07-03-2024

FNE at FEST 2024: Russian Consul

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    Russian Consul by Miroslav Lekić Russian Consul by Miroslav Lekić photo: CEBEF / FEST promo

    BELGRADE: Serbian director Miroslav Lekić’s seventh feature Russian Consul / Ruski konzul closed the 52nd FEST (23 February - 3 March 2024) in Belgrade. This was the last film for leading actor Žarko Laušević, who died in November 2023.

    The main character of the film, Serbian psychiatrist Ilija Jugović, goes to Kosovo, under the punishment of the Party, after the death of a patient in Belgrade. There he gets a job as a general practitioner in a local hospital. There he meets history professor Ljubo Božović, the self-proclaimed “Russian Consul“, an apparently psychiatric patient who claims that soon “Russia will become Russia again, and Kosovo will be Serbian again“.

    Powerful local Albanian hidden separatists, also members of the Communist Party, and cadres in positions are turning against him. The most powerful of them evicts Serbs from Kosovo with various, cruel pressures: he carries out violence against Serbian children in schools, intimidates the local population, prevents them from receiving health care and harasses families.

    The script, based on the same-titled bestselling novel by Vuk Drašković, was written by Lekić himself with Igor Bojović as script collaborator.

    The cast consists of Serbian, Albanian and North Macedonian actors: Žarko Laušević, Nebojša Dugalić, Paulina Manov, Svetozar Cvetković, Visar Vishka, Danica Radulović, Mensur Shafqiu, Konstantin Fidanov, Petar Zekavica, Meto Jovanovski, Nada Macanković, Slaviša Čurović, Enver Petrovci and Tamara Aleksić.

    The film’s producer is Dragan Đurković. It was produced by Telekom Srbija and Vision Team. The production was supported by Film Center Serbia in late December 2018 with a production grant of approximately 307,000 EUR / 36 m RSD.

    The shooting took place in various locations around Serbia during the spring and summer of 2023.

    Art Vista started the theatrical distribution of the film in Serbia on 7 March 2024.

    Production Information:

    Russian Consul by Miroslav Lekić, photo: CEBEF / FEST promoProducers:
    Telekom Srbija (Serbia)
    Vision Team (Serbia)
    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

    Credits:
    Director: Miroslav Lekić
    Scriptwriter: Miroslav Lekić and Igor Bojović (script collaborator)
    DoP: Dalibor Tonković
    Editor: Petar Jakonić
    Composers: Aleksandra Kovač, Roman Goršek
    Cast: Žarko Laušević, Nebojša Dugalić, Paulina Manov, Svetozar Cvetković, Visar Vishka, Danica Radulović, Mensur Shafqiu, Konstantin Fidanov, Petar Zekavica, Meto Jovanovski, Nada Macanković, Slaviša Čurović, Enver Petrovci, Tamara Aleksić