BELGRADE (Reuters): Serbia sold a famed Yugoslav-era film studio on Wednesday for eight million euros ($8.59 million), signing away the rights to an archive of classic cinematography over the protests of filmmakers and cinema buffs. Founded in the wake of World War Two by Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito, Avala Film produced or co-produced hundreds of movies including a host of much-loved classics including the 1967 winner of the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, "I Even Met Happy Gypsies". The studio, located on a hill on the outskirts of Belgrade, fell into disrepair with the collapse of the Yugoslav federation in war in the 1990s.
Bankruptcy proceedings began in 2011, drawing warnings from Serbia's film community that the state risked losing a valuable part of its national heritage. As the sale neared, a petition was started seeking to exclude the film archive from the privatisation process, without success.