02/02/2024 - The life story of an unlikely music star from the 1990s, Džej Ramadanovski, has sold over 267,000 admissions in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia, and opens this week in Croatia

Following in the footsteps of Dragan Bjelogrlić's blockbuster Toma [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], about a legendary Yugoslav folk singer, which sold over 675,000 admissions in 2021 (see the news), and the recent surprise hit 3211 [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Danilo Bećković and Andrijana Stojković (see the news), Serbian cinema currently has another music-themed biopic breaking the box office.

Sunday, directed by Nemanja Ćeranić (Loan Shark [+see also:
film review
interview: Nemanja Ćeranić
film profile]) and co-directed by Miloš Radunović (Storm), has sold over 267,876 admissions, grossing €1.2 million after two weeks on release in Serbia and Montenegro and one week in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is set to open in Croatia this week.

The film is a biopic of Džej Ramadanovski, an unlikely star of the music scene in turbulent 1990s Serbia, who died in 2020 at the age of 57. A short, bald Roma man, played here by musician-dancer Husein Alijević, broke out with a series of hit turbo-folk songs and ballads in 1991. The 140-minute film spans his life from growing up in a juvenile correctional facility, through petty thieving in Belgrade's concrete jungle, to his first hits, after which he became one of the biggest stars on the scene.

This true rags-to-riches life tale caters well to regional, and especially Serbian, audiences' appetite for content dealing with the criminal milieu of the era, but also that of the present day, like in Miloš Avramović's two South Wind films or the TV series Besa and Legacy, and the more politically orientated shows such as The Clan and Civil Servant. Movies such as Ćeranić's own Loan Shark and Luka Mihailović's Indigo Kristal, meanwhile, offered a somewhat artier approach to the theme.

The film's title is a reference to the ballad “Nedelja” (lit. “Sunday”), one of the most famous songs by Džej (pronounced “Jay”), which is still hugely popular in the region.

Belgrade-based Art Vista first opened the film in Serbia on 65 screens, to then expand to 100, including Montenegro and Bosnia, in the second weekend. This week, it heads via distributor Con Film to Cineplexx cinemas in Croatia, which are second in terms of the number of screens to Cinestar in the territory. 

Sunday is a production by Belgrade-based Pelicula Films, with the participation of public broadcaster RTS and with support from Film Center Serbia.