The Resilience of Montenegrin Cinema and Its Global Stars

By the ULTIMATE Podgorica Editorial Team

The socialist era, Lovćen Film and social satire (1945–1990)

After the Second World War, film-making in Montenegro began in state-run companies, with Lovćen Film, founded in Cetinje in 1949, as the pioneer. Documentaries and the great Yugoslav partisan epics came first, but Montenegrin film-makers soon earned a name for breaking the mould.

By the 1970s and 1980s they were known for a cinema all their own: surreal and poetic, darkly funny and unflinching about patriarchal custom and the hypocrisies of the day.

The modern and international era (1990s–present)

The break-up of Yugoslavia brought hard economic years, but also a new artistic independence. Since 2006 Montenegro has built its own film institutions, led by the Film Centre of Montenegro (FCCG), and its cinema has flourished.

Working in European co-productions, today’s Montenegrin film-makers reach far beyond local stories, and in 2026 they took one of the top prizes at Sundance.

Must-watch films: the early history and the golden age

To understand Montenegro’s cinematic lens, start with the early history, then the golden age of satire and the new films of today.

• There Is No Resurrection Without Death (Vaskrsenja ne biva bez smrti, 1922): written by Vladimir Popović and made with an Italian studio, it is counted as the first Montenegrin feature film. Only fragments and stills survive, and the Montenegrin Cinematheque has reconstructed it.
• The Peaks of Zelengora (Vrhovi Zelengore, 1976): Zdravko Velimirović’s partisan epic, set in the Zelengora mountains of Bosnia, won the Golden Arena for best screenplay at Pula.
• The Beauty of Vice (Ljepota poroka, 1986): Živko Nikolić’s darkly funny masterpiece sets the strict codes of the Montenegrin hinterland against the new world of tourism on the Adriatic coast. It is still a regional touchstone.
• In the Name of the Father and the Son (U ime oca i sina, 1999): Božidar Nikolić’s powerful, darkly satirical drama follows a Montenegrin village family as a son comes home changed by the wars of the 1990s.

Must-watch films: the contemporary masters

• The Kids from the Marx and Engels Street (Dječaci iz Ulice Marksa i Engelsa, 2014): Nikola Vukčević’s moving drama of two brothers, music and an old vendetta in Podgorica was Montenegro’s official Oscar submission.
• Black Trumpet (Crna truba, 2026): Bojan Stijović’s first feature, starring Momčilo Otašević and Marko Janketić and filmed in the village of Grahovo, a drama of brothers, tension and the weight of the past.
• To Hold a Mountain (2026): Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić’s documentary follows a mother and daughter determined to keep their way of life on a high Montenegrin mountain. It won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for documentary at Sundance.

The great directors and film stars

Montenegro has given the screen legendary directors and actors known for their character work, comic timing and dramatic weight.

• Živko Nikolić: widely regarded as the most important Montenegrin director, with an unmatched gift for taking apart local myths, traditions and human flaws in a mix of cruelty, love and surreal satire.
• Veljko Bulajić: born in Vilusi in 1928, he became one of the most famous directors of Yugoslavia, master of the star-studded wartime epic, among them the Oscar-nominated The Battle of Neretva (1969).
• Veljko Mandić (1924–1988): a master of character acting with a raw, rugged presence, the face of the Montenegrin highlander in more than fifty films, from The Peaks of Zelengora to The Marathon Family.
• Mima Karadžić: one of the most popular Montenegrin actors and producers, famous for television comedy, above all Budva na pjenu od mora, which he created and stars in.
• Momčilo Otašević: a leading star of Montenegrin film and theatre, as at home in independent cinema, from The Kids from the Marx and Engels Street to Black Trumpet, as in television drama across Montenegro, Croatia and Serbia.
• Dubravka Vukotić: a respected actress of great dramatic depth, at the heart of many of the country’s post-war film and stage productions.

The Herceg Novi Film Festival

Montenegro’s main stage for cinema is the Herceg Novi Film Festival – Montenegro Film Festival, whose roots go back to 1987. Every summer it screens under the stars in the town’s old fortresses, Kanli Kula and Forte Mare, above the entrance to the Bay of Kotor.

As Montenegro’s national film festival it brings together feature and documentary film-makers from across Europe, and its Grand Prix, the Golden Mimosa, is the prize every young regional director hopes for.

Our advice: book a room in Herceg Novi for festival week, arrive early for a good seat on the stone terraces of Kanli Kula, and stay on for the late-night screenings when the bay goes quiet.

Kanli Kula →   Forte Mare →   Herceg Novi: our guide →   Montenegrin Cinematheque →

The Hollywood diaspora

Actors, image-makers and animators of Montenegrin heritage have left a lasting mark on Hollywood and world cinema.

• Milla Jovovich: the actress, model and musician, born to a Montenegrin physician father, became an action icon in Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element and led the Resident Evil films.
• Bojan Bazelli: born in Herceg Novi in 1957, the cinematographer behind the haunting images of Gore Verbinski’s The Ring and A Cure for Wellness, and of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
• Dušan Vukotić: born in Bileća to a Montenegrin family, the great animator of the Zagreb School won the Oscar for best animated short at the 1962 ceremony for Ersatz (Surogat): the first time it went to a film made outside the United States.

Croatian cinema and the Zagreb School →   Montenegro on film →   A festival that began outdoors: how Podgorica goes to the movies →   Balkan Cinema: our long read on the whole region →

Questions and answers