Svetozar Miletic was a respected lawyer, a member of the Hungarian Parliament, and a lifelong fighter for the rights and independence of Serbs in Austro-Hungarian Vojvodina. After being repeatedly politically condemned, his fight is continued by his daughter, the first female journalist in Serbia – Milica Miletic and Jasa Tomic, Miletic’s successor in the Serbian People’s Free Party who will declare Vojvodina’s annexation to the Kingdom of Serbia in 1918. This is a story about them and their struggle.
Director: Darko Bajić
Screenwriter: Milovan Vitezović
Producer: Lazar Ristovski
Executive producer: Zoran Janković
Camera: Zoran Jovanović S.A.S.
Set design: Dejan Anđelković
Costume: Boris Čakširan
Composer: Dejan Pejović
MakeUp: Aleksandar Rasinac
Cast:
Ljubomir Bandović, Žarko Laušević, Katarina Žutić, Anja Pavićević , Andrija Kuzmanović, Nikola Ristanovski, Milutin Mima Karadžić, Dragan Petrović Pele, Radovan Vujović, Ana Franić ,Arpad Mesaroš, Atila Girić, Aleksandar Matić, Ivan Bekjarev, Jovan Ristovski, Pavle Mensur, Isidora Janković…
About the series
,,The dramatic text by Milovan Vitezovic is not only an excellent screenplay for the series, which, while respecting the genre of biographically historical series, illuminates a part of Serbian history, it is a monumental drama about the unwavering belief in one’s ideals. Persistence in the struggle to preserve the tradition and uniqueness of the Serbian people is the light that illuminates and inspires future generations. The series about Svetozar Miletic is about a fighter who seeks justice for his people, but also about the influence of the powerful to create and remake history. The series is told through the vision of Svetozar’s daughter Milica, who not only preserved the ideals of her father, but was one of the pioneers in the struggle for the emancipation of women, both in the Balkans and in the world.Milica’s perspective brings a more layered and deeper reflection on the epoch and social relations of the 19th century, which represent the foundations of the modern Serbian state. With her strength, Milica was able to overcome not only her intimate conflicts and local political games that seek to undo everything Svetozar Milietic advocated, but also the aggression of major European powers whose interests were being broken across the Balkan nations. Through her struggle, she became a true heroine in the history of the Serbian people.”
director, Darko Bajić.
director, Darko Bajić.
About the Characters
SVETOZAR MILETIĆ
A lawyer, journalist, politician, and fighter for the autonomy of Vojvodina. One of the most significant and influential Serbian politicians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the second half of the 19th century. He served as the president of the Society for the Unification and Liberation of Serbia, based in Cetinje. He was also the mayor of Novi Sad, and after being removed from office, he continued his fight for Vojvodina through journalism as the founder and editor of the newspaper Zastava. Additionally, he was the founder and long-time president of the Serbian Liberal Party.
MILICA MILETIĆ
Svetozar’s daughter, journalist, activist, and one of the first advocates for women’s rights in the world. She was the first signed editor and owner of a newspaper in Vojvodina, and later in Serbia. She was supposed to study medicine in Switzerland and become the first Serbian female doctor, but due to life circumstances, mainly related to her father’s fate, she turned to journalism and politics. Milica Tomić grew up surrounded by politics and remained closely connected to it throughout her public career. She was one of six women who participated as delegates in the Grand National Assembly in Novi Sad in 1918. This was the first and only case of women’s political emancipation in the region at that time. She was deeply involved in women’s emancipation and education: besides founding and editing the magazine Žena and writing for numerous publications, she was active in various feminist associations and organizations. She was well-versed in global feminist movements.
JAŠA TOMIĆ
The political successor and son-in-law of Svetozar Miletić. Journalist, writer, war veteran, and politician. After marrying Milica Tomić, he became the editor of Zastava and continued Svetozar Miletić’s political struggle. At the Grand Assembly in Novi Sad in 1918, he proclaimed the unification of Vojvodina with Serbia, thus concluding the struggle that Miletić had initiated.
JOVAN JOVANOVIĆ ZMAJ
One of the greatest lyric poets of Serbian Romanticism. By profession, he was a doctor, but throughout his life, he was engaged in publishing and editing literary, political, and children’s magazines. Jovan Jovanović Zmaj was elected as the first vice president of the Serbian Literary Cooperative. Less known is the fact that he was also a political activist and a lifelong close friend of Svetozar Miletić.
MIHAJLO POLIT DESANČIĆ
He graduated in law in Vienna and studied politics in Paris. A polyglot and erudite, he was the closest associate of Svetozar Miletić and, after him, the most prominent Serbian politician of Vojvodina at the time. He edited the liberal newspaper Branik. He served as a deputy in both the Croatian and Hungarian parliaments, as well as a delegate in the Church-School Assembly in Sremski Karlovci. After Miletić’s party split into Radical and Liberal factions, he became the leader of the Vojvodinian Liberals. He was a great orator. In his youth, he was engaged in literature. He played a significant role in the political trials against Miletić, serving as his lawyer.
Trailer
Episodes
“Zastava”
Novi Sad, 1918. Milica Miletić breaks into the editorial office of the daily newspaper Zastava, which had been banned by the Hungarian authorities after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo. At that time, prominent Serbs were arrested, Serbian books were burned, and a decree was issued forbidding church bells from ringing, even at funerals.
As she steps into the newsroom, Milica recalls memories of her childhood and her father, Svetozar Miletić, one of the most significant political figures in the Balkans. Flipping through old issues, she remembers his fiery speech in the Hungarian Parliament in 1876 and his conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Kálmán Tisza, who offered him the position of consul in Croatia—on the condition that he hand over Zastava to others and withdraw from political life. He refused, and upon returning to Novi Sad, he was welcomed as a hero.
Milica: “The night that followed was decisive—not only for my father but for the fate of our entire family.”
“Fortuna”
Milica is preparing for her journey to Switzerland to study medicine. Svetozar was supposed to accompany her. But on that night in 1876, something happened that would prevent her departure forever.
In the middle of the night, the police stormed their house and arrested Miletić, despite his parliamentary immunity. The search lasted almost the entire night—they were looking for a list of volunteers for the Serbian-Turkish war.
After his arrest, Miletić was taken to the Fortuna prison. He was detained despite the absence of any formal charges. Meanwhile, his family and friends—Milica, Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, and Polit Desančić—collected letters of support. During a parliamentary session, Polit tried to appeal to the deputies to overturn Prime Minister Kálmán Tisza’s unlawful decision to imprison Miletić.
Milica: “As soon as I found out where they had taken my father, I went to Pest to see him, but they wouldn’t allow it. He was imprisoned in Buda, in a building called FORTUNA. ‘Fortune’—that’s what it means. What an irony: prison and fortune.”
“Woman”
Milica: “In 1918, during the war, I realized that we women shouldn’t just wait for the men to return for life in Novi Sad to start again. Thanks to women, families managed to survive during the war.”
Determined to fight for women’s emancipation and rights in Novi Sad, Milica Miletić sets out to relaunch Žena, a newspaper that had been banned in 1914. This decision brings back memories of the time when her father, Svetozar, was imprisoned. Back then, Miša Dimitrijević, Svetozar’s closest associate, convinced her mother, Anka, to sign an unfavorable contract for Zastava. Fearing sanctions, the newspaper adopted a more moderate stance, aligning itself with the regime.
Milica soon realizes that Dimitrijević had pressured Šandor into proposing to her, hoping to acquire Zastava as part of her dowry. Upon uncovering the truth, she breaks off the engagement and, alongside Jovan Jovanović Zmaj and Polit Desančić, travels to Pest to attend her father’s trial. The prosecution charges Miletić with high treason.
Polit desperately searches for a witness in Miletić’s defense—until Jaša Tomić, an activist aligned with Miletić’s political cause, steps forward.
Milica: “In times of war, hardship teaches us to adapt. Those who cling to the past are doomed. It seems that, throughout history, a woman’s greatest teacher has been adversity.”
“Famous”
Not even Polit’s brilliant defense of Miletić in court nor the argument that the prosecution, lacking evidence, was trying to convict him for his entire life could prevent the inevitable—Miletić was sentenced to five years in prison.
Everyone tried to help him, but neither appeals nor petitions were granted. After two years behind bars, hope was fading. Those familiar with the situation said it was all in vain. Only after the end of the Serbian-Turkish War, then the Russo-Turkish War, the Berlin Congress, and finally the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when things settled, did the moment come to work on his release.
Two years later, Captain Manojlović, the officer who had arrested Miletić, sought redemption by arranging an audience for Milica with the Emperor. Svetozar was finally freed—but his mental and physical health had been irreparably damaged. Meanwhile, the Liberal Party, led by Miletić, had fractured. Jaša Tomić took Svetozar’s side, breaking away at the party congress from the pro-Austro-Hungarian faction led by Dimitrijević. After the congress, Jaša Tomić proposed to Milica Miletić.
Milica: “At the start of the Great War, Jaša was arrested and sent to Serbian internment camps across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As the war neared its end and they began releasing prisoners, I went to the train station every day, hoping he would return alive from captivity.”
“Heroine”
1918. Jaša Tomić returns home alive from internment. After the breakthrough on the Salonika Front, Serbian forces advance toward Belgrade and Novi Sad. Milica takes Jaša to the *Zastava* printing house, which has resumed operations.
1890. Milica recalls how she and Jaša continued her father’s political struggle after his health deteriorated. In revenge, Dimitrijević publishes a love letter Milica had sent to Šandor when she was 17. The town mocks her, and Dimitrijević refuses to apologize or accept a duel. Tomić encounters him at the train station and, in a moment of rage, kills him.
1901. Svetozar Miletić dies after a long illness.
1918. The Serbian army liberates Novi Sad.
Milica: “That day, joy shone on the face of every Serb, man and woman alike. We greeted each other with ‘Serbia has risen!’ Even those who had never greeted each other before embraced. We were free, we were all Serbs. What was once dark is now light; in happiness, past suffering is forgiven and forgotten.”
At the Great Assembly, Jaša Tomić proclaims the unification of Vojvodina with Serbia.
Milica: “Yes, my dear father, this was the dream of your entire life, your ultimate ideal. You suffered, you endured, but now, at last, everything has been achieved.”
DIRECTOR
Darko Bajić
/director/
Darko Bajic graduated in 1982 with e feature film “Direktan prenos”. It was the first time a student graduated with a feature film. This achievement will be multi-award winner: a special jury award for the director’s debut at the Pula Film Festival, the Golden Gate of Pula for best production and dozens more awards at other festivals in Yugoslavia,
while the film won three official awards at the Mannheim International Film Festival.
Bajic directed the TV series “Sivi dom” (1984 – 1985), which became widely known throughout the former SFRY, and was a “springboard” for many young actors of the time. Feature films include “Zaboravljeni”, “Crni Bombarder”, “Balkanska pravila”, “Na lepom, plavom Dunavu” and “Bićemo prvaci sveta”.