email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

Zoran Galić • Producer

“A kind of Yugoslavian new wave is already taking place”

by 

- We interviewed Bosnian producer Zoran Galić, the founder of Vizart, selected as one of EFP’s 2017 Producers on the Move

Zoran Galić • Producer

Bosnian producer Zoran Galić established the first-ever production company in Republic of Srpska, Vizart, in 2003, and has since produced the first feature film made entirely in the Serbian entity, 32nd December, which he did in 2009. He has worked on the films by Dane Komljen, including last year's Locarno title All the Cities of the North [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dane Komljen
film profile
]
. His upcoming projects include two first features, Land by Marko Šipka and Ark by Siniša Grabež. We interviewed him after he was selected as one of the 2017 Producers on the Move

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Cineuropa: Tell us a bit about your upcoming projects Ark and Land.
Zoran Galić:
Land is the first feature-length documentary by Marko Šipka. It is a very personal film for Sipka because it records the history of a place he is deeply connected with, a remote mountain village, its present and past inhabitants, and all of the imprints people and history leave on a place. Nostalgia, war, folk tales, myths, memories, passage of time, past, present, nature, civilisation, rootedness, home, loneliness, wholeness... They are all layers in this experimental documentary. The project has been developed through Ex Oriente and the Berlinale Doc Station.

Ark is the first fiction feature by Siniša Grabež, and the zeal with which he has tackled this film and the potential the story holds for deep character development are what have drawn me most to it. It is set mostly in one location, an underground nuclear shelter built during Tito’s Yugoslavia. The claustrophobic setting is used to portray different characters coming from different social backgrounds, showcasing deviant relations among the members of a typical Balkan family.

What is it that interests you most when deciding on a project?
The most important factor when deciding to embark on the long and painstaking journey of producing a film is whether I can establish an open, direct and trustful relationship with the director. Of course, I have to be drawn to the core idea of the project; however, in my experience, without this relationship, the hard work of making a film becomes almost or quite impossible.

Tell us how the production and distribution situation in Bosnia looks to you, and especially the situation in Republic of Srpska. How much co-operation is there between filmmakers in the two entities, and how hard is it to overcome the specific obstacles emerging from the different legislations?
Ever since the end of the war, we’ve been struggling to produce a concrete and well-defined action plan for the development of the film industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We could say that films in our country are cultural incidents, rather than a reflection of a joint intent to upgrade this branch of cultural industries. We have been fortunate that these incidents have resonated so loudly, not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also internationally, and we have even come up with a saying: if we in Bosnia and Herzegovina want to see a good film, we make one. This fictitious notion of the importance of our film industry has kept us working on creating a microsystem that operates even in very unfavourable conditions, a Bosnian and Herzegovinian version of the film industry. This system we have created is gravely affected, as is everything in our country, by the complicated government structure and the chronic lack of finances. However, I believe that the lack of co-productions between the two entities is not due to differences in ideologies or political convictions, or government impediments, but purely because of a lack of proper funding.

How do you see the future of the production landscape in the former Yugoslavia?
I am convinced that former Yugoslavian countries represent, despite all their differences, an integrated film territory. I am also certain that a kind of Yugoslavian new wave is already taking place. It is a logical consequence of a complex history where cinema was the dominant cultural content up until the 1990s. In the last almost 30 years, several generations of filmmakers have been lost in the aftermath of the war and the transition, but this vacuum that has ensued has also created a space where young generations will have the freedom to search for their own identity. As grim as it may be to have, not only the film industry, but the entire country fall apart, it is in these ruins that new authors can find their own expressions and start something new.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy