BELGRADE: The newly-founded American/Serbian company Catalyst Studio is currently in production with two feature films and is prepping two more titles. All of them are to be entirely shot and post-produced in Serbia, and all are directed by women filmmakers. The production plans to apply for Serbia’s tax rebate scheme.

Catalyst Studio is led by Holly Levow, Mark Pennell and Paul Kampf, and its current investment in Serbia is over 13 m EUR. The four feature films are planned to be shot by the end of 2022 and will involve more than 800 professionals.

The projects cover different genres, ranging from action and psychological thrillers to magical realism adventure, with stories centered on female protagonists.

Switch & Bait, which is based on a script written by Russell Gewirtz (Inside Man), tells the story of a seemingly naïve call girl who escapes the clutches of a notorious gangster with a cell phone containing all his secrets. A tough female cop is given the job to get the witness.

Switch & Bait is directed by Michelle Salcedo and the key roles are played by Otmara Marrero and Katie Clarkson-Hill. Serbia’s Ivan Kostić is lensing. Switch & Bait is shooting 15 September – 24 October 2022.

Connie Nielsen plays the lead role in Follow Me, directed by Siri Rødnes and co-starring Sam Hunt and Stef Dawson. The film written by Catalyst’s Mark Pennell is a psychological thriller and it is lensed by Serbian cinematographer Bojana Andriić, SA. Follow Me is shooting 26 September – 29 October 2022.

Two more feature films are in advanced preproduction: the psychological suspense thriller Sybil directed by Joanne Mitchell and the action film Hitwoman directed by Mikal P. Lazarev.

Catalyst is also producing a six-part making of series, which will explore the creative, social and personal journeys undertaken by these female and non-binary filmmakers, also providing a roadmap for how to create more opportunities for women and other underrepresented talent in the film industry.

The sales of these projects will be handled by Highland Film Group.

The ordinance stipulated that for cars imported into Serbia after March 1, 2014, more rigorous conditions for measuring exhaust emissions apply than for those that were first registered in our country before that date. That would mean that different criteria are applied for two of the same vehicles, depending on the moment when they entered the Serbian market, Novosti writes.

Vlada Marinković from the National Association of Technical Inspections (NATEP) says that their organization has a confirmation from the Ministry of Transport that they will change these provisions, which introduced ambiguity. He estimates that they acted correctly in that, taking into account the opinion of relevant experts and institutions, they made such a decision.

– When it comes to measuring the emission of exhaust gases, the year of production will be looked at, and the data on when the vehicle was first registered in Serbia will not be important at all. Therefore, vehicles should comply with the prescribed limit values ​​in relation to the year of manufacture. These criteria in the Ordinance are the minimum requirements and they are more lenient than those provided by the factory – specifies Marinkovic.

Cars that are made without a catalyst, as he emphasizes, should not have it and will be able to register as long as they are maintained in good condition. On the other hand, car owners who have unauthorisedly repaired their vehicle by removing the oxygen sensor, catalytic converter and DPF filters, parts that are important for cleaning from harmful substances, will have a problem at the technical inspection.

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– In the last ten years, it is almost impossible to import a vehicle that lacks these parts, because the Traffic Safety Agency checks whether the car fully complies with the production characteristics from its COC certificate (certificate of conformity) – says Marinkovic.

THE OVALITY OF THE BRAKES WILL NOT BE MEASURED either

– The provision on measuring the ovality of brakes at the technical inspection, the application of which should have started on July 5, will be postponed or repealed – says Vlada Marinković from NATEP.

This is another good news for drivers. As “Novosti” wrote, it was predicted that this value must be less than 20 percent per point in order for the owners to be able to register the car, because otherwise it would be treated as defective.

Experts warned that the set limit was very rigorous and that a huge number of vehicles could not comply with it. The Ministry of Transport accepted these remarks as well.

By the way, these elements were often removed by the owners, because they caused them a problem in driving, if they got clogged or they were worn out and damaged. In some cases, they did it because they could sell them for about a hundred euros.

Marinkovic states that it is expected that from July 5, about 500 stations will be ready for technical inspection, which are equipped to work according to the new regulations, and that about 1,200 are currently active.

– Everyone who submits a request for opening by that date, will have 180 days to check whether they meet the requirements. The Ministry of Internal Affairs estimated that by the end of the year, about 700 to 750 lines will certainly be in operation, which they consider to be the minimum that is sufficient for normal work. According to our association, the optimal number would be 1,000, because no system can operate under maximum load – states the interlocutor.

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