During the last nine months, international producers have visited Serbia to consider the country as alocation for projects that have a potential total value of $360 million. Furthermore, the Serbia Film Commission (SFC) has worked to secure an additional $100 million in international projects expected to be filmed in the country in the next 2 years. 

This demonstrates the growing interest of foreign producers in Serbia as a film location, which was also evident at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.  The increased awareness of Serbia’s advantages as a film location can be attributed to the Serbia Film Commission’s Film in Serbiapromotional campaign, significant press attention to the shooting of Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut Coriolanus in Belgrade, and the impact of Serbia’s high profile presence at leading trade shows. Several members of the Serbia Film Commission attended the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and Producers Network including Art and Popcorn, Work in Progress, Red Production, PFI Studios, Cinebox equipment rental company and CineLabs. Serbian representatives met with a number of British, French and American directors and producers interested in filming in Serbia.

Ana Ilic, Executive Director of the Serbia Film Commission discussed this industry resurgence stating “We now have a number of good references, excellent promotional material, and a comprehensive database on production facilities in Serbia.  All of this makes it easier to ‘sell’ Serbia. We have proven ourselves with high profile productions like Coriolanus, which brought to Serbia an elite film industry team. We offer high quality services, affordable prices, extremely talented and creative filmmakers, diverse locations, new film studios and a state of the art film processing lab. To fully meet its potential, Serbia should now introduce an incentive program that is competitive to what exists in 25 other countries and 42 U.S. states and is essential to making Serbia a regional leader in filming.”

Milos Đukelić, SFC Board Member and owner of Red Productions, also commented on the importance of incentives to international producers. “I was proud to represent Serbia at Cannes this year and found it symbolic that the Rue de Serbs in Cannes is right next to the American street. Serbia’s robust film industry tradition combined with a new energy in promoting Serbia as a film destination has made it hot in the industry. The most frequently asked questions relate to the incentives Serbia will introduce. There is huge interest in Serbia and with incentives we can send a clear message that the government is fully supporting the promotion and development of this industry.”

Miroslav Mogovic, SFC Board Member and Director of Art and Popcorn, also noted there was greater interest in Serbia at Cannes than in previous years, adding “In addition to productions from the United States, film industry representatives from Russia and Ukraine are also interested in shooting in Serbia. Although much has been done to position Serbia as an attractive film location, we need to work to develop Serbia as a film friendly country and environment. We still lack incentives for foreign investment in this sector, which would directly benefit 4,000 workers in Serbia. The SFC will work to introduce incentives and also to establish transparent and stable environment to obtain licenses for film production.” 

The SFC has grown to more than 50 members in the last year and is supporting Serbian film production services firms to promote Serbia internationally and participate in leading events such as Cannes.  The Commission continues to place the highest priority on finalizing introduction of incentives and developing a film friendly environment that will enable the industry to grow to $200-$300 million in annual revenue.