A great man is one who collects knowledge the way a bee collects honey and uses it to help people overcome the difficulties they endure - hunger, ignorance and disease!
- Nikola Tesla

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
- Franklin Roosevelt

While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
- Woodrow Wilson

Branislav Bala

Branislav Bane Bala (writer/director/producer) is a Serbian filmmaker based in New York City. He holds an MFA in film directing from Columbia University.

His short films have played worldwide. His short film Shades of Gray was distributed by Doug Liman’s Hypnotic Releasing, and his commercial spot Magic was a Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker’s Award selection. He co-produced two low-budget features: Across Dot Avenue and Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish. The latter was invited for a week-long run at New York’s famous Lincoln Center and opened to rave reviews. He has taught various film classes at the University of Hartford, The New School, Art Institute of Austin, Ramapo College and was the chair of the Film Department at Katharine Gibbs School. He often collaborates with his brother Nemanja. Their latest collaboration, a feature film “Love Hunter” premiered at the prestigious Warsaw Film Festival and was “among its highlights”, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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It opened in New York on November 14, 2014 and was among New York Times Critics’ Pick of the week. New York Times called it "at once fantastical and gritty… one of the most refreshing New York independent films." It was invited to screen at the prestigious Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. Kino Lorber, esteemed distribution company added the film to its catalogue.


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People Directory

Nenad Vukićević

Born: Jagodina, Serbia. Education: Graduated from University of Belgrade, Electrical Engineering. Emigrated to USA in 1984. Provides consulting and software development services in the area of embedded systems, systems software, and communications. President of the Serbian Unity Congress 2002-2005, former President of the local Serbian church Board in Saratoga for many years and provides web and Internet support for SUC. President, founder and creator of the Serbian Blago Fund. Married with three children, and resides in Los Altos, California.

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Publishing

Sailors of the Sky

A conversation with Fr. Stamatis Skliris and Fr. Marko Rupnik on contemporary Christian art

In these timely conversations led by Fr. Radovan Bigovic, many issues are introduced that enable the contemporary reader to deepen and expand his or her understanding of the role of art in the life of the Church. Here we find answers to questions on the crisis of contemporary ecclesiastical art in West and East; the impact of Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract painting on contemporary ecclesiastical painting; and a consideration of the main distrinction between iconography and secular painting. The dialogue, while resolving some doubts about the difference between iconography, religious painting, and painting in general, reconciles the requirement to obey inconographic canons with the freedom essential to artistic creativity, demonstrating that obedience to the canons is not a threat to the vitatlity of iconography. Both artists illumine the role of prayer and ascetisicm in the art of iconography. They also mention curcial differences between iconography in the Orthodox Church and in Roman Catholicism. How important thse distinctions are when exploring the relationship between contemporary theology and art! In a time when postmodern "metaphysics' revitalizes every concept, these masters still believe that, to some extent, Post-Modernism adds to the revitatiztion of Christian art, stimulating questions about "artistic inspiration" and the essential asethetic categories of Christian painting. Their exceptionally wide, yet nonetheless deep, expertise assists their not-so-everday connections between theology, ar, and modern issues concerning society: "society" taken in its broader meaning as "civilization." Finally, the entire artistic project of Stamatis and Rupnik has important ecumenical implications that aswer a genuine longing for unity in the Christian word.

The text of this 94-page soft-bound book has been translated from the Serbian by Ivana Jakovljevic, Fr. Gregory Edwards, and Andrijana Krstic. Published by Sebastian Press, Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Contemporary Christian Thought Series, number 7, First Edition, ISBN: 978-0-9719505-8-0