Kraljevo – a story of hope in the time of corona

Savo is a Content Creator, Writer, Producer, Director, Event & Project Manager, DTP Designer, Storyteller, Presenter and Trainer with international, multi-lingual, multi-cultural experience, who has produced several shows, ranging from theatre to television, to the big screen and multimedia presentations.

He has run and owned music labels, entertainment businesses, production houses and theatre venues. Currently he runs a production house in Serbia, Pomaranje - Krlajevo and a cultural nonprofit organization Pomorandze. A keen writer since his youth, Savo was manager/writer/director of the Black Sun Theatre Company at age 23, staging several productions of high social conscious value including Street Dimensions and Hellbrow. He managed the BTA/Anglo Platinum Short Story Competition from 2001 to 2008, turning it into one of the biggest and most lucrative writing competitions in South Africa, aimed at the new and non-professional writer. In 2001, he joined Creative Media International, creating commercials, corporate and educational videos alongside writing scripts for Out of Africa Films.

His debut feature film Crime – It’s a Way of Life premiered at the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown in July 2009, and dedicated to the 16 Days of Activism for People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA). The movie went on to play at the Durban International Film Festival and has been screened in London, France, Denmark and Palestine. Savo has directed two South African feature documentaries: the first is The Strini Moodley Interview about the late Black Consciousness leader who is publicly acknowledged as Steve Biko’s closest friend & comrade. Savo accompanied Moodley on his last trip to Robben Island where he had been held prisoner for 6 years during the apartheid era. The second is United Colours of Yeoville – which pays homage to the vibrant, once arty and politically leftist, now Pan-African enclave of Johannesburg which was the only home he knew till his relocation to Cape Town and then to Serbia. Other feature documentaries include , ’The Making of a Peace Activist’, ’Slavery and Colonialism’ and ‘Understanding Racism’.

He directed his first foreign language feature documentary, ‘Saints, Savo and Serbia’, tracing his father’s roots, the origins of the family from Bosnia in the mid 1700’s to their settlement up in the mountains of Stance, a village just outside of Kraljevo, sometime later. The documentary also looks at Serbian life today, both the cultural and religious practices that make it unique, told through the rich history of the town that is credited with the formation of the Serbian culture, Kraljevo. Savo takes us on a journey of self-discovery, as he speaks to family members, the community of Kraljevo, religious institutes and artists. This is a Serbian journey of faith, family, and connection. The documentary had its world premiere at at BelDocs, the Belgrade Documentary Film Festival in May 2019.

His latest feature documentary set during the Covid 19 pandemic, Savo recorded the heroic efforts undertaken to defend a small town in the heart of Serbia from a virus that threatened to take thousands of lives. He recorded incredible images of sacrifice, readiness, inventiveness, loss and joy, as a team of people, volunteers and professionals, experts and ordinary citizens, came together to defeat an invisible killer. Fear, will, determination, volunteerism, struggle, organization, activity, patriotism, self-actualization, sadness, pain, pride, hope, moba are the words that is best described in the feature-length documentary, “Kraljevo - a story of hope, in the time of corona during the state of emergency”. It is a unique account of an extraordinary time, and a reflection of what can be achieved when people come together and rise to a challenge.