The event of the movie “Russian Consul” takes place in 1973 in Prizren; Albanians are oppressors towards Serbs, and the film is described as “a narrative that describes the beginning of the crisis in Kosovo”
The team of the film “The Russian Consul”, Serbia’s candidate for the “Oscar” for the best international film, has arrived in Hollywood with the state delegation. Director Miroslav Lekić, producer Dragan Gjurković and actresses Paulina Manov and Danica Radulović have arrived in Los Angeles to start the “intense promotion of this film”, reports media in Serbia. And, even this film – as “Koha Ditore” has reported since the world premiere in March of this year – does not escape propaganda. The event takes place in 1973 in Prizren; the Albanians are oppressors towards the Serbs, who expel them, and the film is described as “a narrative that describes the beginning of the crisis in Kosovo”. It is based on the 80s novel of the same title by the Serbian writer and politician Vuk Drashkovic. Albanian actors also play there: Enver Petrovci, Mensur Safqiu and Visar Vishka. The rest is history.
“In addition to a series of formal and informal contacts and meetings, an official reception and screening was held in Beverly Hills for select guests, including members of the ‘Academy Awards.’ The film was well received by the audience in the packed hall and the team stayed longer to chat with the viewers. Atu were representatives of the Serbian community in Los Angeles, producer Vladimir Lisinac, actors Marija Karan, Gala Videnović, Nina Seniçar, Nikola Gjuričko, as well as their American colleague, Lolita Davidović”, announced the production of this film. According to the announcement, “the film has been advertised in all the major American magazines, from ‘Variety’ to specialized websites, and there were also positive comments that emphasized that this film can be appreciated and understood even by those who do not know the story of interpersonal conflicts and prejudices in the 1970s, in the territory of the former Yugoslavia”.
Based on the presentation of the film, the Serbian psychiatrist Ilija Jugović, who is portrayed by the actor Nebojsha Dugalić, after the death of his patient in Belgrade, goes to Prizren, Kosovo, adhering to a kind of party punishment. There he is employed as a general practitioner in a local hospital.
“There he meets history professor Ljubo Božović (Zharko Laushević), the self-proclaimed ‘Russian Consul’, an apparently psychiatric patient, who claims that soon ‘Russia will become Russia again, and Kosovo will become again Serbian'”, explains the online page of the festival “Fest 24”, which brought this film nine months ago. The clarification points out that the local Albanians, “hidden separatists, also members of the Communist Party and cadres with positions” strongly turn against the “consul”. “The most powerful of them, Halit Berisha (Visar Vishka), who expels the Serbs from Kosovo with various cruel pressures: he perpetrates violence against Serbian children in schools, intimidates the local population, prevents them from receiving health care, harasses families, it brings them uncertainty and anxiety”, it is written in the explanation. “So it’s Ljubo Bozhovic’s turn, whom Berisha is trying to get out of the house and away from Kosovo. The ‘Russian consul’ refuses to sell the house and clashes with Berisha. Doctor Ilija Jugović is under his protection”, it is written in the explanation given for the film.
