Cinema Komunisto

Over 35 years in power, Yugoslavia’s Marshall Tito watched a total of 8,801 films, or roughly 250 a year. In the same period, he built his country’s non-existent film industry up to the point where they could support major international productions, and a healthy output of homegrown cinema. This documentary looks at this process, and examines how Tito used the film industry to present a benign face to the outside world. It’s a fascinating tale, though director Mila Turajlic never digs quite deeply enough into the social or political realities of the period.