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"Finding Belgrade" Featured at Film Festival

July 14, 2010 - WATERVILLE -- Day's Store owner Diane Oliver couldn't find the time to make it for Sunday's world debut of "Finding Belgrade" at the Maine International Film festival.

But, then, Oliver's demanding summer workload speaks to a primary quality of this town in the heart of the Belgrade Lakes: during the summer Belgrade's population of 4,000 nearly doubles as people from across the country return to enjoy the town's picturesque lakes.

Oliver won't be able to break away for Saturday's screening of the documentary film -- 3:30 p.m. at Railroad Square Cinema -- either, but she can take solace in the fact the she was one of several residents featured in the movie by Serbian director Miodrag Kolaric.

Kolaric and his five-person crew late last year made Belgrade the final stop in their tour of the four Belgrades found in the United States.

Kolaric's purpose was to see what connections he could find between Belgrade, Serbia, the capital city of his homeland, and the small American towns that share its name.

The Serbian film crew also visited Belgrades in Minnesota, Montana and Nebraska.

Serb Vladimir Jelic is the narrator of "Finding Belgrade." A bearded, soft-spoken man, Jelic is eminently likeable in the film and clearly fond of his assignment.

From the initial stop at Belgrade, Minn. and the subsequent visits to the other Belgrades, the film quickly becomes a documentary about people and the warmth of those people in welcoming their Serbian visitors to their community.

At each Belgrade, Jelic goes into the homes and local shops to talk to residents about what their town is like and whether they have heard of Belgrade, Serbia -- the vast majority have not.

Jelic learns that the three Midwest Belgrades all got their names from Serbian railroad men who helped build the lines that went through those towns.

Maine's Belgrade, however, apparently got its name on the suggestion of resident John V. Davis in the late 1700s.

Davis, a world traveler, might have visited Belgrade, Serbia, but whether he did or not, he apparently was impressed by the return of Christianity to the city in 1774 after long domination by the Turks.

"Finding Belgrade," though, is far from an academic exercise in how communities are named.

At its essence, "Finding Belgrade" is a film about hospitality and the pride people have in the towns they call home.

Belgrade resident Laura Richter, who runs Belgrade Lakes Four-Seasons Cottages with her husband, Bob, would love to see the documentary.

Richter, who like Oliver is featured in the film, said she really enjoyed meeting Jelic and his fellow Serbs.

"He is very cute," she said of Jelic. "They were all so nice, the whole crew. They were just so down to earth."

But getting away from the job is tough this time of year, Richter said, echoing Oliver's sentiments.

"I've got two months to pay my mortgage," Richter joked.

by staff writer, Kennebec Journal, July 14, 2010

Lakes:
Regions: Belgrade


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