Aleksandar Petrovic (film director)

Aleksandar "Saša" Petrović (14 January 1929 – 20 August 1994) was a French-born acclaimed Serbian and Yugoslav film director who was one of the leading European directors in the 1960s and one of the major figures of the Yugoslav Black Wave. Two of his films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film : Three in 1966 and I Even Met Happy Gypsies (Feather Gatherers) in 1967. “I Even Met Happy Gypsies” (“Skupljaci perja”) is the first movie that presents the existence of Gypsies in society and in everyday life. It is also the first full-feature film where Gypsies speak their own language, Roma. Most roles are interpreted by real Gypsies; this is their movie. “As a child, I observed them and saw in these people faith and irrationality,” said Petrović “I Even Met Happy Gypsies” won the FIPRESCI Prize and the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. It also received a nomination for a Golden Globe. In 1967 Petrović was a member of the jury at the 17th Berlin International Film Festival.

One of his most famous films is It Rains in My Village. Petrović found inspiration for this film in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Possessed. The film was nominated for a Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival

In 1973, Petrović was forced to leave his post at the Belgrade Film Academy after being accused of holding anti-communist views by the communist government of Yugoslavia. In late December 1989 he joined the founding committee of the Democratic Party in Serbia, the first opposition anti-communist party in Serbia.