Lordan Zafranovic wins 'Planetary Tesla' award

An award bearing Tesla’s name will be handed out in a theater, on World Science Day, to a man who works in film. That is the schedule for November 10: at Atelje 212 in Belgrade, director Lordan Zafranovic will receive the “Planetary Tesla” award for lifetime achievement, presented by the Tesla Science Academy association.

The citation says the award recognizes his entire body of work, with special emphasis on the film “Golden Section 42 (Children of Kozara)”. It describes Zafranovic as a “supreme artistic visionary who, like Nikola Tesla in science, devoted his creative gift to humanity without compromise.” The comparison with the scientist is built into the decision itself, so nobody is left to wonder why Tesla was chosen as the yardstick for a film director.

What does the citation say about the film?

In its statement, the association said that over decades of work, and especially through “Golden Section 42”, Zafranovic refuses to let the darkness of oblivion cover the deepest wounds of the past. It goes on:

By confronting us with the hardest historical ordeals, he does not call for division, but through respect for diversity and the defense of every victim’s dignity he builds the foundations of true, deep peace among people.

According to Novosti, the jury judged that Zafranovic’s new film weaves the stories of individual fates into a broad picture of the suffering of Serbs in the Kozara region. One of the jurors, Dr. Milivoje Pavlovic, told Novosti that the work has an epic-lyrical sweep akin to the poem “Stojanka, Mother from Knezopolje,” written in 1942 by Skender Kulenovic:

Both works advance the culture of remembrance and contribute to the struggle against organized oblivion and the revision of the truth about the real nature of the criminal Ustasha rule.

Pavlovic, in other words, places the film not beside other films but beside a poem, a rather unusual pairing for an award named after a scientist.

What did the laureate say?

Zafranovic thanked the jury in comments to Novosti and tied the award to the name it carries:

I thank the members of the jury who awarded me this exceptional recognition. This award carries the brilliant and unrepeatable name of Nikola Tesla, so my excitement is even greater, because Tesla is a genius who changed the world. His inventions and his life are a great and indispensable model for all of us who also explore through art. Whenever I thought of the unattainable, I would think of Tesla, who would surely have solved it and given the whole world progress and kindness.

Who gives the award, and who has already received it?

According to Danas, the award is given by the Tesla Science Academy association from Novi Sad, and it was founded on October 20, 2024, in Belgrade. Novosti describes the academy as a gathering of “Serbian-American Teslaists,” the academic and business community, patriots and humanists, whose core task is to affirm and popularize the scientist’s name and work. The two papers, then, give different accounts of where the academy comes from, though nothing in the material at hand suggests the two accounts exclude each other.

The project’s author is Vlado Markanovic, who also sits on the jury. Novosti lists the other members: Dr. Radovan Pejanovic, Radmila Tonkovic, Bojan Bilbija, Milivije Unkovic, Dragan Vujicic, Pero Zubac, Mirko Radakovic, Branislav Lecic, Dr. Dejan Ilic, Dr. Milivoje Pavlovic and Dr. Mirjana Katic. Markanovic told Novosti about the idea behind the award, and named resistance and incomprehension from part of the academic public as an obstacle:

It is hard to realize the idea of gratitude to a man who illuminated and enlightened the present and foresaw the future.

Of Zafranovic himself he said:

Tesla’s countryman Lordan Zafranovic masterfully and with reverence carries a forbidden and unforgotten truth onto film, for the sake of the lofty goals of beauty, love, mercy and light from which the famous scientist drew his ideas.

The first “Planetary Tesla” awards were given a year ago. Novosti lists as laureates Elon Musk, engineer Vitaly Leonidovich Pravdicev, artist Marina Arsenijevic, Novak Djokovic and scientist Gordana Vunjak Novakovic.

What comes before November 10?

Zafranovic is not the only laureate this year. Danas reports that the award has also gone to engineer Dmitry Kruk and the Nikola Tesla Science Foundation from America, while other candidates will be decided by November 1. Names mentioned among them include athlete Michael Jordan, Dr. Mark Seifer, Professor Steve Lou, Dr. Mark Lucky Gypsy and Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.

The formal presentation is announced for November 10, World Science Day, at Atelje 212 in Belgrade.