18.12.2015.

Premiere of the film "Seven men from the banks of the Drina River"

In the Conference Hall of the Yugoslav Cinematheque, a premiere of the documentary film "Seven men from the banks of the Drina River" has been shown today. The reason is clear. In the year of marking the centenary of the Great War, we remember once again this tragic anniversary.

"Seven men from the banks of the Drina River" is a documentary about seven Italians, young Garibaldi followers, volunteers in the First World War – Cesare and Ugo Koliza, Arturo Reali, Mario Korvizieri, Francesco Conforti, Nikola Goretti and Vincenzo Bucca. In the first days of the war already, they headed to Serbia and reported to the Serbian Army Command in Uzice with request to be assigned to a war unit. They fought bravely, but on the last day of the legendary Battle of Cer, at the height of Babina glava over the river Drina, five of them were killed, while two were seriously wounded. The Italian Embassy in Belgrade and the Ministry of Defence in 2002 installed a memorial plaque with their names on the big monument to the heroes of the Battle of Cer, at Tekeris.

The film was produced by Military Film centre "Zastava film" and film shooting was supported by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the General Staff of the Italian Armed Forces. That is why the today's joint ceremony was attended by representatives of the Italian Armed Forces and the local military leadership.

Head of the Public Relations Department Navy Captain Petar Boskovic presented letters of thanks for the assistance and contributions to the realization of the film to the Defence Attaché of the Republic of Italy in Belgrade Colonel Paolo Pappalardo, as well as the representative of the Italian Army General Staff Colonel Christian de Kiji.

Before the start of the projection the audience was addressed by Milos Jankovic, Acting Assistant Minister for Human Resources.

- I have the honour to remind you of the brave deed of seven Italians, brave Garibaldi followers to whom this film was dedicated. With deep piety we remember all heroes of libertarian wars who gave their lives for the ideals and values on which we build today the unity of nations, peace in the world and a better future for generations to come. Serbia is fully committed to the betterment in all areas of work and creativity. We are proud that this effort is appreciated by our friends in Europe and across the world. We wish good relations, cooperation and, above all, peace and stability, with all of them because Serbia, Europe and the world suffered so much, of course, the most of all in two world wars but also in other conflicts that we all wish to leave behind us, Jankovic said.

At the end of the film, Director Nikola Lorencin addressed the audience on behalf of the team that worked on this research project.

- Starting to shoot this film, we had some idea of what should we do and how are we going to do it, but we did not know which data and documents are we going to get hold of. So this was a real research project. I wish to emphasize that such examples of military cooperation are nice, necessary and valuable, because the military can deal with very noble and artistic creations, which fill both the heart and the soul, the Director said.