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The Optimists (2006 film)

The Optimists
The Optimists poster.jpg
Promotional poster
Directed by Goran Paskaljević
Produced by Goran Paskaljević
Lazar Ristovski
Written by Goran Paskaljević
Vladimir Paskaljević
Starring Lazar Ristovski
Bojana Novakovic
Petar Božović
Nebojša Glogovac
Music by Aleksandar Simić
Cinematography Milan Spasić
Edited by Petar Putniković
Production
company
Nova Film
Release date
September 11, 2006 (2006-09-11)
Running time
98 minutes
Country Serbia
Language Serbian

The Optimists (Serbian Cyrillic: Оптимисти) is a 2006 Serbian black comedy film directed by Goran Paskaljević. The film, presented as five unrelated narrative sequences, was inspired by Voltaire's satire, Candide.The Optimists features an ensamble cast of Serbian actors with Lazar Ristovski appearing in all five storylines.

The film premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and was subsequently screened at several other film festivals, earning multiple awards. The 51st Valladolid International Film Festival named Ristovski Best Actor, and the film won the Youth Jury Award and the Golden Spike award as the best film of the festival. The Optimists was included as part of a retrospective exhibition on director Paskaljević at the Museum of Modern Art in 2008.

A large flood has almost destroyed a village. A hypnotist (Ristovski) comes to the village and speaks to the destitute inhabitants. Free of charge, the hypnotist offers to lift the villagers' spirits through hypnosis. The villagers doubt the hypnotist's noble motive and accuse him of an apparent theft. The police arrest, beat, and interrogate him.

A sleazy businessman (Tihomir Arsić) takes a young female employee (Bojana Novaković) to a rural area and rapes her. The girl's father (Ristovski) is upset and wants to kill the man. Fearing that the powerful businessman will fire him, the father apologizes to the businessman instead, implying the daughter was responsible for the assault and inconvenienced the businessman.

Ilija's (Viktor Savić) father Ratomir (Ristovski) recently died. Ilija gambles away the money saved for his father's funeral. He meets an old lady (Mira Banjac) recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. She has had a lucky streak on the slot machines ever since her diagnosis. Ilija joins her in hopes of rejoicing with her success.


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