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With an actress of Miriam’s calibre, there is very little directing to do, he says. Miriam loved the concept and the project was born for a COVID-era thriller embracing the challenges of raw Zoom calls and surveillance cameras to produce a uniquely compelling murder mystery. Her personal history mirrors Yugoslav history in a way, he says. Even without a script, he write a biography of this Manchester-born woman who fell in love with a Serb and moved to Belgrade in the 1960s. The meeting inspired Stevan to write a special character for her Granny Vera. It was a surprise to learn just how much Miriam already knew about Serbian and Yugoslav history when Marcus introduced the pair. Miriam Margolyes plays Granny Vera, a British Yugophile living in Belgrade with her pet dog Tito He had grown up watching Miriam in Blackadder although now she is now most famous for her role in the Harry Potter movies. Stevan says he was fortunate to work with associate producer Marcus Agar who introduced him to BAFTA-winning actress Miriam Margolyes who starred on the sequel to Pored Mene. Yugoslav-British comradery with Granny Vera After all, Peter Jackson was once a filmmaker from a small country trying to break into Hollywood. He says he was reassured to discover that the same issues preoccupy filmmakers on any budget. That relationship was fruitful in other ways, Filipović received an invitation to be on set for a month as the Hobbit was being filmed, which really helped open his eyes to new ways of making films.
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They liked it so much that the movie got its first screening at the director’s workshop in New Zealand ahead of Belgrade. Stevan explains how he sent the trailer for his first feature movie Shaitan’s Warrior to perhaps the world’s most famous fantasy filmmaker Peter Jackson and special effects guru Sir Richard Taylor. One way to skirt around local limitations is to collaborate globally. Find people who are interested in that and try to do quality things that are really close to your heart… If you put that passion somewhere it will be noticed.Ĭollaborating with other filmmakers outside of Serbia Think of a mono drama that you can do with limited resources. And his advice to aspiring actors is to participate in any vehicle to show your passion, whether it’s student movies or theatre. He used stunning locations that were on his doorstep in Serbia.Ī rich vein of fresh acting talent comes from classes where Filipović teaches as a professor at the Academy of Arts in Belgrade University.
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When he made Breaking Point, a tribute to Star Wars, a hundred people gave of themselves. These days people are making movies on their iPhones, he says. So how do you make a movie without funds? Rather than self-censure to please state funders, he would rather find a way ‘by hook or by crook’. Cronyism plays a major part with finds often going to people you’ve never heard of, for reasons you’ll never hear of. Even European funds reward bland, postcard movies which promote a colonialist view of smaller nations – too cute to break-through to the major leagues.
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The issue of politics in state funding of movies is not unique to Serbia. His movies may receive awards and accolades after they’re made but he still can’t secure funds for his next movies. Stevan says he is something of a pariah to state funds when making movies. He is the director of Pored Mene (Next to Me), Šejtanov ratnik (Shaitan’s Warrior) and Šišanje (Skinning) which was screened in Parliament in Westminster and at Oxford University. During that night, a generation that was written off before they were ever given a chance will learn more than they ever expected about themselves and their classmates.Last month, the SCC invited award-winning writer and director director Stevan Filipović to a Zoom discussion. In order to solve the problem together, and with inability to leave the school, students begin to communicate.
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She takes away their mobile phones, and in the heat of the moment decides to lock them in the school building, also disconnecting the school phones and the internet. The next day Olja discovers that some of her students were responsible. They film the attack and upload the clip to YouTube.
One night, a group of masked hooligans attacks her. Olja is a high school history teacher, married to a painter whose latest exhibition provoked violent reactions from Serbian nationalists.
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