Exclusive: Altered Innocence Secures Restoration of Srđan Karanović’s Virgina for Release This Fall

      We are thrilled to exclusively announce that Altered Innocence has obtained the North American rights to Virgina (Virdžina), the highly regarded 1991 film by renowned Serbian director Srđan Karanović. The newly restored film will have its World Restoration Premiere at the Frameline LGBTQ+ Film Festival.

      Finished in June 1991 as Yugoslavia was engulfed in war, Virgina was essentially lost for decades amid the chaos that followed the country's disintegration. Once hard to access and seldom screened, the film was rediscovered in France by queer film historian and filmmaker Jenni Olson, who found the surviving film elements and revived interest in the work. After this discovery, Belgrade-based rights holder Centar Film began a new 2K restoration in collaboration with the Yugoslav Film Archive, allowing this significant film to reach audiences once more after many years.

      The 2K restoration was completed by the Department for Digitisation and Digital Restoration at the Yugoslav Film Archive in Belgrade. The film was scanned from a 35mm internegative with an ArriscanXT scanner using archival gate overscan, with color corrections done by Masha Badalić under the supervision of director Srđan Karanović. The audio was taken from the original 35mm mono sound negative and restored by the Sound Department of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad.

      Set in the rugged mountains of a 19th-century Balkan village, the story follows the birth of a fourth girl to a poor family “cursed” by superstition to have no boys. In a society where family honor supersedes individual desire, the baby girl is raised as “virdžina” Stevan, inheriting the rights and responsibilities of a boy to become the family's sole heir. “Better a rooster for a day than a hen for life,” her mother remarks. As Stevan matures into a handsome young man with a burden of expectations, the stirrings of first love and tragedy in the village lead him to rebel against the predetermined role he has been assigned. Virgina (Virdžina) provides an engaging insight into the dynamics of misogyny, gender, and sexuality in late 19th-century Serbia, unfolding as a sensual and haunting narrative about identity, duty, and defiance—a confrontation between strict traditions and the irresistible pull of self.

      “Virgina feels remarkably contemporary for a film made more than three decades ago,” stated Frank Jaffe, founder of Altered Innocence. “Its examination of gender, identity, and societal expectations remains profoundly relevant, while its journey from obscurity to rediscovery enhances its impact. We are privileged to help bring this extraordinary and long-unavailable film to North American audiences.”

      Altered Innocence plans to release the film theatrically in the Fall after its World Restoration Premiere at Frameline.

      The agreement was negotiated directly between Altered Innocence and Centar Film.