Some Social Organizations made announcement concerning the film “Parada”.
We should recall that in Armenia the film is not shown.
As reported, the statement said that the film is about human rights and it must be shown for the public.
“Our government must do appropriate steps in order to solve the issue. They must support human rights but not step on them. They must screen the film”, was written in the statement.
The “Parada” is a 2011 Serbian film, written and directed by Srđan Dragojević and released on 31 October 2011. The film, which deals with rights issues in Serbia, features footage of the 2010 Belgrade gay pride parade.
Despite the controversial subject, the Parade reached the number of 350,000 admission tickets sold in Serbian cinemas in first 11 weeks of distribution, 150,000 in Croatia after 8 weeks, 25,000 in Slovenia, 40,000 in Bosnia-Herzegovina and 20,000 in Montenegro.
The film introduces a group of gay activists, trying to organize a pride parade in Belgrade. Among them Mirko Dedijer (Goran Jevtić), a struggling theater director who mostly makes a living by planning lavish and kitschy wedding ceremonies on the side. Organizing such a parade is no easy task in Serbia as evidenced by the violence at the 2001 parade attempt. Now, almost a decade later, the situation is not much better – nationalist and right wing groups pose just as much threat so despite repeated attempts through official channels, Mirko is getting nowhere since the police refuses to secure the event. Mirko’s effeminate boyfriend Radmilo (Miloš Samolov) is a veterinarian – he is not nearly as political and is quite content keeping a low profile. Although the two try to live discreetly, both still experience various forms of abuse from the homophobic majority.
In parallel, we meet Miško Drašković a.k.a. Limun, a macho Serbian veteran of the Yugoslav Wars in his mid-to-late forties. No stranger to various criminal activity, divorced Limun now operates a judo club that doubles as a bodyguard agency (whose clientele mostly consists of controversial nouveau riche businessmen and female turbo-folk singers) while dating Biserka (Hristina Popović), a much younger, low-brow ditsy trophy girl who runs a beauty parlour. His son from a previous marriage Vuk (Relja Popović) works in an auto repair shop and is a member of a fringe right wing skinhead group that often engages in violence against gays.
The paths of the two couples cross. Radmilo performs a life-saving operation on Limun’s beloved bulldog, the victim of a drive-by shooting that served as warning to the dog’s master. Simultaneously, Biserka seeks out Mirko with a view of hiring him to plan out hers and Limun’s wedding. The eventual meeting of the two couples goes horribly wrong with Limun’s violent and homophobic side emerging, all of which serves as the final catalyst for Mirko (who already obtained an Immigrant Visa for Canada) to leave the country forever as well as for Biserka to leave Limun.
Biserka decides to stop all contact with Limun but calls Mirko in order to apologize. Radmilo picks up the phone and while learning of the cicumstances of Biserka’s and Limun’s situation realizes an opportunity and hatches up a plan. He then shows up at Limun’s agency/judo club offering Mirko’s services in organizing the wedding party for Limun and Biserka in return for Limun’s personnel securing the gay parade. Limun reluctantly accepts, and though Biserka returns to him as a result of the new development, he’s now got another problem as his staff members refuse to protect homosexuals. Put in a tight spot, Limun thinks of hiring his former enemies from the Yugoslav Wars. Limun and Radmilo embark on a recruiting trip all over ex-Yugoslavia.
They manage to sign up for their mission: Roko (45) a Croat war veteran who now runs a kafana, Halil (40) a Bosniak who owns a video rental parlour, and Azem (45), an Albanian from Kosovo who makes a living by selling drugs, mostly to the US troops stationed there.
