Become a Part of the PROLONG LIFE Formula

‘The world is driven by grand ideas of the so-called great men, but the world rests on ordinary people, ready to sacrifice themselves. As a society, we have to understand that the key element of donorship is humanity rather than prejudices and superstition’, Dragan Bjelogrlić, our renowned actor and director said within this-year International Film Festival, Belgrade (FEST), in the packed Yugoslav Film Archive when announcing the partnership of the production company ‘Cobra Film’ and Hemofarm Foundation, aimed at supporting and raising awareness about the importance of organ donation and transplantation.

The PROLONG LIFE campaign enters a new phase by supporting the movie ‘Guardians of the Formula’ of the Director Dragan Bjelogrlić and Screenplay Writer Vuk Ršumović, which talks about the first case of bone marrow transplantation in the world.

‘What we are mostly dealing in the ‘Guardians of the Formula’ is an extraordinary, par excellence story about humanity and empathy which has remained unknown to the wider local and international public. We would not want to test it to see if it would be possible nowadays. Therefore, the objective of the movie is to point out that we are all a part of the formula of life and that none of us knows in our lives whether we will be in a position to prolong life’, Bjelogrlić added.

Ronald Seeliger, Chief Executive Officer of Hemofarm, pointed out that he was a proud owner of two donor cards: one he had signed in Germany and the other signed in Serbia.

’What I wanted to say with this double signing is that I am sure in my decision, that I am aware of the importance of organ transplantation and donation and that – more than anything – I believe that one must not miss a chance to prolong another person’s life. The goal of all of us is to jointly find the formula that will enable Serbia to work its way from the bottom to the top of the organ donation list. Humanity of people in Serbia that I have personally experienced and your winning mentality would have to ensure success in this field as well. We should recognize the formula of such a PROLONG LIFE victory as the matter of honour and humanity. When we achieve that, we will have a new task – to be Guardians of the Formula. It is the formula of humanity which will be the topic of the movie that will be shot by the renowned producer, director and actor, Dragan Bjelogrlić’ – Ronald Seeliger pointed out.

Hemofarm Foundation, as a partner of the Ministry of Health, has been intensively implementing the campaign of raising the awareness of people and breaking prejudices about the organ donation and transplantation in recent months.

‘When I take a look back now, I have an impression that we are sometimes fighting windmills, because we should not only affect prejudices by humanity and altruism but also conquer them. However, it is important to gradually raise this issue in the public, to rank the importance of donorship as the highest public interest. Cooperation with Bjelogrlić is at the same time a new beginning and a natural follow-up of the PROLONG LIFE campaign, to which we now include the movie ‘Guardians of the Formula’. The most important thing is that future viewers of the movie feel the need to become ‘a part of this humane formula’, Sanda Savić, a member of the Management Board of Hemofarm Foundation, said.

Despite the fact that organ donation program in Serbia has existed for more than ten years, our country is at the European bottom according to the number of donors. Unlike Croatia, which has 33 donors per million inhabitants, Serbia has as few as three. The assumption is that the amendments to the Law on Transplantation, which should be adopted in parliament by the end of this year, whereby citizens become presumed organ donors, will change the infamous statistics.

Hemofarm Foundation has been actively involved in the campaign aimed at raising awareness about the importance of organ donation and transplantation for the second year. The Foundation has started participating in PROLONG LIFE from itself, firstly by initiating the signing of donor cards in Hemofarm. Recently, Hemofarm Foundation has also become the official partner of the Ministry of Health.

More about the new movie ’Guardians of the Formula’

The new movie ’Guardians of the Formula’ based on the motives of the novel ’Fractures’ by Goran Milašinović is about saving five Serbian nuclear scientists after an accident in Boris Kidrič Institute in 1958 by bone marrow transplantation. The surgery performed in Paris was also the first bone marrow transplantation in the world. The Director and Producer Dragan Bjelogrlić wants to revive one time, great human drama and mystery of making an atomic bomb in the present ’Vinča’ Institute with the ultimate message – the world survives thanks to the sacrifices of ordinary people.

Fine French citizens, risking their lives, voluntarily donated bone marrow to our physicists, because all previous transplantation attempts had a fatal outcome both for the donors and recipients. People, who were working on a weapon that destroys the world, were by accident sentenced to death themselves. They survived thanks to the humane gesture of strangers in another country.