The film comprises of five dramatic reflections on motherhood among young women today in the country formally known as Yugoslavia. Five films, in fact, by five such women. A pregnant woman in hospital meets the man who has just killed her husband. Another hides her pregnancy from her boyfriend because she knows her work means she must leave him. Yet another, expecting twins, is faced with a terrible choice when one is diagnosed as damaged. Having just given birth, a drug-addicted mother is told her child must be taken away for adoption. A young nun becomes pregnant. These are everyday contemporary stories from Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia. Stories that look at the consequences of war from a different perspective. Stories that ask the question: what does it mean to give life after so much death?
BACKGROUND
The film project Some Other Stories rests on the conviction that it is possible and desirable to conceive and reanimate the cultural space of ex-Yugoslavia on new foundations, which would not be sabotaged by the burden of the violent wars of the 1990’s. The idea was to make an ex YU omnibus film to be directed by young women directors from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia (FYROM), Slovenia and Serbia. With the exception of Hanna Slak this is a debut feature film for directors.
PRODUCTION FRAMEWORK
The project was initiated in 2005 on the basis of an idea by film critic and producer Nenad Dukić. After consultations with colleagues in the region he engaged screenwriters and young women directors from five countries: Belgrade: Ana Maria Rossi (writer / director), Zagreb: Ivona Juka (screenwriter / director); Ljubljana: Hanna Slak (writer / director); Sarajevo: Ines Tanović (writer / director); Skopje: Marija Džidževa (director); Verdan Torzija, Gorce Stavreski (screenwriters).
Consciously and purposefully involving only young women directors in the project, he wanted to affirm that women not only have stories to tell and valuable points of view to share, but also that they are skilled professionals and talented artists at the top of their generation.
The co-producers that joined the project are SEE Film Pro – Beograd, Dokument - Sarajevo; 4Film - Zagreb; Skopje Film Studio - Skopje and Studio Maj – Ljubljana. In January 2008, the Irish Film Board (Simon Perry) approved financial support of the project, to be done by Irish co-producer DIG Productions. In December 2008, the project received support from Council of Europe’s Eurimages film fund.
With five producers and five directors from five countries, all equally involved in the whole process of preparation and filmmaking, this film is the first creative and production collaboration among countries that once formed Yugoslavia. Some Other Stories is the first project in 18 years, cultural or otherwise, that was jointly financed by all former Yugoslav republics since 1991!
When we, finally, finished the film, Hanna Slak, one of directors, said: “The incredible fact that such a project was completed and exists, in spite of all difficulties, is a great investment into the future. It is a small revolution, the turning of a new page. And it is happening first in cinema! Other fields will follow, and I am sure more co-operations will emerge in the years to come”.
This film is a fascinating portrait of a region where the most recent history has made a deep impact. There are huge differences between the countries the films were made in: economic, sociological, cultural, religious, and others. This is reflected, on all levels, in the differences among the films.
It’s not easy to make any film, but this one was really exceptional in difficulty, for various reasons: on the one hand, complicated work on the five screenplays in order to fulfill the concept of the film as a whole, and, on another hand, to provide the authenticity and autonomy of each story.
CAST AND CREW
Croatian segment
directed by Ivona Juka
screenplay Ivona Juka
cast Goran Bogdan, Nera Stipičević, Mirela Brekalo
director of photography Mario Oljača
editor Ivor Ivezić
music Brian Crosby
sound editor John Fitzgerald
sound recordist Igor Šegović
art director Ivica Hušnjak
costume designer Anita Juka
make up artist Tina Jesenković
producers Anita Juka, Vanja Sutlić
Serbian segment
directed by Ana Maria Rossi
screenplay Ana Maria Rossi
cast Nataša Ninković, Sergej Trifunović, Jack Dimich, Svetlana Bojković
director of photography Radoslav Vladić
editors Andrija Zafranović, Mateja Rackov
music Vlada Divljan
sound editor John Fitzgerald
sound recordist Marton Jankov
art director Aleksandar Denić
costume designer Ksenija Terzović
make up artist Tina Šubic Dodočić
producers Nenad Dukić, Tihomir Stanić
Bosnian segment
directed by Ines Tanović
screenplay Ines Tanović
cast Feđa Štukan, Nina Violić, Emir Hadžihafizbegović, Jasna Ornela Bery, Boris Ler
director of photography Erol Zubčević
editor Nijaz Kožljak
music Igor Čamo
sound editor Igor Čamo
art director Sanja Džeba
costume designer Sanja Džeba
make up Vesna Trogrančić
producer Alem Babić
Macedonian segment
directed by Marija Džidževa
screenplay Gorče Stavreski, Vardan Torzija
cast Iva Zendelska, Slaviša Kajevski, Jordan Simonov, Vladimir Endrovski
director of photography Dejan Dimeski
editor Igor Andreevski
sound recordist Marton Jankov
art director Igor Toševski
costume designer Žaklina Krstevska
make up Žaneta Dimitrievska
producer Tomi Salkovski
Slovenian segment
screenplay Hanna Slak
directed by Hanna Slak
cast Lucija Šerbedžija, Marko Mandić, Petra Govc, Maruša Kink, Ludvik Bagari, Manca Dorrer
director of photography Sven Pepeonik
editor Hanna Slak
music Brian Crosby
sound editor John Fitzgerald
sound recordist Markus Krohn
art director Dušan Milavec
costume designer Bjanka Ursulov
make up Tina Šubic Dodočić
producer Dunja Klemenc
DIRECTORS' STATEMENTS
The country we were born in has not existed for a long time, but different memories of it do exist. These memories of ours can be more or less nostalgic, but they were not theprecondition for our joint film. There are no reminiscences here or any invocation of a better past, because the greater part of our lives has taken place in countries that have been acquiring their national emancipation over the past ten or more years. This film is an attempt to create an artistic picture about us as we are today, to reach towards one another from a new perspective and to reach even further together.
Ana Maria Rossi, Serbia
We grew up together, in the same country and believed in the same values. However, all that is left of it are a few photographs here and there. We are now telling some other stories, each different from the other, but each lacking the most important unifying value: love. We are making this film together, revealing all the painful moments in the new stages of our growing up, but, at the same time, we are creating a new life, a new world, a world in which love does exist.
Marija Dzidzeva, Macedonia
I live in Croatia. Its neighbors are separate countries that once belonged to one unified larger country. I remember that country only from my childhood, but since everyone believes his/her childhood to be the nicest, I cannot judge what that state was really like. I remember it only by the feeling of being carefree. That country no longer exists. All that remains are the neighbors, always the same, neighbors speaking the same language as I do, and whom I understand. It is because I understand them that I see a meaning and wish to participate in this omnibus.
Ivona Juka, Croatia
Five female directors, five young women were born in the same country, and now they live in five different states.
Each of us has a possible perception of her country following all the historical events that took place over the past fifteen years. Five different stories make up a film about a former country...
Ines Tanovic, Bosnia & Herzegovina
I believe the SOS project is a wonderful opportunity to explore the diverse universes this part of world has developed into in the past decade. My voice speaks from the position of paradise: EU membership, no major problems, low unemployment, we are all happy, looking good and doing quite well. But...
Hanna Slak, Slovenia
FESTIVALS (selected)
Taormina Film Festival 2010. Pula Film Festival 2010. Motovun Film Festival 2010. Sarajevo Film Festival 2010. Montreal World Film Festival 2010. Warsaw International Film Festival 2010. Athens European Film Fest 2010. Durres
Internatinal Film Summerfest 2010. Festival slovenskega filma 2010. Valladolid Film Festival 2010. Sidney-Melburn-Perth Fest. of New Serbian Film 2010. Carthage Tunisia, Intl. Film Fest 2010. Mannheim-Heidelberg Intl. Film fest (Art of Cinema) 2010. Montpellier Mediterranean Film Fest. 2010. Cairo International Film Festival 2010. Kerala
Film Festival 2010. Chennai International Film Festival 2010. Pune International Film Festival 2011. Goeteborg Intl. Film Fest. 2011. Creteil International Women Film Festival 2011. South East European Film Festival Los Angeles 2011. Galway Film Fleadh 2011.
AWARDS
PULA 2010 (FEDEORA Award, Federation of European & Meditorenian Film Critics, award for the best actress - Nera Stipičević, Croatian segment), PALIĆ 2010 (special mention), HERCEG NOVI 2010 (jury award), VRNJAČKA BANJA 2010 (third award for screenplay, Serbian segment), ATHENS 2010 (Panorama of European Cinema, public award), FESTIVAL SLOVENSKEGA FILMA 2010 (costumography - Bjanka Ursulov, Slovenian segment).
