25-11-2022

OBITUARY: Veteran Serbian Film Director Mladomir Puriša Đorđević

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    Mladomir Puriša Đorđević on set Mladomir Puriša Đorđević on set photo: Miljan Gogić

    BELGRADE: Director Mladomir Puriša Đorđević, one of the most important Yugoslav and Serbian film auteurs, died on 23 November 2022 aged 99.

    During his film career, which lasted from 1947 up to 2022, he made more than 50 short and feature films, some of which were shown at the world's most prestigious film festivals.

    In July and August 2022 Mladomir Puriša Đorđević shot his first feature film in 15 years, Mouth Full of Earth / Usta puna zemlje, which is based on the bestselling novel from 1974 by Branimir Šćepanović. The film is expected to premiere by or around the end of 2022.

    Mouth Full of Earth follows a man who, having learnt that he has only three months left to live, runs from the hospital into the forest, but heads into the very people he has been fleeing from. Mouth Full of Earth by Mladomir Puriša Đorđević, credit: Miljan GogićApollon and Telekom are producing.

    In the second half of the 1960s, Mladomir Puriša Đorđević achieved his greatest successes as a film director with Girl / Devojka (1965, produced by Avala Film), Dream / San (1966, Avala Film), Morning / Jutro (1967, Dunav Film) and Afternoon / Podne (1968, Avala Film and Dunav Film). These four feature films form a cycle belonging to the so-called Black Wave and are still considered some of the most significant Serbian and Yugoslav films.

    Dream screened at the 17th International Film Festival in Berlin and was awarded the Silver Arena for directing at the Pula Film Festival. Morning was screened at the 28th Venice Film Festival, where Ljubiša Samardžić won the Volpi Cop for best actor, and it received another Golden Arena Award for directing at the Pula FF.