Urban statue of Ernest Bosnjak

Urban statue of Ernest Bosnjak

Sombor-born Ernest Bosnjak (1876-1963) was the pioneer of cinematography in the region. His dream was to make Sombor “the moving picture factory – Hollywood in Sombor”. He was the one to open the first cinema in Sombor around 1907. Bosnjak started to make documentaries and short films, and in 1909 he made the first film in Vojvodina. His oldest archived film was made during the ceremony of revealing the monument in honour of Ferenc Rákóczi. During the World War I he was filming as an Austro-Hungarian soldier. When the statue of Ernest Bošnjak was revealed on the Main Street in 2013, the following words were said: “Right beside us is the man with a camera. He is like Prometheus, who stole this apparatus from God and who is saving people from oblivion… He is preserving us for eternity. We shall always remain on the move, in remembrance.” It is a life-size statue of him, with the camera and with stars under his feet, following Hollywood models and is the work of art by Igor Šeter, a sculptor from Sombor.