At STADA GIS, many people know me as a great lover of cinema. Films are a subject I can talk about at length, and I am often asked to recommend something worth watching.

My love of film began early, when I was in the first or second grade of primary school. I was drawn to fiction, discovering new things and the power of storytelling. Film has always given me the opportunity to see and experience something I might never be able to encounter in real life.

For me, film can sometimes be an escape from everyday life, but not an escape into emptiness. Quite the opposite. The way we live does not allow us to go through every experience, meet every person or see every part of the world. Film gives us the opportunity, if only briefly, to live other people’s stories and see the world from a different perspective.

I mostly enjoy science fiction, dramas and thrillers. Science fiction is particularly close to me because, through imaginary worlds, I ask very real questions: Where are we going? What makes us human? How would we react if we encountered something completely unknown? That is why I love Alien, even though I generally do not like horror films. On the other hand, Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind is dear to me because it leaves us with the hope that an encounter with the unknown does not always have to lead to conflict.

I return to some films many times. One of them is 2001: A Space Odyssey. Sometimes I do not even watch the entire film, but only a scene I want to revisit. Music is also important to me. I believe it gives film another dimension and helps us experience the story more deeply.

I enjoy European cinema, particularly Almodóvar and the way he uses powerful images and striking characters to address the problems of Spanish society, in which I sometimes recognise something that also feels familiar to us. I also appreciate the films of Luc Besson, Wim Wenders, Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve, as well as Tarantino and his distinctive, twisted humour.

I also enjoy iconic Serbian films (Who’s Singin’ Over There?, The Marathon Family, The Elusive Summer of ’68, Balkan Spy...) and actors whom I consider unsurpassed (Bata Stojković, Pavle Vuisić, Dragan Nikolić, Zoran Radmilović, Milena Dravić...).

A good film helps me rest, regain my focus and cope with stress more easily.

I like films that stir emotions and stay with me long after they end. One such film is Apocalypse Now. I see Captain Willard’s journey upriver, ever deeper into war and human darkness, as a passage through the nine circles of hell. The closer he gets to Colonel Kurtz, the clearer the absurdity of war becomes, along with the extremes to which violence can drive a person. To me, this film is a warning to civilisation that killing does not provide a solution; it only gives rise to more killing.

I find a similar idea, presented in a different way, in Ad Astra. Brad Pitt plays astronaut Roy McBride, who travels ever deeper into space in search of his missing father and in an attempt to prevent a threat to Earth. Behind the space story, however, I see something much more personal: loneliness, the relationship between a father and son, and a man trying to understand himself. In both films, the journey into the unknown also becomes a journey into the human being.

I remember the Kozara, 20th October and Odeon cinemas, and especially the FEST film festival. When I was a child, my parents took me to the festival’s morning screenings at the Sava Center. I still keep my FEST tickets and catalogues. I also remember the era of video rental stores. Perhaps my need to own the films I love dates back to that period. Today, my collection includes more than 500 films.

If I had to choose just three films to recommend, they would be 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar and The Big Blue. All three provide a powerful audiovisual experience, but for me they also have something else in common. They speak about humanity, time, freedom, belonging and the boundaries we try to push.

For me, film is not a separation from life. It helps me take a break, regain my focus and see the world from a broader perspective. One lifetime may not be enough for every experience, but film gives us the opportunity, if only briefly, to live another one.

Despite all the possibilities offered by video streaming platforms today, the cinema remains a special place for me. Because of the big screen, the sound and that moment when the lights go down and, for two hours, everything else ceases to matter. That is why I would recommend that everyone, whenever possible, watch a good film not on a streaming platform, but in the place where film still lives best and is most beautiful to watch: the cinema.

So go to the cinema and surrender to the great illusion.