The confrontation of two generations

 

I approach the selection of actors very openly, in the sense that they can be actors, naturalists, members of the film crew, etc. What matters to me is how someone looks, what they carry with them and from that we start building characters with dedication and mutual respect. In Elegy we have such a diverse casting, from professional actors to naturalists and amateurs. In that sense, very soon after the script was written, I started thinking about Frano, who, in addition to having the career he has, also carries a symbolic value of a true and beloved Yugoslav star, which inspired me to connect him with the context of the film and I start working with him. I had similar reasons for considering Savina, who has a special place in Montenegrin cinematography with films by Zivko Nikolic. This was just a starting point; they brought a lot more to both the film and me as a director because our collaboration was full of understanding and commitment. Both of them brought dignity and subtlety to the characters, which was very important to me.

 

 

First of all, through the characters played by Savina and Frano my narrative deals with the older generation, the middle class of Yugoslavia, which consumed the system without much responsibility, watched its demise and establishment of bizarre values we are surrounded by without doing anything. It seems to me that they have decided to live in the romantic self-sufficiency that I deal with through the character of Filip played by Frano Lasić. The structure of the film is divided into several key situations in Filip’s life in which his character Questions himself. When Philip has nowhere to run from the problems he doesn't want to face, he goes to a fairy tale - a free adaptation of the famous tale “The Forest of Stribor” (“Šuma Striborova”), which archetypically questions the mother-son-fatal woman relationship, which could be related to the rest of this film's story.

 

Furthermore, the film confronts two generations through the daughter's relationship with her parents, but also the student's relationship with the professor. They have raised an inert, scattered generation, which lacks a sense of solidarity and responsibility and which is quite lost in front of everything in front of us.

 

 

I always remind myself that we found and settled this incredible nature in Montenegro, that it was not created by our efforts or efforts, and that we only and exclusively exploit and destroy it. Nature is a reminder to us that in such an environment everything should be good and successful but somehow the idea of any progress has become abstract.

 

 

The basic premise was that I wanted to make a film about a man who is unable to communicate, to indulge, to connect with the world around him and as such experiences crash after crash and having nowhere else to go, he goes into the world of fantasy. I wanted to process a folk tale that comes from the culture of this area and with which we can all connect. Exploring our folklore and prose, I returned to the famous fairy tale “The Forest of Stribor” by Ivana Brlić Mažuranić. There is no fearless, powerful hero who is facing an unsolved problem in this fairy tale, but a weak, naive guy who is stuck between a Girl who was a snake and a Mother who just wants to protect her son. The setting of the characters is close to the rest of my script and I opted for a free adaptation of the fairy tale. In our film, fantastic creatures appear suddenly, conversations with them are direct, they are like all other people and I think that this introduces interesting dynamics in the narrative flow of the film.

 

 

From everything you have stated it is clear that SFF is a special festival for me. I am especially glad and honoured that the film Elegy of the Laurel will be premiered at SFF and more than anything that it will all happen live, in front of the audience in the cinema, where we will watch the film on the big screen.