Belgrade on Screens Before the War / Before the Truth (Cut 1)

Abstract

The project "Belgrade on Screens: Visions of Continuous Discontinuities” explores Belgrade's urban destructions through (post-)Yugoslav moving images. Cities being self-paced to their built environment, architectural discontinuities refer to disruptions, losses, and traumas caused by wars, inner conflicts, or political decisions. However, while film cutting essentially constructs continuity, filmmakers use discontinuous editing to emphasize emotional response by atypical shot-arrangements. Affecting collective memories, films articulate and manipulate the image of a town and its inhabitants.

Therefore, how do cinematic effects and scenography manifest Belgrade's discontinuities? How do audiovisual media impact our cognitive awareness of a city? Do they produce new interpretations or generate any misconceptions?

Developed with a theoretical background, the first phase is an archival investigation within genres showing decisive historical urban "gaps" in the 20th century. Collected data will be analyzed, before being re-used for the second part of the research, an immersive video-collage.

Keywords: Belgrade, Discontinuity, Film