Running on Belgrade Time
Belgrade is still baking in temperatures of 28 degrees and more, while I am dashing around trying to hold my schedule together. Everyone else is working on Belgrade time. The city streets and riverside walks are packed with people enjoying the days of late sunshine, getting the most out of their summer wardrobe. Obviously, I have also been taking time out between meetings to stroll in the parks and tree-lined streets, or sit on terraces people-watching and soaking up the Belgrade atmosphere with the locals. Juggling your time is a skill that has been mastered here.
My trip continued with a visit to a Belgrade film set, meetings with people connected with Serbia at the London 2012 Olympics, and my Serbian TV premiere. Also, I have been catching up with old friends, meeting interesting new people, and generally enjoying time here.
In recent days, I also met with colleagues from Wannabe Magazine and Branding Magazine, met with the designer of Serbia’s Olympic mascot, and enjoyed a entertaining evening in the company of Serbia’s pop/rock singer Ksenija Mijatović to discuss her enjoyable new album Magija. She is quite a woman… More stories will appear here soon, just as soon as I have time to write them.
I was lucky enough to be invited onto the film set of Montevideo, Bog te Video, to meet director Dragan Bjelogrlić and chat with the actors about how the movie’s success. This engaging story has become Serbia’s most successful film with audiences at home and abroad being captivated by the true-life human tale of hope and dreams as boys from the streets of Belgrade battle their way to the first World Cup Final in Uruguay. At its sold-out British premiere in London’s Raindance Film Festival this week, it screened to an appreciative audience who also fell under the spell of Montevideo. The sequel, currently filming outside Belgrade, will pick up where that first film left off, as the team, full of nerves and ambition, travels from Belgrade to Uruguay for its World Cup games. A full story and interviews will be posted here shortly.
My primetime interview with Prva TV’s Explosiv went out nationwide on Tuesday and has attracted a good deal of feedback so far. In this profile interview, we discuss Serbia’s banning of the Belgrade Pride Parade, the its possible impact on the country’s international image, as well as my career and reasons for my interest in contemporary Serbian culture.
In the coming days, I will be meeting some of Serbia’s most exciting young film and stage actors and catching up with some more Serbian film directors. I will also be meeting with the Serbian Olympic and Paralympic Committees to discuss their plans for London 2012.
Then I will leave my home in Belgrade, the friendly and welcoming Mr Walker hostel, to travel to Novi Sad as guest of the BlogOpen conference and masterclass. I am looking forward to meeting some of the region’s leading bloggers and social media practitioners, to share and explore learnings and ideas, and taking part in the sessions. I will definitely be posting much more news from BlogOpen soon.
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