Belgrade-based Neda Lukić announced May 18 the launch of Films Mundi, a new boutique world sales and distribution company focused on carefully curated creative documentaries.
The new company will work with a carefully curated slate of internationally oriented auteur-driven documentaries, combining international positioning, festival strategy, sales and long-term distribution, Lukić told BDE.
“I wanted to create a space for projects that resonate with me personally — where, beyond experience and strategy, I can also invest genuine care and heart,” she added. “The idea behind Films Mundi is to work very closely with filmmakers and build thoughtful international journeys for each film.”
Among the first titles on the slate is Yugo Goes to America by Filip Grujić and Aleksa Borković, produced by Čarna Vučinić and Vanja Jambrović of Restart, whose recent production Fiume o morte! won the European Film Award for Best Documentary.
The film won last year’s FIPADOC Industry Best International Pitch Award before premiering this March at CPH:DOX, where all screenings were sold out. It is set to open this year’s Beldocs on 20 May.
Yugo Goes to America is described an absurd, humorous, unpredictable and slightly nostalgic debut road-movie adventure following a group of friends from the former Yugoslavia as they travel in a Yugo from New York to Los Angeles.
Through breakdowns, uncertainty and humor, the small socialist car once exported to Reagan-era America becomes much more than just a vehicle. From Yugomania to “the worst car in American history,” the Yugo transforms into a symbol of absurdity, nostalgia, cultural collision and an outsider’s perspective on the American Dream.
Before launching Films Mundi, Lukić spent several years at Taskovski Films, where she spent “several beautiful and intense years,” first heading up the festivals department before later working as sales & acquisitions executive on internationally-acclaimed documentaries which premiered at festivals including IDFA, Berlinale, CPH:DOX, Visions du Réel, Hot Docs, Thessaloniki and DOK Leipzig.
