- Why did you choose to document life in a retirement home? What was the message you hoped to get across?
Isn’t a retirement home a great place for a life retrospective, especially for art that I delivered during my life time? Regarding the message, it is almost funny to interpret – “I send them by mail. (John Ford)”
- What techniques did you try to use when making this film?
The film was recorded on standard mini DV video camera, and that was all the technology involved.
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- You have quite a range of work and have worked in many different roles in filmmaking. Is there one that you are most passionate about? Why?
I’m simply a film director. Whatever I was doing in addition, was a part time job. I did it in order to support my films, and to put the things in place, as I desired.
- What drew you to the story behind this film?
This story happened on my home island in the Adriatic, Vis. Gruje, the prodigal fisherman, is a friend of mine. I made this film just before I started shooting of a Man without a Moustache. Directing/producing Moustache was a venture as equally crazy, as Gruje’s project of catching Yellowtails. Gruje became a kind of teacher to me. He caught his fish. I caught mine. I managed to accomplish “Moustache” and the film turned out to be a big success. So, it was intuition that drew me to this story. I needed a lesson at the time.
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- You have achieved a great deal of success as a filmmaker already. What do you hope the future will bring?
I am just hoping for the time that is needed to tell as many film stories about the crazy life which surrounds us and which we are living in.
- Do you all of your films have a common theme?
All my movies talk about the violation of humanity, human weakness, abandonment of people. They tell us about all the malice that people can conceive of, about hate, fear and certainty... and lack of love.
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- What was the film you set out to make and did you make it?
Do you know what may be the most ungrateful thing for a film director? It is responding questions about their film that was made a few years ago at the exact time he is shooting a new one. I’m, in fact, exactly in that moment. The film “Here” was made in 2003 and now I finished shooting and have committed to editing my new film “Dawning”. Still, I will attempt to accurately answer your question: the film “Here” tried to panoramically depict Croatian reality. Seems to me that mission was accomplished, although, indeed that depiction is subjective. The point is however about indigenous reality as I experience it. Some other director will choose different paths and characters and that reality would likely be presented differently than mine would.
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- What has been happening in your life since the debut of "A Wonderful Night in Split" in 2004?
Well, it was kind of an overnight success…. for which it took me 15 years to achieve. I became a well-known Croatian film director; it’s already becoming hard to avoid being photographed for newspapers and magazines. I met some people in Los Angeles and I entertain myself now with thoughts of making a Hollywood film. I shot my second feature film, in Croatia earlier this year; it will be ready for screening by the end of the year. And most importantly, I got married to my beautiful Natasha.
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- Why did you choose to make Melon Route?
In the Bosnian town of Posavina there is the main route for people-trafficking from the East to the West. Ten years ago, in the same place where we shot the movie, a small boat was overturned and ten Kurds drowned. That tragic event inspired me to contemplate the fate of people in search of a better life who put their existence in jeopardy.
- How does the theme of this film differ from your other films?
After the tragic war in the former Yugoslavia alot of people were affected by PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Neglect and not understanding the problems of these individuals brought a series tragic events (just in Croatia alone 1700 people committed suicide after the war - most of them were war veterans). These people’s problems is the subject for some of the other movies which I have made in the past, as well as for new ones that will follow in the future.
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- What was particularly compelling to you about this story line - did you have personal ties?
Yes. I was working on a movie called “The Melon Route”, which was also part of the CFF program. For this movie I wrote a screenplay with director Branko Schmidt and I was doing a little bit of casting. So I went to small Bosnian town called Orasje in search of a 13 year old Bosnian boy to play a supporting part in “The Melon Route”. I met Armin Omerovic and he was perfect for the role in Branko’s movie. So he came to Zagreb with his father to meet the director. From this situation I saw the story for my next movie. It was a father taking his son on an audition. They are coming from poor region, hoping for the best and having all sorts of misunderstandings a father and son usually have. For me that was the story that needed to be told. So, you can say this story is really personal and many parts of it are true.
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