Jugoslav Pantelić no longer a director Yugoslav movie theaters, was decided at the session of the Government of Serbia on Thursday, September 11. It is not known why. In his place, Aleksandar Erdeljanović, a film historian and long-time manager of the Archive of the Yugoslav Cinematheque, was appointed acting director.
The choice of Erdeljanović is unquestionable, but it is questionable why Jugoslav Pantelić was replaced just now.
As he stated in a written statement to the media, the reasons for this decision were not presented to him, so he does not want to comment on them.
Selected in a competition
"My second term as director of the Yugoslav Cinematheque ended in February of last year, after which the then Board of Directors re-elected me to that position in a public competition."
However, Pantelić says, "The Ministry of Culture never made a statement about it, or rather, neither confirmed nor rejected the choice of the Board of Directors."
"The decision on the dismissal was therefore not so unexpected, because I could interpret the long silence of the ministry in only one way. I will deal with some more concrete conclusions, as I said, as well as my further steps and activities in the coming period", is the only thing that Jugoslav Pantelić wants to say about the aforementioned decision of the Government.
The reason why the Government of Serbia decided to replace Jugoslav Pantelić is not in his management of the Cinematheque.
What has been achieved
Pantelić has been the head of the Yugoslav Cinematheque since 2016. He initiated a large and one of the most important projects, A1 Kinoteka, a digital restoration of domestic feature films, which has preserved close to 40 classics from their decay until now. Some of them were shown in the prestigious program of the Cannes Festival "Cannes Classic", as well as at the festival in Berlin. At the Cannes Film Festival last year, the Association of European Film Archives and Cinematheques (ACE) granted support for a joint restoration project led by the Yugoslav Cinematheque. During Pantelić's mandate, the Yugoslav Cinematheque signed numerous agreements on cooperation with film archives from the region and Europe, participated in international symposia on film heritage, and received many awards.
Pantelić initiated "Our Film Museum", the first and only permanent museum exhibition in this area, which shows the development of Serbian and Yugoslav cinematography in a new light and in a contemporary way, covering the period from the prehistory of film to the end of the 20th century.
What did he do wrong?
And yet, the Government of Serbia decided that Jugoslav Pantelić should not be at the head of the Cinematheque, even though the Board of Directors chose him in a competition, and decided to lead this institution for a third term as well. Let's repeat, the Ministry reacted only now, more than a year and a half after he was elected.
In that period, this March, the Yugoslav Cinematheque went on strike "at the call of students, wanting to remind the public and competent institutions of the urgency of fulfilling student demands, which they accept as their own, as well as those who are actively articulating themselves in the domain of culture," the notice said at the time.
And experience proves that the local Government does not forgive that.
