dejan Stojiljković. This project is in an early stage of development with shooting set to start in 2022.