Philadelphia Film Festival: Nikola Pantelic of A Serbian Film [Interview]

One of the most talked about films of the Philadelphia Film Festival this year was Srdjan Spasojevic’s already infamous A Serbian Film. It challenged people, I had seen the film once before and halfway through the film 8 people walked out. Plain and simple, this film is an experience in the most extreme kind of way. Because after you see A Serbian Film you are a different person, you can’t un-see what you’ve seen. Don’t take this as a challenge. This film is not for everyone.

I’ve been fascinated with buzz about the film for almost a year, and it lived up to and exceeded my expectations. It does this by committing things to celluloid that are almost unimaginable with polished production values. Like a lot of people I had some questions and luckily I was able to get an interview with the production manager on the film Nikola Pantelic.

He gave me some great insight into the production and the ideas behind the film. Enjoy.

A Serbian Film took the festival circuit by storm. Can you tell me how the film came about, and eventually came together?

The initial idea came from Aleksandar Radivojevic (screenwriter) and Srdjan Spasojevic (director).  They had been writing the script for two years, and presented it to me. I usually like to quote Spasojevic…

“Writer Aleksandar Radivojevic and I almost started from scratch on this one, adamant to make a picture that will express our strongest personal sentiments about our region-the last two decades of war and political nightmare, and the world today-sugarcoated in political correctness, but which was actually very rotten under that facade. We also wanted to make a film that would represent everything we love in terms of genre and our own cinema preferences”

I fully agree with this statement.

What were your first thoughts when you read the script?

I was professionally upset. I faced the screenplay as a challenge.  The main reason for me to work on the project was to have a film that will open many questions. We are living in the world with a lot of boundaries. Some of them are here to disable freedom of speech. I am sure that artistic freedom is priceless.

More after the jump!

Can you give us any insight to the story development and shooting of the film?

Couldn’t say much about story development since I’ve only been involved in the film when the script was finished.

Shooting was interesting, but at the same time it was like any other shoot. We had problems like any other film crew. We started with storyboards which significantly helped us in planning and shooting. The main two characters of the film Milos (Srdjan Todorovic) and Vukmir (Sergej Trifunovic), are big stars here in Serbia. Their professional attitude, and at the same time they trusted what we are all together doing, helped us to make the film the right way. Also, Miroslav Lakobrija’s special effects department did their job perfectly as well.

Was it hard finding financing for the film or casting people to star in it?

A Serbian Film has been financed privately. You will not find any film in Serbia, and in region too, that hasn’t got any support from funds, government or something else. This film is an example that is possible to achieve something that you believe in. I am saying that because every single member of the crew accepted to be part of A Serbian Film. Also, all actors were director’s first choice. We didn’t have any problems. A Serbian Film is our scream, our yell.

When you were working on the film did you have any idea the impact the film would have around the world, or was the film made mainly with a domestic release in mind?

As a matter of fact, we didn’t. We were just making a movie. Our idea was to present to the world best movie we could make. Now we know that the new one will be even better, ha ha. Of course, it was made for domestic release, too. A Serbian Film has been playing 5 weeks in Serbian theaters.

When you were shooting the film was there ever a point where you thought, maybe this is too much?

No, not at all. This film should be taken as a pure cinematic experience, as an honest confession of a victim, and as such, a viewer’s previous knowledge about Serbia isn’t mandatory. Unfortunately, watching war atrocities on prime-time news as a ten year-old kid, and experiencing NATO bombing of your city in your early twenties can hardly inspire you to beautiful things.

What are some of your thoughts on all the controversy the film has been recieving?

People recognized our idea. Reactions are always the same in any country, at any festival A Serbian Film was screened.  These days anything could be controversial . Any stupid story in news is ‘controversial’. We are constantly bombarded with those kinds of news. Main thing is: do you offer any solution for our problems. If we are facing the problem let’s find a way out of it. Or we should just be spectators of our lives?!

How about some of the critics who either refuse to rate the film or simply warn people not to see it?

That is liberty. We are all able to have a choice to do what we want to do. I don’t mind.

For a country that has seen so much misery and suffering you need to push harder to evoke a visceral response, like the US’ Hostel. Is that what A Serbian Film is or is it something more?

Cleaning our own backyard was obviously the starting point, but we wanted to put it into a universally comprehensive context so everyone outside our environment can relate to it. It’s almost like a fable dealing with the problems of the modern world, only set in Serbia. However, the type of film-language we used is closer to the western audiences than our own.

And finally what are you plans to release the film in America after the festival run, will it be direct-to-video or will it get a theatrical run? If so will you edit the film?

Some good news. ASF will be released in US, both theatrically and DVD release. Invincible, distribution company will release it. Also, It will be released  theatrically in UK by Revolver group. If the edit is needed we will let them do it.