After two and a half months of employee strikes over unpaid salaries, poor conditions of work, terrible state of the cinemas and frozen status at the National Agency for Privatization, leading Serbian exhibitor, state-owned Beograd Film has decided to re-open seven of its 14 theaters in the key city Belgrade today. The decision was made after the Agency for Privatization announced the tender for sale of the company for Feb 16.

'The theaters are ready and screenings will start without particular technical preparations because the equipment had been carefully maintained during the strike. The other seven cinemas that had not been working since before the strike because of unpaid electricity, heating and water bills will remain closed,' said Miroslav Cenic, head of Beograd Film. 'Although the union and a part of the strike board are still demanding additional guarantees from the Agency for Privatization, we do not want to welcome the new owner with these conditions.'

The initial price for the tender is set at only $6.5m (SD388,700,000) while the net worth of the company's capital is estimated at $26.7m (SD1.6bn).