We’re delighted to exclusively announce that Altered Innocence has acquired North American rights to Virgina (Virdžina), the acclaimed 1991 feature from celebrated Serbian filmmaker Srđan Karanović. The newly restored film will make its World Restoration Premiere at the Frameline LGBTQ+ Film Festival.
Completed in June 1991 as Yugoslavia descended into war, Virgina was effectively lost for decades amid the upheaval that followed the country’s dissolution. Long unavailable and rarely screened, the film was rediscovered in France by queer film historian and filmmaker Jenni Olson, who located the surviving film elements and helped bring renewed attention to the work. Following the discovery, Belgrade-based rights holder Centar Film initiated a new 2K restoration in collaboration with the Yugoslav Film Archive, returning this landmark work to audiences for the first time in decades.
The new 2K restoration was completed by the Department for Digitisation and Digital Restoration of the Yugoslav Film Archive in Belgrade. The film was scanned from a 35mm internegative using an ArriscanXT scanner with archival gate overscan, with color correction by Masha Badalić under the supervision of director Srđan Karanović. Audio was sourced from the original 35mm mono sound negative and restored by the Sound Department of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad.
In the rugged mountains of a 19th-century Balkan village, a fourth girl is born to a poor family “cursed” by superstition to bear no boys. In a culture where family honor outweighs individual desire, the baby girl is raised instead as the “virdžina” Stevan, with 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.” his mother says. Stevan grows into a handsome young man carrying the weight of a destiny chosen for him, but as first love stirs and tragedy unfolds in the village, Stevan is pushed to rebellion against the role he’s been forced to play. Virgina (Virdžina) offers a captivating look into the workings of misogyny, gender, and sexuality in late 19th-century Serbia and unfolds as a sensual, haunting tale of identity, duty, and rebellion – a clash between the rigid codes of tradition and the unstoppable pull of the self.
“Virgina feels astonishingly contemporary for a film made more than three decades ago,” said Frank Jaffe, founder of Altered Innocence. “Its exploration of gender, identity, and social expectation remains deeply resonant, while its disappearance and rediscovery only add to its power. We’re honored to help bring this remarkable and long-unavailable work to North American audiences.”
Altered Innocence plans a Fall theatrical release following the film’s World Restoration Premiere at Frameline.
The deal was negotiated directly between Altered Innocence and Centar Film.
