Srdjan Dragojevic’s Saint George Shoots The Dragon has been put forward as Serbia’s entry for the foreign-language Oscar after concerns that its first choice - Darko Lungulov’s Here And There - contained to much English dialogue.

The Serbian Academy of Film Arts and Sciences voted to put Here And There forward last week but then decided to consult the Academy’s executive director Bruce Davis, who advised that the film would not be eligible. Saint George Shoots The Dragon came second in the committee’s original vote.

The First World War epic is the most expensive Serbian film ever made with a budget of $8.9m (€6m) but was also the highest grossing title in the territory in 2009 with 123,786 admissions and $475,507 (SRD30m).