A SERBIAN DOCUMENTARY

****

Directed by Stephen Biro.

Starring Srđan Spasojević, Aleksandar Radivojević, Srdjan Zika Todorović, Sergej Trifunovć. Documentary, USA 2025 83 mins.

Reviewed as part of FrightFest 2025 - World Premiere

Unearthed Films Founder/President Stephen Biro (himself the director of the AMERICAN GUINEA PIG films) was clearly the right man for the job of this compelling feature length documentary about the creation, production and release (or non-release, depending on the territory) of Srđan Spasojević’s notorious 2010 A SERBIAN FILM.

The director and co-writer Aleksandar Radivojević reinforce the central concept and the real world backdrop that inspired the movie’s unremittingly harsh content and tone: a country ravaged by civil war, bombed by NATO, a place where the residents live off $300 a month including bills. A SERBIAN FILM is (arguably) a brilliantly harrowing and haunting visualisation of how its citizens are subjected to exploitation from birth through death. 

The creators, understandably, are keen to express here how they didn’t set out to create a scandal or purely to “shock” and do so eloquently. Spasojević is captured on set as a perfectionist, devoting immense care and time to even the most difficult sequences. The documentary wisely delays addressing the most infamous material until its final act.  Given the upsetting intensity of A SERBIAN FILM, it’s a great relief to see lighter behind the scene moments including cast camaraderie, the practical effects behind the gore, and the careful handling of the child actors. It also doesn’t shy away from showing the emotional toll on performers, including moments of genuine distress.

Working from over 162 hours of archive footage, Biro captures not only the film's creation but also the international uproar it provoked, accusations that veered into the absurd and the refusal of Westminster Council to allow its planned Frightfest screening to go ahead. The documentary ends on a marvellously grim end note as the intelligent, mild-mannered creator of a major cause celebre confesses how, in retrospect, humanity deserved something even more extreme. Given the state of the world in 2025, who’s going to argue?

Steven West