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urbaNS

Video and TV production 
Vojvodanskih Brigada 17, Novi Sad
+ 381 21 20487
urbans@eunet.yu

• About the urbaNS

The video and TV production urbaNS, founded by the end of 1997 as part of the Radio diffused company urbaNS d.o.o. Novi Sad, has primarily been occupied with the production of documentary films of political character on the territory of present and former Yugoslavia.

FOUR FILMS FROM MONTENEGRO: 1. the inauguration of president Milo Dukanovic, January 1998, 2. the parliamentary elections, May 1998, 3. one year of the new government, January 1999, 4. demand for redefining relations between Montenegro and Serbia, August 1999,      

TWO FROM KOSOVO: 1. a dialogue of two Albanian and two Serbian students, March 1998 (beginning of armed conflicts), 2. a monologue of the same students who would no longer sit at the same table, January 1999,

THREE FROM VOJVODINA: 1. ten years of yogurt revolution (abolishment of Vojvodina’s autonomy), October 1998, 2. Vojvodina after the bombs, August 1999, 3. Vojvodina a year after the bombs, March 2000,

ONE FROM BOSNIA: Brcko – the divided city, August 1998,

ONE FROM CROATIA: return to Croatia  (Knin), May, June 1998.

The video and TV production urbaNS is also a branch office of the TV Montenegro for Vojvodina and of ANEM for Vojvodina. As part of the production for TV Montenegro, urbaNS reported for the OBJEKTIV program which has been broadcast since October 5th over the Montenegrin satellite, broadcast in Vojvodina over the cable television, and which, according to research, 57% of citizens in Vojvodina have in their homes, and also reported for the Montenegrin News. At the same time, each week urbaNS prepares a weekly report of happenings in Vojvodina, primarily political, of 25 minutes duration. The Vojvodina SAT program, beside the local stations in Vojvodina, is also broadcast on the Montenegrin satellite.

Alongside the production of documentary films and TV programs, urbaNS organizes speakers’ platforms, round tables, actions, as well as production of music editions.

SPEAKERS ‘ PLATFORMS over the past three years have been organized in Novi Sad (Cultural Center), and in other towns of Vojvodina. They were dedicated to discussions of current political topics and adequate documentary films were shown, most frequently in the B92 production.

ACTIONS: urbaNS against the war and mobilization in March of 1998 when the armed conflicts in Drenica on Kosovo had began, included passing out pamphlets with the context of urbaNS against the war and mobilization on seven languages, including Albanian, writing graffiti on walls in Novi Sad, a questionnaire with citizens on the streets of Novi Sad and Pristina and all recorded on a video camera, out of which a short film has been made.

The urbaNS campaign for the elections 200 in September 2000 VOTE LOUDLY 2000 had several parts:

1. A documentary film with shots from the territory of present and former Yugoslavia from 1988 to present, with the accent on the activities of Slobodan Milosevic and his wife, intersected with short answers of citizens from Vojvodina on what they regard as loud and can they say out loud what they think.

2. Confessions of citizens in Vojvodina who in, past ten years, as the result of the former regime politics, have been fired, beaten, went to wars, were arrested…

3. Passing out pamphlets, posters and  T-shirts

4. Concert of the Obojeni Program group in Novi Sad

5. Street action of conducting a poll among citizens on which word marked the past ten years of their lives. They would write it down on a white piece of paper and a video camera would record it.

The campaign including all of the above took place in seven towns of Vojvodina (Novi Sad, Sombor, Subotica, Zrenjanin, Indija, Kikinda, Senta). During the action in Subotica, the crew of urbaNS was taken into a police station.

In coproduction with non-governmental organizations Panonija and Center for regionalization from Novi Sad, urbaNS joined in the campaign for the second round of provincial elections (a documentary film about Vojvodina for the past 12 years).

In the area of music editions, urbaNS is the executive producer on the last CD of the Obojeni Program group from Novi Sad. 

• Description of the projects

An hour program TU SASVIM BLIZU (Here, Very Close By) would combine three segments:

1.       30 minutes of filmed and assembled material

2.       20 minutes of conversation with guests in the studio

3.       10 minutes of open telephone line for the viewers.

Basic themes which we would work on in the mentioned program would primarily be on the normalization of relations with our neighbors (ex Yu and other countries), which includes the return of refugees, the largest number being in Vojvodina, to Croatia and Bosnia, but also of those who, as inadequate, under the pressure of Srpska radikalna stranka (The Serbian Radical Party) and Vojislav Seselj at the beginning of the 90s had to leave Vojvodina (Croats, Hungarians, but also “bad” Serbs). Alongside the return of people to their homes, we would follow the normalization of any other relation – economical, cultural, in sports. The second large area we would deal with because it is “here, very close by” or, for some, quite far away would be the neighboring Montenegro with which Vojvodina, according to statements of Nenad Canak, the president of the Vojvodina Parliament, wishes directs cooperation. In addition, there is the unresolved question of Kosovo about which the new government speaks rarely and then negatively; very close, at least that is our opinion, is the Hague, or any other court before which all those who have conducted crime in the name of one people must sit and take the responsibility. Since it is taking the new government a long time to come around to those questions, we believe that it is up to the independent journalists and representatives of the non-governmental sector to deal with these “inconvenient” questions without which there is no return to the normal civil flow.

The choice of a topic for each program would depend on the current events, which would also determine our choice of guests in the studio. If a topic should be of a more complex nature, it would be dealt with in several programs so that some programs would simply be the continuation of the previous, similar to a serial to which we would give a special tittle.

TV production urbaNS, alongside the project it wishes to start, has each Saturday on the satellite program of TV Montenegro,TV Novi Sad, TV ANEM and on local stations in Vojvodina a 25 minutes program about political happenings in the previous week, which until October 5th was the only source of objective, true and timely information in picture and word for citizens of Vojvodina. The former opposition parties, primarily LSV and Nenad Canak had financially helped to a great extent in the production of such a program. According to their claims, by coming to power the deal is  done and there is no longer a need for programs of this type. For us, and obviously for citizens who call us every day asking if and where they can watch our program, the need for a project like this very much exists. This is why we have decided, despite the nonexistence of a budget, to continue with the production of such a program, which is the only week overview in Vojvodina with only one principle and editorial politics – objectivity and professionalism.

TV program MULTITOWN is a program on culture, which will continuously follow events, occurrences and people in culture in Vojvodina and further. Additionally, it will open space for dealing with certain themes in arts and culture from the analytical and research aspect. In the past ten years it was in arts and culture where one could detect first societal and political changes on these territories. Therefor, we find it important to open questions about the responsibilities of artists and creators of the national cultural politics that contributed to conflicts and wars on territories of former Yugoslavia. On the other hand, if we speak of a society that longs for democratic principles and standards, it must have a clearly defined cultural politics where there will be space for national and alternative culture, and for culture of minorities in their language. The populist culture dominant in the FRY for past ten years, which inaugurated Slobodan Milosevic, has had as basic characteristic uniformity, non-acknowledgement of other and another opinion, specially of those who came from the alternative urban scene or minority ethnic, linguistic and cultural groups. The situation we are facing now could be marked as the existence of two completely separate and conflicting arts and cultural scenes. On one side is the culture and art “in the service of certain politics or political party” – still with the undersign of the populist culture.  On the other side is the alternative scene which, for past ten years, “has given resistance to the directed politics of the regime in culture”. This second art and cultural practice is still not getting enough space in the media nor is it valued in an adequate manner. A similar situation is with the culture and art created in languages of national minorities in Vojvodina. Considering the national structure of population in Vojvodina, the program MULTITOWN will objectively present relevant events and occurrences in culture and art not only among Serbs, but also among Hungarians, Rumanians, Ruthenians, Slovaks and other national minorities in Vojvodina. In preparations and production of each program journalists and associates of all ethnic groups living in Vojvodina will take part.

It is planned for the program on culture to be bilingual, i.e. for journalist to make supplements in their own language (Serbian, Hungarian, Rumanian, Ruthenian or Slovakian) with subtitles of translations from one language to another. A certain topic would be viewed from the perspective of the “majority” and the perspective of the “minority”. In the so far experience of the electronic media in the FRY, especially in Vojvodina, viewers have had the opportunity to watch a program on culture in one language only (Serbian, Hungarian, Rumanian, Slovakian, Romanic or Ruthenian), which would only in cases of great cultural art manifestations be translated in other languages.

The half-hour cultural program MULTITOWN would include four segments:

1. 15 minutes of filmed and edited material on a certain topic from culture or arts;

2. 5 minutes of edited material as part of the theme block “a look behind” on happenings in the previous week on the cultural scene in Vojvodina;

3. 5 minutes of edited material as part of the theme block “a look ahead” on events which will take place in the following week on the cultural scene in Vojvodina;

4. 5 minutes of edited material with fono reports of correspondents from Belgrade, Podgorica, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Skoplje on happenings in culture within a week in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, BiH and Macedonia.

Considering that events and occurrences in culture and arts are still not adequately presented in the media and that the majority of appearances and happenings remain in the shadow of happenings in large cultural centers, specially after the September elections, through this program we would like to give attention to events in Vojvodina. On the other hand, we also find that this is the last moment for opening conversations on topics which have been “put under the carpet” for years and which have been hushed up with the explanation that “now is not the time for culture”. Some of the themes we would deal with in the mentioned program in the following period are grouped in these thematic blocks:

• The role of an artist in the “democratic revolution”,
• The Theatre of Sterija and politics,
• What is new and what is old in the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad?
• Who is who in the Writers Club of Vojvodina?
• Why do not politicians speak of cultural politics?

The choice of themes would be conditioned by current events; if the theme is complex, it would be dealt within several programs, and so some of the programs would be a continuation of the previous, similar to a serial.

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P.O. Box, CH-8031 Zürich, Switzerland
Phone +41-1-272 46 37,  Fax +41-1-272 46 82, email: info@MEDIENHILFE.ch