The second edition of A Season of Classic Films will premiere on Friday 4 December at 19:00 CET with a free online worldwide streaming of the newly restored 1930 film Sinner without a sin. Yugoslovenska Kinoteka will provide the streaming service via its YouTube channel, while the screening at its premises in Belgrade, Serbia, will take place at a later date based on the latest COVID-19 measures.
A Season of Classic Films consists of a series of free screenings planned between December 2020 and June 2021 across Europe. The initiative is coordinated by the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE) and is supported by the European Commission’s Creative Europe MEDIA programme. The films are presented by 22 members of ACE with the aim to increase visibility to the richness of their collections and raise awareness of film preservation and culture, especially among young adults.
One of the earliest surviving feature films from the former Yugoslavia
Sinner without a sin (Grešnica bez Greha) is one of the earliest surviving feature films from the former Yugoslavia (1930, 91′, now available with English subtitles), directed by Kosta Novaković, a pioneer of the Seventh Art in this region.
The spectators will have the opportunity to view the newly digitally restored copy of the film with the reconstructed colours based on the original nitrate tinted film elements preserved by the Yugoslav Film Archive. The scanning, restoration and colour processing were carried out by the Archive’s Digital Restoration Department.
The film shows Ljubica’s adventures when she decides to leave her village to study in the big city, illustrating the contrast between a still unspoiled and archaic Serbian village and a metropolis like Belgrade, where danger and crime lurk at every turn.
According to Jugoslav Pantelić, director of Jugoslovenska Kinoteka, “The newly composed music by composer Miroslav Krstic will additionally evoke this early social melodrama and the atmosphere of Belgrade in the 1930s”.
The main roles in the film were played by non-professional actors Sonja Stanisavljevic and Ilija Dragicevic, along with the appearances of the then young and later famous character actor Viktor Starcic and the leading Serbian actress of that time, Zanka Stokic.
A Season of Classic Films: Celebrating film heritage across Europe
Beside Yugosloveska Kinoteka, which has the honour to open the second edition of A Season of Classic Films, another 21 members of ACE participate this year in the initiative. Each film institution has selected a film title or a compilation programme from their affluent archives to showcase renowned films, but also less known film gems.
A total of more than 50 short and long feature films will be screened in a series of free-admission special screenings, organised by the European cinematheques in 19 countries. The selected films are presented in a catalogue, which provides a colourful palette of European cinema history aiming to be inspirational for film festival programmers around the world.