The film "South Wind" by director and co-screenwriter Miloš Avramović begins to live a cinematic life, and already in the first days of its release it breaks all records. The story of mafia war, car theft, falsification of evidence, corrupt policemen brought together a large number of famous actors, led by Miloš Biković, who was entrusted with the main role. In addition to him, Dragan Bjelogrlić, Nebojša Glogovac, Miodrag Radonjić, Miloš Timotijević also star in the film...
The director of the film Avramović talks to Vijesti about what inspired him for this story, how difficult it was to secure the money and what the collaboration with Glogovac was like, for whom this is his last role...
You have made a film that has never been shot in the area of Blakan. In an interview, you said that you wanted to show the kids what happened in the 90s on the street, but this story is still relevant today because the mafias are still at war in the same place. What has changed from the 90s to today?
There are no more sanctions, wars, total corruption and poverty, but in our heads we are still in the "nineties". Idols are still boys and girls who "shortcut" in various ways to get money, "powerful" politicians, dubious businessmen... and the list goes on. Today, they are sponsors on Instagram, where they open their mouths, open boxes with expensive wardrobes on some kind of videos, find new customers, and serve the youth.
You dedicated this film to your friends who went astray. Did you base the characters in the film on anyone in particular?
Not specifically. At that time, my neighborhood was known for the crews that "worked" cars, cut them into parts, knocked them, or asked for a ransom. So it was all around us. Kind of normal. We lost many friends, children, who made the wrong choice, because the circumstances in which they grew up were too heavy a burden for them.
A large number of famous actors such as Glogovac, Bjelogrlić, Diklić, Berček, and even Miloš Biković played in this film. Did you imagine the cast like that from the start?
I didn't. The most important thing for me was to find Maraš first, and then build the rest of the division around him. I only knew that in addition to good dialogues and exciting stories, I had to have top actors, who would use their talent to overcome some conventions of the genre that our audience is not used to.
In your film, Nebojša Glovogac plays his last role. What was the cooperation with him like and was he intended to play the villain from the start?
It was a pleasure to work with Nebojš Glogovac. And a great honor. I knew that Golub had to be played by a top actor, that we would have to add more layers to him through character work and conversation, to "complicate" him. I always admired Nebojša as an actor, but I never had the opportunity to work with him. So it all came together. Watching the characters and relationships you wrote "happen" before your eyes is a phenomenal experience, especially when masters like Nebojša and Dragan Bjelogrlić Bjela or Bogdan Diklić and Aleksandar Berček do it.
Considering that you also wrote the screenplay, how much did it change during the shooting of the film, did the actors have any suggestions that you agreed to?
Of course he was changing. It's an integral part of the process for me, the way we develop characters and clarify relationships. In this process, not only the actors participate, but also the director of photography, set designer, costume designer... Actors sometimes have excellent suggestions, and sometimes they get a little carried away, so they suggest too much, and they don't differentiate between important and unimportant. The director's job is to make a selection, and not allow himself to be seduced by the "actors" with interesting, but unnecessary, harmful suggestions.
The film is a real Hollywood story, and in order to film such an expensive project, a lot of money is needed. It is known that the state helps some other genres, how many people have heard of a story like this that is already filling cinemas all over Serbia?
I think I was more lucky than smart when I was awarded a modest amount at the competition. In general, a festival film is being pushed, to call it that. Repertory, or genre film is ignored for some reason. It is as if there is some kind of snobbery, a petty-bourgeois attitude towards style and stories that are not "intellectual enough" for our cinematographic elite, without regard to whether the content is of high quality or current. Everything else is a pure product of the great effort and commitment of our entire team and friends who approached this project with a lot of love and enthusiasm. Only, and only to them, I owe a big thank you.
Your goal was to make a film that will fill cinemas, but you will also show it at festivals. How important is that festival life and awards for a film?
It's all relative, and it depends on the film and the ambitions of the author. We were making a cinema film, which will fill theaters, and we seem to have succeeded in that. We certainly expect some festival life for the film, we have already won some awards, but all that is in the background.
Can the film "South Wind" be a Serbian candidate for the Oscar?
For sure. And I think he would present us nicely, maybe as a refresher when it comes to our film. But our "cinematic elite" does not change its taste so easily, and I am sure that they will choose a quality art film.
It is important for you that this film leaves an impression on foreigners as well. Will you visit places outside the Balkans with him?
Honestly, it only matters to me what impression it will leave on foreigners if we get some concrete benefit from it. To ease our way to a new project. Everything else is the same as with our audience, and there is no difference. If the hall is full, if the audience is satisfied, I am the happiest man in the world.
A film based in reality
With this story, you made a little reference to the fact that the police are in cahoots with criminals. How difficult was it to tell that story and not cross the line?
I don't know what border you mean? If you mean the border that they will arrest us after the movie, then it would mean that we live in a dictatorship, and a country from which we should escape at the first opportunity. We made a film that is genre and fiction, but it is grounded in reality. By saying that there is no corruption in these areas, not only in the police, but also more widely, you can only come across as ridiculous. There are corrupt individuals or groups in every police force in the world, we are not special. But I am sure that the overwhelming majority of police officers do a job that is difficult and dangerous with honesty and honor.
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