The Yugoslav Film Archive

Jugoslav Pantelić has been the Director of the Yugoslav Film Archive, the State Audiovisual Archive of Serbia, since 2016. Pantelić has a master’s degree in Multimedia Arts. He has been the Art Director and selector of the Belgrade International Film Festival (FEST) since 2014 and is a member of the European Film Academy (EFA). He represents Serbia in Eurimages, the Co-production Support of the Council of Europe, and he is a member of the Council of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. At the General Assembly of the Association of European Film Archives (ACE) in Bologna, he was elected to the Executive Board in 2017, being their member in two terms of office (2018-2022).

As the Director of the Yugoslav Film Archive, he initiated the first great phase of digital restoration of Serbian feature films, and some of the restored films were screened at the Cannes Film Festival, in the Cannes Classics Selection. He presided the Working Group for drafting the first Serbian Law on Film and Other Audio-Visual Heritage, which was adopted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in September 2023. In January 2020 he opened the permanent exhibition of the Yugoslav Film Archive, Our Film Museum, which the National Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) declared as the best museum in Serbia the same year. The permanent exhibition includes the Bequests of Milena Dravić, Dragan Nikolić, Velimir Bata Živojinović, Ljubiša Samardžić, Živojin Pavlović, and Pavle Vuisić. He initiated publication of the specialized film magazine Kinoteka, which provides texts by national and foreign film critics, film theorists and authors, as well as the Yugoslav Film Archive monthly film program. Also, he launched the project Conversations in Kinoteka, a series of professional and theoretical-critical interviews with eminent film professionals of Serbian cinema.

Jugoslav Pantelić is the Artistic Director of the Belgrade International Film Festival FEST, with the longest single term of office in the Festival’s history. He introduced a competitive aspect to FEST, and the Belgrade Victor Award for contribution to film art, as well as the Nebojša Đukelić Award. Pantelić was a member of the FEST Council for two terms and chaired the Council in 2005. He has been a film selector for festivals in Paris, Novi Sad and Palić, as well as a member of the jury of many international film festivals.

Pantelić was a longstanding Executive Director, Executive Producer and Editor, film program editor and film critic of the television broadcaster Studio B in Belgrade. He is the author of hundreds of exclusive interviews with the most significant national and international filmmakers, actors, and actresses.

Pantelić received the Award of the City of Belgrade for journalism, as well as the FEST Silver and Golden Plaques. In 2022 the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of France honored Pantelić with the Order of Arts and Letters in the rank of Knight.