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18 December 2022: With Faith in God

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With Faith in God
Mihajlo Al. Popović, 1932, 41 min
Serbo-Croatian with English subtitles
UK premiere of the restored version  

Introduced by Mina Radović  

In a time when film culture blossomed from the kino clubs to the king’s court, Belgrade’s cinephile Mihajlo Al. Popović, a graduate of commerce, turned to cinema with great love. He shot documentaries, founded the Yugoslav Film Club, and set up his own production studio MAP Film. Soon, however, it would be through his hand at directing that the pioneer of the era would emerge. His seminal work With Faith in God follows the suffering of a family in rural Serbia during World War I. It portrays the unique perspective of the mothers and children who stayed behind the frontline. By delicately expressing the trials brought upon the innocent and bringing out the endurance that only faith can provide, the film captivates and moves, resulting in one of the earliest and to this day most dynamic representations of spiritual life on film. Voted the greatest Yugoslav silent film and rediscovered to a standing ovation at Pordenone’s Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Popović’s highly conscientious, ascetic, and altogether sensitive work stands alongside Dreyer and Tarkovsky. With Faith in God is poetry at its best.  


This programme is part of the Liberating Cinema Film Series 2022. More info: www.liberatingcinema.org.uk.  

Special thanks to CHASE, Arts and Humanities Research Council UK, and Jugoslovenska Kinoteka, Belgrade.