“Optimism is insisting everything is good, when everything is bad.” That is the defining motto of Voltaire`s [Candide], and it is the inspiration for this five-part film set in post-Milosevic Serbia. The black comedy is a stark illustration of a time and place filled with equal parts despair, hope, disillusionment, and, ultimately, optimism. Told with a typical Balkan sense of humor, Goran Paskaljevic collaborates once again with acclaimed actor Lazar Ristovski. Serbia`s premier cinematic voice paints a picture of the contemporary nation and all its strengths and faults. Paskaljevic once stated, “In my country, there are no happy endings,” and though there is a good deal of unhappiness in [The Optimists], the title suggests a guarded view of the future.