Lazar Ristovski left UDUS and told his colleagues: What you are doing is anger - it will not bring any good

Ristovski told his colleagues from UDUS not to insult students with their advice, because they are smarter and more honest than them.

A well-known film worker sent an open letter in which he reveals that there are "several actor pretenders to the throne", but also warns:

"We know how the reign of one actor ends soon. Bloody".

We quote Lazar Ristovski's letter in its entirety:

"I am addressing my UDUS staff and president Nebojša Dugalić.

Dear colleagues,

After your increasingly frequent publication of press releases in which you unequivocally support only one political option, I want to thank you for your previous membership and hereby, after almost 50 years, resign from your Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia (UDUS). In each of your advertisements, at the end of the text, you state with one sentence that you are supposedly neutral and that you do not represent any political option. I know you will convince me otherwise, but that is not true. You forget that you represent a membership of a few thousand members, not a few hundred who torture the majority, who are silent because they are afraid to stand up to the "powers that be".

I understand, but only to a certain extent, colleagues who are afraid to tell the truth about the pressures, blackmail and torture they experience. I understand them because they fear for their existence. I ask only them, will those whom they are afraid give them jobs and roles tomorrow, or will they just use them for the purposes of their goal, which in the end is called the overthrow of the government and the return of Serbia to the past, just now when Serbia has started to be more appreciated in the world.

I hear there are more acting pretenders to the throne! Not miserable. More! We know how an actor's reign ends soon. Bloody. And the fact that you say at the end of one of your texts that you will always stand up for your members who are attacked, regardless of which political option they belong to, is also not true. When did you come to my defense? Never. And I was fiercely called names, insulted and attacked, both me and my family, both from SNS when I supported the Democrats, and even more fiercely now that I support President Vučić.

Moreover, unlike many who belong, or have belonged, to various parties, I have never been a member of any party or association. Not even the famous KPJ (for the younger ones - Communist Party of Yugoslavia) when only the bravest could allow themselves to do so. I am a free man. What are actors and filmmakers protesting against? So hasn't the cinematography budget been increased dozens of times? Didn't the state help establish UFUS AFA to protect filmmakers, who now receive millions of euros in royalties? Didn't the state help establish GOS where actors finally exercise their rights and get paid for their past work, also in millions of euros?

Those are the facts. And what you are doing is anger that, if you continue to cultivate so aggressively, will do no one any good. It can lead to the shedding of fraternal blood and nothing more.

My production company and I personally do not discriminate against colleagues, but on the contrary, we try to engage them in our projects regardless of their name and which political option they belong to, and it will be the same in the future.

Do not threaten freedom of opinion in Serbia. Don't offend students by telling them what to do. They are smarter and more honest than you.

Dear UDUS, it was nice to be your member, but it's even nicer not to be, now that you have put yourself at the service of one-mindedness. It's time for forgiveness. Let us forgive each other's mistakes, so that in the end our enemies do not rejoice the most.

I wish everyone a happy holiday with the wish that you start thinking for yourself and don't be afraid!

Lazar Ristovski"