Shadows over Balkan

Shadows over Balkan
Title card of the show
Also known as Black sun
Serbian Сенке над Балканом
Genre Crime
Thriler
Historical fiction
Created by Dragan Bjelogrlić
Screenplay by Vladimir Kecmanović
Dejan Stojiljković
Danica Pajović
Dragan Bjelogrlić
Story by Stevan Koprivica
Directed by Dragan Bjelogrlić
Srđan Spasić
Kosta Đorđević
Miroslav Lekić
Danilo Bećković
Igor Ivanov Izi
Ivan Živković
Starring Dragan Bjelogrlić
Andrija Kuzmanović
Marija Bergam
Aleksandr Galibin
Nenad Jezdić
Gordan Kičić
Nebojša Dugalić
Sebastian Cavazza
Toni Mihajlovski
Theme music composer Robert Peršut Magnifico
Opening theme "Divna"
Singer
Ognjen Ogi Radivojević
Ending theme "Divna"
Singer
Ognjen Ogi Radivojević
Composer(s) Robert Peršut Magnifico
Aleksandar Ranđelović
Country of origin Serbia
Original language(s) Serbian
Russian
Macedonian
German
No. of seasons 1 (Aired)
3 (Planned)
No. of episodes 10 (Aired)
Production
Executive producer(s) Goran Bjelogrlić
Producer(s) Dragan Bjelogrlić and RTS
Production location(s) Belgrade, Serbia
Herceg Novi, Montenegro
Vienna, Austria
Geneva, Switzerland
Slivnički monastery and Bukovo, Macedonia [1]
Editor(s) Lazar Predojev
Milena Predić
Camera setup Ivan Kostić
Running time 90 min (First episode)
60 min
Production company(s) Cobra film
РТС
Skopje film studio
Iskra
RTRS
MRT
Film Agency of Republic of Macedonia
Release
Original network RTS 1
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
Original release October 22, 2017 (2017-10-22) – Ongoing

Shadows over Balkan (Serbian: Сенке над Балканом / Senke nad Balkanom), also known as Black Sun is a Serbian crime television series created by Dragan Bjelogrlić. Besides Bjelogrlić, screenplay was also done by Danica Pajović, Dejan Stojiljković and Vladimir Kecmanović, based on a story written by Stevan Koprivica. The series was done in co-production with Cobra Film, Radio Television of Serbia, Skopje Film Studio, Iskra, RTRS, Macedonian Radio Television and The Film Agency of the Republic of Macedonia.

The series is set in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes during the Interwar period and follows the story of two Belgrade police department inspectors. The first season is set during the period just before the 6 January Dictatorship and follows the attempts of the two inspectors to solve the cases of sacrificial murders which were shaking the Belgrade public.

Dragan Bjelogrlić, Andrija Kuzmanović, Marija Bergam, Aleksandr Galibin, Nenad Jezdić, Gordan Kičić, Nebojša Dugalić, Sebastian Cavazza and Toni Mihajlovski are in the lead roles. The first season ran from 22. October 2017 to 24. December 2017 on the RTS1 channel, as well as on many other television channels from former Yugoslavia. The filming of the first season took place between October 2016 and June 2017, while the second season will be filmed during 2018 and will be airing in 2019. The first season was received very well by both the audience and critics, although it caused some controversy. Production, acting, editing and costume design have all been praised, as well as the themes the series deals with.

Premise

The series is divided in three seasons and encompasses the period between 1928 and 1940.[2]

The first season covers the period just before the assassination of the Croatian Member of National Assembly Stjepan Radić at the National Assembly of the Serbs, Croatians and Slovenians and the subsequent establishment of the dictatorship.

Belgrade in between two World Wars was chosen as the main setting for the series. At the center of events we find the main characters – fifty year old criminal police inspector Andra Tanasijević Tane and his new associate, a young forensic by the name of Stanko Pletikosić. Belgrade is portrayed as a place where crime consists of classic robberies and murders, but whose biggest problems are wars between opium cartels, which use the city as just another route for smuggling the expensive and precious drug further into Europe and United States.

The plot of the first season starts with a very peculiar and brutal murder which occurs at a costume ball where most of the Belgrade's social elite is gathered.[3] Inspector Tanasijević soon realizes that the cause of the frequent eerie events, which are beginning to grow in number by the day, is an ancient relic – Holy Lance (with which Jesus was pierced through on the cross) – to which mystical powers are ascribed.[4] He realizes that there are people who are ready to do anything to have it in their possession and is sucked into the entangled web of crime of which all the obscure interest groups from the Balkans from that time are part of the army of general Vrangel, NKVD, Black Hand, IMRO, Yugoslav communists, the underbelly of Belgrade and secret society called Thule.[5] Following the traces of the committed crimes, the inspector starts looking for relic with one goal in mind – to remove it from Belgrade and prevent more innocent deaths.

Roles

Dragan Bjelogrlić played the main role of inspector Tane, and he was also the producer and director.[6]

Gordan Kičić played the role of Alimpije Mirić, one of the main antagonists. He said that he saw the screenplay as far back as 2014. He filmed his scenes in the first season from October 2016 to May 2017. He didn’t film his scenes in continuity but in parts which lasted a couple of days.[7]

Nenad Jezdić, who plays the antagonist by the name of Krojač (Tailor), at first wished to play the role of inspector Tane.[8] The role of Krojač was his last available choice. Slovenian actor Sebastian Cavazza got the role of Gabriel Maht.[9]

The role of general Vrangel went to the Russian actor Aleksandr Galibin, who remarked that he was delighted to play such an important historical figure: "It is such a precious thing to me to be playing such an important historical figure as general Vrangel was. I am particularly glad that we are filming in this church, where his body rests. That is especially touching."[10]

In the second season, the Slovenian actor Jernej Šugman, who passed away in December 2017, was supposed to play the role of Anton Korošec minister of internal affairs of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.[11]

The role of Stanko Pletikosić was supposed to be played by Miloš Biković, with whom Bjelogrlić already collaborated on "Montevideo, God Bless You!", but Biković gave up because of the obligations he had in Russia. Andrija Kuzmanović got the role in the end who also acted in "Montevideo".[8]

Brankica Sebastijanović and Marija Bergam were two main contenders for the role of Maja Davidović, with Bergam getting the role.[8]

Macedonian actor Toni Mihajlovski plays the role of Damjan Hadži Arsov, a fictitious member of Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. Dejan Stojiljković, who is one of the screenwriters, said that his character is not based on Vanča Mihailov, but "has more similarities with Macedonian revolutionary Dame Gruev".[12] Macedonian actress Jana Stojanovska plays the role of Macedonian revolutionary Jovana, who is the sister of Damjan Hadži Arsov. Her character was based on Mara Buneva, also the member of Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization.[12]

The role of the owner of the tavern "Savsko bure", who deserted the Austro-Hungarian army by managing to get across Sava river in a barrel is played by Aleksandar Stojković Piksi.[13] Vladimir Vuletić, the vice president of FK Partizan, had a cameo role as one of the Thule henchman.[14]

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
110October 22, 2017 (2017-10-22)December 24, 2017 (2017-12-24)
2TBA2019 (2019)2019 (2019)
3TBATBATBA

Series is planned to have three seasons.[15]

First season had ten episodes and dealt with the time period just before the 6. January dictatorship. Second season is planned to deal with the time period before the Marseilles assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, while the third season will be set just before start of World War Two in Kingdom of Yugoslavia.[16]


Screenings

Set that served as a marketplace in Baranda.

Pre-premiere in Serbia was on 17th October 2017 at Yugoslav Film Archive.[17] The series had a premiere in Serbia on RTS on 12th October 2017 and had a time slot at 8 pm, which has long been the default time slot for all Serbian and Yugoslav TV series.[18][19] The first episode in Serbia was watched by more than 2.123.000 viewers and was the most watched media on that channel.[20]

The premiere in Bosnia and Herzegovina was at the 23th Sarajevo Film Festival, where two episodes which received ovations were shown.[21] The first season was airing on RTRS.

In Montenegro the series is aired on RTCG 1, and in Macedonia on MRT 1. The series debuted in Macedonia at the 38. Manaki Brothers Film Festival in Bitola on 25th September 2017, and Dragan Bjelogrlić, Tomi Salkovski (co-producer), Igor Ivanov Izi (director on one of the episodes) as well as the actors Marija Bergam, Jana Stojanovska, Pero Arsovski and Petar Atanovski addressed the audience.[22]

There was a great controversy in Croatian media for not airing the first season, and the reasons cited were that it was due to the character of Ante Pavelić and also that Dragan Bjelogrlić himself forbade it. Bjelogrlić dismissed these claims and said that the main reason for the series not airing in Croatia was because no channel acquired the rights to air.[18]

The series was to start airing in Russia in December 2017.[4] In Slovenia it’s been airing since 7th January 2018. on Planet TV.[23]

The managing director of RTS Dragan Bujošević confirmed in an interview for Večernje Novosti on 14th January 2018 that RTS won’t be airing the second season because of the high price Cobra Film asked for.[24] In an interview for N1 TV on 3rd January 2018. Dragan Bjelogrlić named HBO and Top TV which is owned by SBB as the highest bidders for the new season, while RTS gave the lowest bid.

Bjelogrlić gave 2019 as the year in which the second season will be airing.[25] The name of the series was translated into English as "Black Sun" which refers to the symbol that can be frequently in the series and also "Shadows over Balkan".[26]

Production and inspiration

Some of the location where the series was shot is village Bukovo (up) and Slivnica Monastery near village Slivnica (bottom).

Dragan Bjelogrlić first got interested in the time period in which the series is set while filming the TV series as well as the movie version of Montevideo, God Bless You! He got interested in this period because he knew very little of it and he also thought that the Serbian public in general isn’t well informed about it: "Our destiny was such that we never learned much about that time period, it was almost never talked about. And those were important and in a way intense times, especially in Yugoslavia." [27][6] The fact that Yugoslavia was called "Colombia of Europe" between the two Wars also served as an inspiration to him.[13]

One of the series screenwriter Dejan Stojiljković and Russian actor Aleksandr Galibin who plays General Vrangel on the set out side hotel Moskva in Belgrade.

In his article for Blic he wrote that he didn’t want to compromise on any part of the show’s creation: "Shadows over Balkan is a piece for which I tried to make no compromises. There were no compromises on any level and in any phase of the show’s production. From the screenplay, story, themes, national divisions, aesthetics, direction to the budget and cost. I didn’t want to concern myself with the acquired taste of the RTS audience, ratings, political correctness, puritan moral principles, conservative historians, first and second Serbia, and the like…"[28] He seriously doubted in the success of the show, because "in aesthetic, dramaturgic and narrative aspects it was different than everything else he worked on in the past."[27][21][28] He was inspired by a number of American, German, Italian, Scandinavian and Eastern European TV series, and as the main source of inspiration he cited Boardwalk Empire.[21] He was also inspired by the connection between crime and corruption saying how "when he put some things in order, he came to the conclusion that there exists a historic constant which affects this region, because it is of utmost importance that when you are working on a piece of art which deals with the past, it is important to focus on the moment from which you are doing it."[29]

The filming of the first season took place between the 1st October 2016 and end of July 2017.[30][31] The series was shot on many different locations in Belgrade, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a new film studio was also built in Baranda.[16] Poor part of Belgrade from that period was constructed here -Jatagan Mala with fictive kafanas named "Kod Nišliju" (At Niški's) and "Savsko bure" (Sava barrel), Pištoljmala and Savamala), as well as the richer part with a marketplace, a candy shop and a quilt shop, as well as a barber shop. According to Bjelogrlić, 30% of the filming took place in Baranda. [13] Some particular scenes were shot on Zrenjanin streets as well as in its City Hall.[32][33] Some scenes were supposed to be filmed in Slovenia as well, RTV Slovenija was in support of this, but it was later abandoned due to financial reasons.[11]

Miloš Samolov (left) and Dragan Bjelogrlić (right) on set of TV Series in kafana "Kod Nišliju".

Together with Bjelogrlić, the screenplay was worked on by screenwriters Danica Pajović, Dejan Stojiljković and Vladimir Kecmanović adapted to a film story by Stevan Koprivica.[34] Koprivica worked on some of the early episodes, and according to Danica Pajović, "the story was a Conan-Doyle type mystic drama about two inspectors who are working on resolving a series of sacrificial murders in Belgrade set between the two Wars. Bjelogrlić then expanded the theme to the Belgrade underbelly and opium trade in Yugoslavia and convoluted the story to such an extent that Dejan Stojiljković and I had to join the screenwriters team, with Vladimir Kecmanović also joining us later."[35] According to his own words, this was the first time Dejan Stojiljković wrote a screenplay for a movie or a TV series.[13]

Robert Pešut Magnifico, with whom Bjelogrlić already collaborated on Montevideo , worked on the soundtrack for the series.[16] Ognjen Radivojević sang the song in the title sequence, and he was chosen by Magnifico and Bjelogrlić "because of his specific tone of voice and emotions which emerge from his vocal range."[36]

References

  1. ↑ "Серијата „Сенки над Балканот" премиерно на Браќа Манаки". slobodenpecat.mk.
  2. ↑ "Završeno snimanje prvog dela serije „Senke nad Balkanom"". Radio Television of Serbia. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "SENKE NAD BALKANOM: Još jedno jezivo ubistvo!". mondo.rs. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  4. 1 2 "„Сенке над Балканом" вечерас стижу на мале екране!". Radio Television of Serbia. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  5. ↑ "SENKE NAD BALKANOM RAZOTKRIVAJU TAJNE SLOBODNIH ZIDARA: Masoni nisu sekli glave ali su krojili istoriju Srbije". Kurir. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  6. 1 2 Katavić, Ivan. "Bjelogrlić: Nije sjajno kada imate bolju prošlost nego sadašnjost". Radio Slobodna Evropa. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  7. ↑ Pandurević, Dragana; Milenković, Stefan (18 December 2017). "Gordan Kičić za NOIZZ: Tajna Alimpija Mirića iz "Senki nad Balkanom"". Noizz.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 Radanov, Ljubomir. "BJELOGRLIĆ POSLE SMRTI KUMA PROMENIO SCENARIO: Mandinu ulogu izbrisao iz serije Senke nad Balkanom". kurir.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  9. ↑ "Osvojio žensku publiku: Ko je markantni Sebastijan Kavaca iz serije "Senke nad Balkanom"?". Gloria (in Serbian). 31 December 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  10. ↑ Serbia, RTS, Radio televizija Srbije, Radio Television of. "Александар Галибин у серији "Сенке над Балканом"". RTS.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  11. 1 2 Teran Košir, Alenka; Mrevlje, Než. "Bjelogrlić: Magnifico je v Srbiji precej večja zvezda, kot si misli #intervju". Sio1NET. (in Slovenian). Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  12. 1 2 Stojiljković, dejan (17 December 2017). "BARUT, HEROIN I REVOLUCIJA Kako je delovala ZLOGLASNA TERORISTIČKA ORGANIZACIJA VMRO i njihovo carstvo droge i smrti". Blic.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Džodan, Neven (28 September 2016). "Bjelogrlić pokazao svoj HOLIVUD U BARANDI! Pogledajte gde se snima serija "Senke nad Balkanom"". Blic.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  14. ↑ Mitrović, Darko. "Grobari u neverici! Član uprave Partizana u Senkama nad Balkanom!". Sportske.net. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  15. ↑
  16. 1 2 3 "Sa 'Senkama nad Balkanom', Bjela pomera granice - Ženska TV". Ženska TV (in Serbian). 5 March 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  17. ↑ Milanović, Milorad (18 October 2017). "Na premijeri serije "Senke nad Balkanom" Beograd je izgledao kao Holivud". Noizz.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  18. 1 2 Radosavljević, Radmila. "Dragan Bjelogrlić: Ovde ljubav i mržnja idu ruku pod ruku". www.novosti.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  19. ↑ Božović, Milojko (10 November 2017). "BURA ZBOG BJELOGRLIĆEVE SERIJE Zašto se "Senke nad Balkanom" ne emituju u Hrvatskoj". Blic.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  20. ↑ "RTS obara sopstvene rekorde!". RTS.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  21. 1 2 3 Bakić, Edina. "Dragan Bjelogrlić za "Dnevni avaz": Čovjek se teško miri s tim da primitivci odlučuju o našim sudbinama". Avaz.ba (in Bosnian). Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  22. ↑ Janković, Zoran. "„Senke nad Balkanom" predstavljene i na festivalu u Bitolju « FCS". Filmski centar Srbije. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  23. ↑ "Na Planet TV prihaja najbolj provokativna serija Balkana". siol.net. 27 December 2017. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  24. ↑ Matović, D.; Adžić, M. "Dragan Bujošević za "Novosti": Hajku na "Nemanjiće" podmetnuli na "tviteru"". www.novosti.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  25. ↑
  26. ↑ "Black Sun / Senke nad Balkanom". Sarajevo Film Festival. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  27. 1 2 Pivljanin, Ranko (14 August 2017). "GOST "BLICA" Dragan Bjelogrlić: Srbi ne menjaju nameštaj, a ne politički sistem za koji se slažemo da ne valja". Blic.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  28. 1 2 Bjelogrli', Dragan (22 October 2017). "Autorski tekst Dragana Bjelogrlića: Zašto su mi "Senke" važne". Blic.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  29. ↑ "SENKE NAD BALKANOM: Istina ili fikcija? (FOTO)". Mondo Portal (in Serbian). Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  30. ↑ "Dragan Bjelogrlić završio snimanje serije "Senke nad Balkanom", premijera na jesen na RTS-u". Hello! magazin. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  31. ↑ "'Senke nad Balkanom'- završeno snimanje prve sezone serije - Ženska TV". Ženska TV (in Serbian). 14 July 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  32. ↑ "Deo serije "Senke nad Balkanom" upravo se snima u Zrenjaninu". ilovezrenjanin.com (in Serbian). Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  33. ↑ "Nastavak snimanja serije "Senke nad Balkanom" u Zrenjaninu (8 SLIKA)". ilovezrenjanin.com (in Serbian). Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  34. ↑ "Senke nad Balkanom". Radio televizija Srbije (in Serbian). Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  35. ↑ Pajović, Danica (22 July 2017). "Danica Pajović: Kako smo "preživeli" Bjelogrlića". Blic (in Serbian). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  36. ↑ Badjuk, Mario. "BJELA JE TEŽAK ČOVEK! Manjifiko otkrio kako je sarađivati sa srpskim glumcem i rediteljem! - Informer". Informer (in Serbian). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
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