| |
| Home |
| BIOGRAPHY |
| FILMOGRAPHY |
| CURRENT PROJECT |
| PRESS |
| CONTACT |
Current project
|
ALBUM FACTUM, Documentary, 50 minutes
Synopsis: The central premise of the film "Album" is the attempt by the protagonists to rebuild his life after the war by searching for lost family photographs that disappeared during the war, mostly in situations when the protagonists were forced to hurriedly abandon their homes. We will take the example of the known literary figure Miroslav Kirin, just one of many that are trying to reconstruct a family photo album lost in the war, when he and his family were forced to leave their home in occupied Petrinja, solely from memory. After the war, he is surprised to find unusual "compensation": in his house he finds, instead of his family photographs, an undeveloped roll of film containing photographs of an unknown family that lived in the house during the occupation. So these photographs, ironically and disturbingly, become a part of the family album. The protagonists of the film are those who share the same desire- to locate family photographs, a quest that in effect intertwines their destines into an almost identical drama in which we tackle the question of the former socialist regime, the war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and the present situation, all through a somewhat surprising point of view of interesting persons and life paths. Their common problem must, at its very end, have elements of insight into the broader social situation in the area of ex-Yugoslavia, a metaphor of today's complicated interpersonal relationships (co-existence and score settling) and misunderstandings between countries. By balancing between personal drama and by elevating its content to a higher level through "samples" set in relationships so that they contextualize the present moment, our primary task is to point out the sheer significance these photographs have for our protagonists, and to film everything they are ready to go through to retrieve them or to face the fact that the photographs are irrecoverably lost. These guidelines describe an interesting and provocative subject, achievable by not utilising the off-speaker, by clear organisation of the film story and by avoiding the expendable daily actuality.
The film was funded with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia
Production
Album was on Training workshop and pitching forum for documentary film projects ZagrebDox PRO, from February 26th - 28th 2008 |
|
ALBUM
We will follow the protagonist's efforts to trace the photographs he seeks, while once again emphasizing effort and the, largely unequal, division of time between his commitments and careful study of all relevant information pertaining to the photographs. It is desirable that the protagonist, in the course of his quest, makes shocking discoveries for him. That is why we will try to bring the main protagonist into connection with our next protagonist, who also seeks his or her family photographs, lingering a while on him and his story. We will try to point out all the similarities between the second protagonist and our main protagonist, who will then continue the story. The film must end with a clear climax, where the main, Croatian, protagonist recovers the photographs (a happy ending) or does not recover them (a bitter ending), so giving a clear conclusion that his search, bitterly connected with the war, has come to an end, which has been re-examined in an unusual way. Wanting to connect the heritage of the classic Croatian documentary with the newest developments in cinematography, I will try, using the concept of the film Album, to bear witness of the times we live in. I believe that that is the way to bring back dignity, credibility and interest to the documentary film. Important components of such a conception imply a clear author's standpoint and clear difference from the so-called television programme.
|
