[5] Through lobbying by foreign companies the law which favoured and protected domestic cinema was withdrawn and local production was reduced to its prior state with only a few movies produced.

[18] Notable films from this period include Sve radi osmeha, Rudareva sreća, Kralj Čarlstona, Grešnica bez greha and Kroz buru i oganj.

[5] The most notable of the prewar films is Mihailo Popović's The Battle of Kosovo from 1939,[5] while the best documentary is considered to be Priča jednog dana by Maks Kalmić.

[5] After the victory of the Yugoslav Partisans, the newly founded state formed the Federal Committee for Cinematography, which was organized into six regional centers, one for each socialist republic.

In the 40s and 50s director Radoš Novaković achieved great success with several partisan features: Dečak Mita (1951), The Sun Is Far Away (1953), based on the eponymous novel by Dobrica Ćosić, Blodveien (1955), a Yugoslavian—Norwegian production and Vetar je stao pred zoru (1959).

In the 1960s he played in Brat doktora Homera (1968) and Bloody Tale (1969), a film based on the song of the same name by the celebrated Yugoslav poet Desanka Maksimović.

Young Ljubiša Samardžić (Desant na Drvar, Kozara, Eagles Fly Early) was another actor often seen as a protagonist in Yugoslav war films.

1974 marked the last peak of partisan film with two blockbusters: The Written-Off with Voja Brajović and Dragan Nikolić and Guns of War, which brought another Golden Arena to Ružica Sokić.

This was also the case with Doctor Mladen (1975), The Peaks of Zelengora (1976), Maiden Bridge (1976), Dvoboj za južnu prugu (1978) and Arrive Before Daybreak (1978), the exception being Boško Buha, a film adaptation of eponymous novel by Dobrica Ćosić.

Led by the country's most beloved on-screen duo, Milena Dravić and Ljubiša Samardžić, who played a film couple 25 times,[27] those actors included: Olivera Marković, Velimir Bata Živojinović, Ružica Sokić, Miodrag Petrović Čkalja, Beba Lončar, Stevo Žigon, Vlastimir Đuza Stojiljković and others.

Soja Jovanović and Čkalja had more successful collaborations in the sixties—the partisan film Eagles Fly Early (1966), based on the eponymous novel by Branko Ćopić and Father by Force (1969).

[30] He also played in the successful Black Wave film Čovek iz hrastove šume (1964), though he was best known for his roles in the Yugoslavian blockbuster Ljubav i moda (1960) and the 1967 comedy Bokseri idu u raj.

[30] Ljubav i moda featured guest music star Gabi Novak, and today is best remembered for the 1960s hit song Devojko mala (pesmo moga grada).

Diližansa snova), Prvi građanin male varoši (1961), Nema malih bogova (1961), Lito vilovito (1964), Sirota Marija (1968), Bog je umro uzalud (1969), as well as dramas Zemljaci (1963), The Climber (1966) and Hassan-aga's Wife (1967) with Milena Dravić, who in the sixties was awarded three supporting and a Golden Arena for Best Actress in the comedy Prekobrojna (1962).

Other Yugoslav actors who began their careers in the 60s' film are Danilo Bata Stojković, Mira Banjac, Petar Kralj, Bora Todorović, Mihailo Janketić, Vera Čukić and Jelena Žigon among others.

A number of directors particularly wanted to show the darker sides of the communist state, the malfunctions of society and to explore the subjects of the human body and sexuality.

[38] The leading filmmakers of Black Wave were Žika Pavlović (When I Am Dead and Gone, The Rats Woke Up), Saša Petrović (It Rains in My Village, Tri), Puriša Đorđević[21] (Devojka, San, Jutro, Podne), Mika Antić and Mića Popović (Burduš).

However, Dušan Makavejev (Innocence Unprotected, Man Is Not a Bird) and Želimir Žilnik (Early Works, The Way Steel Was Tempered, Marble Ass).

[41] The most notable postwar director was Dušan Makavejev, who was internationally recognized for Love Affair: Or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator in 1969 focusing on Yugoslav politics.

[44][45][33] Eva Ras became famous thanks to being in the first scene of female nudity in Serbian film,[46] and after publicly refusing to join Tito at his villa on the Brioni Islands.

[48] Some films considered to be influenced by the Black Wave are Strange girl (1962), Plastic Jesus (1971), I Bog stvori kafansku pevačicu (1972) with Bata Živojinović and The Yellow One (1973) featuring Ružica Sokić in the title role, for which she was awarded with Golden Arena for Best Actress.

[49] The movie was The She-Butterfly by Đorđe Kadijević, with its plot centered around the story of a female vampire haunting the peasants coming to the local mill.

Ljubiša Samardžić won Golden Arena for Best Actor for his role in Special Education, the directorial debut of Goran Marković, who became a celebrated director.

National Class Category Up to 785 ccm from 1979 featured a popular soundtrack, with the likes of Oliver Mandić, Slađana Milošević and many other pop stars of 70s.

[60] Serbian-born film director and university professor Stefan Arsenijević won the Golden Berlin Bear for his short movie (A) Torzija in 2003.

[68][69][70] US blockbusters and films produced by major studios dominate the repertoires of Serbian cinemas, especially multiplexes that have recently appeared in big cities.

[65] Films by Srdan Golubović (Circles, Klopka) deal with the consequences of war and post-war society, and have won numerous international awards.

[73] Only two Serbian animated feature films were produced in this period: Noir by Srđa Penezić and Rista Topalksi,[74] and Edit i Ja by Aleksa Gajić.

[80] The Küstendorf Film and Music Festival is an annual event held during early January in the village of Drvengrad, which was built for the purposes of shooting Life Is a Miracle.

Notable actors of Serb origin include Iván Petrovich, Brad Dexter, Lolita Davidovich, Branko Tomovic, Rada Rassimov, Nadja Regin, Rade Šerbedžija, Milla Jovovich, Sasha Alexander and Stana Katic.