"The Guardians of the Formula" (credits Aleksandar Letić)
The new movie by Dragan Bjelogrlić “The Guardians of the Formula” will have its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival, in Switzerland, making it the very first movie from the Balkans to have its world premiere within the Piazza Grande Program. The original story of a potential nuclear crisis in socialist Yugoslavia was produced by Cobra Film and United Media with the support of Euroimages, Creative Europe Media, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the Film Centre Serbia, Film Centre of Montenegro, Slovenian Film Centre, and North Macedonia Film Agency. Art Vista is in charge of the distribution of the movie.
“The invitation to the main feature film lineup of Lucarno’s Piazza Grande is an extraordinary recognition to all of us who have worked on this movie, and it absolutely provides an exceptional opportunity for another forgotten story from our history to face the shining lights through the big stage,” said Dragan Bjelogrlić.
The true story of an accident in Vinca in 1958 is a film adaptation of Goran Milašinović’s bestseller “The Vinča Case” whose screenplay is signed by Vuk Ršumović and cowritten by Ognjen Sviličić and Dragan Bjelogrlić. In the midst of the Cold War crisis, a group of scientists from the Vinca Institute conduct a secret project led by Professor Dragoslav Popović. Due to unforeseen circumstances, they get exposed to a lethal dose of radiation resulting in the Yugoslav secret police taking them to the Curie Institute clinic in Paris for treatment.
The main cast include Radivoje Raša Bukvić, as well as famous French actors Alexis Manenti, Olivier Barthélémy and Anne Serra. The director of the Vinča Institute, Pavle Savić is portrayed by Predrag Miki Manojlović, while Dragan Bjelogrlić portrayed Aleksandar Leka Ranković, the chief of the Yugoslav state security agency. The roles of the young Yugoslav scientists the director gave to actors Jovan Jovanović, Alisa Radaković and Ognjen Mićović.