During and after the First World War, two young men and two girls from Leskovac, Cone and Dine and Zorka and Ruzica had different destinies.
The plot of the film is set two years after the First World War, when to young men, Dine and Cone, inspired by the spirit of freedom after war and seeing the progress which they felt in the big world, return to the dilapidated Serbian town of Leskovac.
Cone with the knowledge he acquired in Manchester, starts a successful textile industry. With his hard work and successful business he wins back his fiancee Zorka. Dine shows movies in his cinema and changes the taste for film of young people forever, while Zorka and Ruzica with their beauty and determination overshadow the city. Along the way they will all in some way leave trail of history so that future generations know how Leskovac became the biggest small town.
Inspired by real events, it is conceived as a romantic, witty and nostalgic story in which small people become hope and bearers of change in Leskovac, especially Cone who knows that a place is only as big as the people who live in it.
Bilo jednom u Srbiji je srpski igrani film iz 2022. godine, u režiji Petra Ristovskog, a po ideji Zvonimira Šimuneca, čija je premijera bila u Leskovcu 6. marta 2022. godine.
Ovo je topla ljudska priča smeštena između dva svetska rata u gradić Leskovac, u kome se neobičnim spletom okolnosti dogodi pravo čudo i izgradi istorija tog malog mesta gde stanuju veliki ljudi...
Radnja filma smeštena je dve godine nakon Prvog svetskog rata, kad Dine i Cone, opijeni pobedom i nepovratno inficirani duhom slobode i napretka koji su osetili u velikom svetu, vraćaju u oronuli Leskovac: Dine u svoj nekadašnji bioskop, a Cone na sopstvenu sahranu. Predodređeni za gubitnike, izrastaju u heroje.
Cone, znanjem koje je stekao u Mančesteru, pokreće uspešnu tekstilnu industriju, zavrti točak napretka i ponovo osvaja svoju verenicu Zorku. Dine prikazuje filmove u svom bioskopu i zauvek menja ukus mladih, dok Zorka i Ružica lepotom i odlučnošću boje čaršiju. Usput će usnimiti istoriju da buduće generacije znaju kako je Leskovac postao najveći mali grad.
Nadahnuta stvarnim događajima, zamišljeno je kao romantična, duhovita i nostalgična priča u kojoj mali ljudi postaju nada i nosioci promene u Leskovcu, posebno Cone koji zna da je neko mesto veliko, onoliko koliko su veliki ljudi koji žive u njemu.