Guardians of the Formula

Guardians of the Formula (Serbian: Čuvari formule, Serbian Cyrillic: Чувари формуле) is a 2023 Serbian drama film directed by Dragan Bjelogrlić and written by Vuk Ršumović. It is based on the novel The Case of Vinča by Goran Milašinović, who was also a collaborator on the screenplay.

The film follows the aftermath of the 1958 reactor incident at Vinča Nuclear Institute and the subsequent treatment of irradiated Yugoslav physicists at the Curie Institute in Paris, which involved the first bone marrow grafts between unrelated donors and hosts ever made in the world.

Plot
In the midst of the Cold War crisis in October 1958, a group of scientists at the Vinča Nuclear Institute implemented a secret project led by professor Dragoslav Popović. Due to unforeseen circumstances, they are exposed to a lethal dose of radiation and are taken by the Yugoslav secret police to the Curie clinic in Paris for treatment.

The French medical team led by professor Georges Mathé concludes that their condition is critical and that their days are numbered. Although Mathé has dedicated his whole life to fighting against the possession of nuclear weapons and deeply despises the project which the Yugoslav scientists worked on, he proposes to carry out, for the first time in history, the delicate and uncertain intervention of replacing the bone marrow of irradiated patients.

Cast

 * Radivoje Bukvić as Dragoslav Popović
 * Alexis Manenti as Doctor Mathé
 * Ognjen Mićović as Života Vranić
 * Jovan Jovanović as Radojko Maksić
 * Alisa Radaković as Rosa
 * Lionel Abelanski as Doctor Jame
 * Jérémie Laheurte as Leon Schwarzenberg
 * Olivier Barthélémy as Derval
 * Miki Manojlović as Pavle Savić
 * Dragan Bjelogrlić as Leka Ranković
 * Anne Serra as Odette Draghi
 * Jean-Louis Coulloc'h as Raymond
 * Cédric Appietto as Pabion
 * Maja Čampar as Vera
 * Jurij Drevešenk as Aleš Babnik
 * Arnaud Humbert as Doctor 2
 * Ana Blagojević as Mrs. Mathé
 * Pierre-François Garde as Donor 1
 * Stanislava Jeftić as Sister Tijamet
 * Jérôme-Henri Cailleux as Donor 2
 * Jean-Baptist Demarigny as Doctor 1
 * Nikola Kmirnac as Paskal
 * Loren Rui as Gardener
 * Jovana Knežević as Sister Emili
 * Sara Novak as Doctor Simone
 * Nebojša Rako as Odette's husband
 * Laurent Rouy as Gardener
 * Predrag Lukić

Production
Filming lasted for about a year at authentic locations in Serbia, Slovenia and France in the period between 2022 and 2023.

Release
The world premiere of the film was held on August 4, 2023 at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland as part of the prestigious Piazza Grande program,  where it won two awards: the Variety Award for best film in the selection Piazza Grande and the Green Leopard Award given to films with the most compelling message. On August 15, 2023, the film was screened out of competition as part of the main program of the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival, while the premiere in Serbia was held on October 24, 2023.

The film has been seen by 100,000 viewers in Serbian cinemas as of November 9th, 2023.