Parada

Turning transgression into a comedic principle, this turbulent farce that toys with clichés and stereotypes turned out to be an unexpected hit in Serbia and other ex-Yugoslavian countries. In PARADA a life-saving operation on a gangster’s pitbull terrier brings together two very different worlds: old school machismo meets gay obsession for interior design, homophobia meets overblown gender display as a number of former foes – Serbs, Bosnian Muslims, Kosovo-Albanians and Croatian war veterans – find themselves obliged to form a tenuous bond with a bunch of gay activists. This motley crew are sent on an impossible and probably suicidal mission to protect a fresh attempt to hold a Gay Pride parade from renewed and certain onslaught from nationalists and neo-Nazi organisations and make the event a success. Srdjan Dragojević’s film takes a look at survival strategies for gays in Serbia and at a society that even now, years after the Balkan war, is still fragmented and riven by two entrenched fronts. And, as one would expect from any comedy worthy of the name, no matter how tumultuous the plot, real-life tragedy is always hovering in the background, just a step away.