MONTREAL /BELGRADE (SEEcult.org) - Awarded Serbian director Goran Markovic won the award for best director at the World Film Festival in Montreal for his antiwar film Tour (Turneja), Serbia/Bosnia and Herzegovina co-production, which was also awarded by the FIPRESCI.

The Tour had world premiere in Montreal, and the Jury, presided by director Mark Rydell (U.S.A.), awarded the Grand Prix to Departures by Yojiro Takita from Japan, while Special Grand Prix of the Jury went to The Necessities of Life, by Benoît Pilon from Canada.

Markovic also won the Grand Prize of the Americas at the Montreal World Film Festival for his film The Cordon (2002).

Markovic wrote the script for The Tour, which  is a story about a group of actors from Belgrade in 1993, the bleakest time of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who are utterly unaware of what they're getting into, embark on a quest for a few quick dinars - via a tour of Serbian Krajina. Before they know it, they are caught up in the vicious Bosnian civil war and they begin to wander from one war front to another, from one army to the next.

During their appalling journey they meet Serbian, Muslim and Croatian fighters, and are faced with seemingly hopeless predicaments out of which they always manage to work their way. Their naivety, which is what got them into the terrible situations in the first place, is also what saves them. Putting their acting skills to extra use, they manage to escape from perils they encounter every step of the way. Despite everything, during their "tour", which is filled with ordeals and humiliations, they preserve the quality that is essential to all actors -- a childish passion for play. This quality is so far removed from what animates the people who are at war that it leaves the villains around them perplexed and protects the group of actors during their entire journey -- a sort of guardian angel.

Some of the most famous Serbian actors are in cast of the film The Tour, as well as well known actors from region: Tihomir Stanic, Dragan Nikolic, Mira Furlan, Jelena Djokic, Josif Tatic, Gordan Kicic, Slavko Stimac, Vojislav Brajovic, Branimir Popovic, Emir Hadzihafisbegovic, Svetozar Cvetkovic…

Goran Markovic was born n Belgrade in 1946 to noted Serbian actors Rade and Olivera Markovic,

He studied filmmaking at Prague's FAMU. After graduating, he began working for Yugoslav television, directing documentaries and about 50 TV films.

He also directs for the theatre. One of the best known of the Czech School of Yugoslav directors, he now teaches at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade.

His films have screened in festivals around the world and won numerous prizes. Selected filmography: SPECIAL EDUCATION (1976), NATIONAL CLASS (1978), JACK OF ALL TRADES (1980), VARIOLA VERA (1981), TAIWAN CANASTA (1985), DEJA VU (1987), MEETING POINT (1989), TITO AND ME (1992), BURLESQUE TRAGEDY (1995), SERBIA YEAR ZERO (2001) and THE CORDON (2002).