SERBIAN FREEDOM TRIP – When the Bass Was Louder Than the Bombs

Film Screening and All-Night-Long Party

Belgrade’s legendary techno and rave era comes to Budapest.

In the 1990s, while the breakup of Yugoslavia, wars, international sanctions and isolation shaped everyday life in Serbia, an extraordinarily vibrant electronic music scene emerged in Belgrade. Clubs became alternative spaces for freedom, self-expression and community. Through dancing and electronic music, a generation found refuge from a reality they were desperately seeking to escape.

This remarkable social and cultural phenomenon is explored in Pavle Terzić’s 2023 documentary, Bajka bespovratnog vremena (Irreversible Time Fairy Tale), a 125-minute film.

The documentary is not simply a historical overview of Serbian techno and rave culture. It reconstructs the collective memory of an era through the personal stories of those who experienced and helped shape it. Featuring 118 interviewees, the film brings the defining venues and personalities of Belgrade’s club scene back to life through archival footage, photographs and personal recollections.

The director’s original intention was to portray the socio-political reality of the 1990s from an unusual perspective: through club culture. One of the film’s most important insights is that rave was far more than just music and entertainment. For an entire generation, it offered a way to experience freedom, resistance and a sense of belonging.

Bajka bespovratnog vremena comes to Budapest as part of the SERBIAN FREEDOM TRIP event series, with two special occasions. On November 20, Premier Kultcafé will host a film screening, while on November 21, the screening at ATNO will be followed by an all-night club party lasting until morning. The event will feature some of the most influential DJs from Belgrade’s electronic music scene, who also appear in the documentary. Representing Budapest, DJ Budai will join the lineup, having maintained close ties with the Serbian techno scene throughout his own career.

SERBIAN FREEDOM TRIP is both a cinematic and musical encounter: an opportunity to rediscover the history of a unique Central European underground culture, not only on the screen but also on the dancefloor.

FILM SCREENING

Premier Kultcafé, Budapest

Starts at: 20:00

https://www.facebook.com/events/2088572871794934

The film will be screened in Serbian with English and Hungarian subtitles, followed by a Q&A session with the filmmakers.

FILM DETAILS

Title: Bajka bespovratnog vremena

International Title: Irreversible Time Fairy Tale

Director and Screenwriter: Pavle Terzić

Release Year: 2023

Genre: Music Documentary

Runtime: 125 minutes

TRAILER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgfTrom-euc