Skinning (film)
| Skinning | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Stevan Filipović |
| Produced by | Branislav Jević |
| Written by | Stevan Filipović Staša Koprivica Dimitrije Vojnov Nataša Vranješ |
| Starring |
Nikola Rakočević Viktor Savić Bojana Novaković |
| Cinematography | Mihajlo Savić |
| Edited by | Stevan Filipović Nataša Vranješ |
| Distributed by | Hypnopolis |
|
Release date
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| Country |
 Serbia
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| Language | Serbian |
| Budget | €500,000 |
| Box office | €171,052 |
Skinning (Serbian: Шишање / Šišanje) is a 2010 Serbian film directed by Stevan Filipović. It premiered on 6 October 2010 in Sava Centar in Belgrade.
The film opens with actual news footage of protests in front of the American embassy in Belgrade following the Kosovo is Serbia protest rally that was held in response to the 17 February 2008 unilateral declaration of independence by ethnic Albanians inhabiting Serbia's southern province of Kosovo. This news footage is intercut with shots of the movie's main protagonist, skinhead Novica, protesting by leading chants and lighting flares in front of the embassy while he's also providing narration.
The story than backs up as Novica (Nikola Rakočević), a timid and geeky high school student with frumpy clothing and disheveled thick hair, is introduced. He lives in Belgrade where his life revolves around attending advanced math classes for gifted kids and taking part in math competitions. Due to his awkwardness around people, his social life is nothing to speak of - his only friends are his stoner cousin Mirko (Miloš Tanasković) as well as an even nerdier math colleague Stanislav (Vladimir Tešović).
At a math competition as the students are working away solving problems, Novica is pressured into cheating by Relja, a confident skinhead full of bravado who is also gifted at math, but doesn't quite possess Novica's math problem-solving skills. Relja is seated relatively close to Novica at the competition and is stuck on a question that he can't solve. Obviously flattered by the attention from a kid placed much higher on the high school social scale, Novica passes Relja the solution written on a piece of paper. The competition supervisor notices something untoward occurred and tells Novica to report the person he'd helped without penalty to himself. Wanting to cover for Relja, Novica purposely wrongly points out nerdy Stanislav as the recipient of his help, leading to the supervisor throwing both Novica and Stanislav out thus breaking her promise to spare Novica.
Outside, Relja is happy and impressed with Novica's behaviour under pressure, handing him a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf as well as extending an invite to a lecture by professor Hadži-Tankosić (Predrag Ejdus) at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Philosophy. Novica brings his cousin Mirko along who, dissatisfied with the right-wing, anti-Semitic overtones in professor's lecture, leaves early on. Novica, on the other hand, remains and is very much receptive to what he's hearing.
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