REPORT FROM THE FILM ZONE OF THE XVIII KROKODIL FESTIVAL

30 Jul REPORT FROM THE FILM ZONE OF THE XVIII KROKODIL FESTIVAL

By Dina Muratović, KROKODIL’s journalist for a day

Lidija Zelović’s documentary Home Game (Domaći teren) delivers a striking socio-political analysis of contemporary Europe through the prism of a thirty-year refugee experience. Zelović utilizes a rich video archive to open up questions about identity. The film focuses on the complex process of adapting to a new environment, re-examining what the concept of “home” means for an individual when they are permanently displaced geographically and culturally. This documentary serves as a direct slap to European indifference, reminding us that historical tragedies easily relocate to a new address.

Next on the program was Ivan Ramljak’s documentary The Peacemaker (Mirotvorac). After the screening, Ramljak noted that it was exciting to review and select material, and that the specific use of found footage and working with old files is precisely what makes this film special. Instead of crowding the film with protagonists he doesn’t believe in, Ramljak sought out people from that era to hear their authentic stories, confronting the natural gaps in memory and the fact that individuals view the same events from completely different angles. The process of reaching interlocutors was exceptionally complex; ranging from those who were close to the events but claimed “it is not the time for stories,” to conversations that remained strictly off the record, and finally to those who wished to participate and proudly stood behind the film when it was released. Journalist Drago Hedl played a major role in building trust, as his prior relationships with these people helped them open up. Only ten to fifteen percent of the collected information and stories ended up in the final edit, but the director emphasizes that what remained in the film is closest to the truth, bringing various perspectives on what transpired. Ramljak, who builds his films primarily on atmosphere to fully immerse the audience in the plot, also shows through this work how war was actually prepared. With a sentence that resonated at the end of the conversation—that “problems are made by politicians and hooligan kids”—The Peacemaker sends a clear message, underlining that the past, refracted through personal memories, is the only path toward understanding silenced historical truths.

Following The Peacemaker, the audience had the opportunity to follow a discussion about the film Three Weeks Later (Tri nedelje posle) with screenwriter Vladimir Arsenijević and director Miroslav Terzić. Announcing the film, they openly stated that this work represents a direct provocation aimed at contemporary daily life. They emphasized that we live in a deeply violent society where the normalization of that violence is the most terrifying phenomenon, which is why Terzić leaves the audience to follow and experience the film according to their own ethical principles. Three Weeks Later arrives before the audience as one of the most intriguing film achievements of the season; it had its world premiere on Tuesday in the prestigious competition program of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, while the local audience will be able to see it in October at the Auteur Film Festival (FAF).

The multi-award-winning documentary Srbenka by director Nebojša Slijepčević once again opened key questions about the ethics of documentary filmmaking and confronting collective traumas. After the screening, the author shared his views on the complex process of working on this creation. Slijepčević particularly emphasized the strict ethical rule he followed, noting that everyone has a right to their own image and voice, as well as an absolute right to withdraw from participating in the film at any point during filming. Speaking about the delicate relationship between fiction and facts, the director explained that the final scene of the film is actually a conscious attempt to use specific cinematic language to visually convey what the young protagonist Nina saw and felt at that turning point. Slijepčević openly stated that every documentary film is a construction backed by an author, and that, in that sense, a universal truth does not exist. It is always the truth of the person who signs it, even though the creator relentlessly tries to define and present objective aspects of reality without shying away from weaving their own personal views into the fabric of the film.

At the conclusion of the Film Zone program, the short film Two People Exchanging Saliva, winner of the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film, was screened. This authorial project by Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata, realized under the production of acting icons Julianne Moore and Isabelle Huppert, closed the festival with a radical cinematic provocation about a totalitarian society in which kissing is punishable by death and slaps serve as the official currency. Setting the action within a cult Parisian department store, the film uses unsettling black humor to follow the subversive attraction of two women who risk everything for a moment of intimacy.

Photos: Marija Piroški & Jovana Pantelić, Alex Dmitrović