The Serbian Academy Of Film Arts And Sciences has chosen veteran director Srdjan Karanovic’s Besa (Solemn Promise) as Serbia’s candidate for best foreign language film at the Academy Awards.

The co-production between Serbia’s Bas Celik, Slovenia’s Vertigo/Emotionfilm, France’s Asap Films, Hungary’s Tivoli Film Produkcio and Croatia’s Arkadena Zagreb is a period piece set in Serbia at the beginning of the First World War.

It tells the story of an impossible love between a Slovenian woman (Iva Krajnc) married to a Serbian teacher who has been drafted into the army, and an Albanian man (Miki Manojlovic) who gave a traditional Albanian promise – or besa - to take care of her.

The film was in official competition of the Moscow Film Festival and won the award of the International Film Clubs Federation.

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