At the jubilee 30th Sarajevo Film Festival, actor Žarko Laušević was posthumously awarded the Heart of Sarajevo award for the best lead actor in the series “Time of Death” where he played Duke Živojin Mišić, produced by United Media and executive produced by Eye to Eye. The first season of the series was broadcast on TV Nova in Serbia, breaking viewership records with an average share of 12.58% according to TV Beat data. In contrast, the second season of the series is expected to be in front of the audience this fall.

Series director Ivan Živković received the award on behalf of Laušević and said: „We are grateful for the award on behalf of Žarko and ultimately on behalf of our project. We were lucky that his talent shone on us briefly, me on three projects, some earlier, some later. But we all remembered him because of what he brought, as an actor, and as a person, what he brought to the project was unique. And it is something that we will all remember and we are all, I must say, happy that we had the opportunity to feel it, to meet it.“

The “Time of Death” series is based on the novel of the same name by Dobrica Ćosić and one of the most significant works of Serbian literature. The adaptation of the book into a series represents one of the biggest production ventures in this region. During 200 filming days, a crew of 400 actors and several thousand extras, led by series creator Goran Šušljik, recorded 1,200 pages of the script at several hundred locations throughout Serbia.

The plot of the series is set during the Great War and follows the most dramatic and exciting events that took place in this area, whose heroes are not only famous military leaders and politicians who led the country in probably the most complex historical position of Serbia, but also numerous exciting destinies of seemingly ordinary people in terrifying circumstances.

The acting ensemble is led by Žarko Laušević and Miki Manojlović, while Dragan Mićanović, Svetozar Cvetković, Nina Janković, Teodora Dragićević, Denis Murić, Radovan Vujović, Voja Brajović, Pavle Mensur, Boda Ninković, Slavko Štimac, Milan Marić, Goran Šušljik, Andrija Milošević, Nikola Rakočević, Ljiljana Blagojević are in the main roles. The script is written by Sanja Savić Milosavljević and Đorđe Milosavljević, while Nikola Pantelić, together with Šušljik, is the executive producer.

Žarko Laušević died on November 15th, 2023, after a short and serious illness. In his rich artistic creativity, he has a large number of films, series, and theater plays, but also several books. From a folk hero to an eccentric villain, Laušević excelled in every role he played.

United Media production has positioned itself as a leader in the production of domestic, original high-budget series that raise domestic production standards. Previously, with Šušljik and Ivan Živković, the company filmed the series “Time of Evil” („Vreme zla“), based on the novel “The Believer” („Vernik“) within the Ćosić trilogy. While being a production leader at the regional level, United Media also has a significant role at the global level by delivering more than 40,000 hours of original content on a market of more than 40 million people every year.