Cinema Komunisto review

With Yugoslavia no more, it’s hardly surprising that its cinema isn’t better known – but once it thrived. Mila Turajlić’s doc resurrects an era where Hollywood stars appeared in propaganda pics, military service meant becoming an extra and dictator Marshall Tito’s projectionist screened a new film nightly for three decades.

Turajlić’s tantalising thesis – that movies set the mood for Tito’s virtual nation – is wry rather than rigorous; by avoiding difficult questions, it’s in danger of looking facile. Yet the irreverence pays off in some gobsmacking anecdotes, all backed by archive footage.