we were world champions (2014)

Original title: Bili smo prvaci sveta

Produced by: Intermedia Network
Executive Producer: Cinnamon Production
Producer: Dejan Petrović
Written by: Zvonimir Šimunec and Aleksandar Miletić
Directed by: Ivica Vidanović
Director of Photography: Dimitrije Joković, Ivan Grujić, Nemanja Petković
Editing by: Marko Tisovec, Marko Jakšić
Genre: Feature documentary;
Duration: 88 min;
Premiere: Ljubljana(Slovenia) September 20th 2013 (within the official Eurobasket program) / Belgrade (Serbia), December 5th 2013

TV series
Number of Episodes: 24
Duration: 30 mins each
Broadcast: 2015
Broadcaster: Serbian National Television (RTS)

SYNOPSIS:

The documentary film and Tv series “We were world champions” is a testimonial on how the famous Yugoslav school of basketball was formed. Through the characters of the four of its forefathers – Nebojša Popović, Bora Stanković, Radomir Šaper and Aleksandar Nikolić – through their coming of age and falling in love with basketball, it tells the story of the maturation of an idea that united them and made them into world-renowned sports legends.

It takes us from a boy’s first hoops during the World War II in Belgrade, first loves, foundation of the first clubs, to the golden heights reached by the Yugoslav national team, mostly thanks to these men. In a country that was constantly treading water between East and West, basketball rose above all existing ideas, even the American and Soviet ideas.

A game was born, which could not be seen in textbooks, in which imagination had the final word over tactics. In the decisive game in the “Tivoli” hall, America was defeated and the crazed audiences chanted at the Americans – who had, just one year prior to that, sent a man to the Moon – “The moon is yours, the gold is ours”.