The second half of May in the world of film will certainly be marked by the upcoming, 76th Cannes Film Festival, which will begin on May 16th and last until May 27th. In the program entitled Cinéma de la Plage, the restored version of the classic Cannes winner, Underground by Emir Kusturica from 1995, will be screened.

It is a 4K restoration done by TF1 Studio, with the support of the French fund CNC, based on the original film copy and original sound. It is planned that the film will again be part of the repertoire in French theatres this year. It will be presented in Cannes by the French distributor, Malavida Films.

It is a story about families hiding in underground chambers during the Nazi occupation of Belgrade. With the help of an adventurous profiteer, they produce weapons for the Resistance. This business continues even after the war, because their “benefactor” shows them fictitious reports about German victories, in order to maintain underground production and further enrich himself. He also manages to convince his best friend to stay underground so he can keep the girl they both love all to himself. Twenty years pass and during an underground wedding, some of the cheated find a way out to the upper world. And if the year is 1961, they believe that the Nazis are still… Some of these patriots, including two former friends, will find themselves fighting in Slavonia decades later, in 1991.

Emir Kusturica directed “Underground” based on Dusan Kovačević’s script. The director of photography was Veljko Filač, and the author of the music was Goran Bregović. The film was edited by Branka Čeperac, set designer is Miljen Kreka Kljaković, costume designer is Nebojša Lipanović. The film stars: Predrag Miki Manojlović, Lazar Ristovski, Mirjana Joković, Slavko Štimac, Ernst Štocner, Srđan Todorović, Mirjana Karanović, Milena Pavlović, Danilo Bata Stojković, Bora Todorović, Davor Dujmović, Dragan Nikolić, Erol Kadić, Petar Kralj, Branko Cvejić , Josif Tatić…

The film is a co-production betweenFrance, Germany, Hungary and Serbia (local co-producers are Komuna and RTS). Underground won the “Palme d’Or” at the Cannes Film Festival.

More about this classic can be found here.