After six weeks of work, the crew of the "Besa" series, which many characterized as the best in the region in recent years, finished the part of the second season filming that was supposed to be done in Montenegro.
As our country will be represented twice as much in the upcoming season of this crime drama than in the last one, there was a need for a Montenegrin co-producer, and a face already known to the series team fell into that role. Montenegrin actor Dušan Kovačević has already played in "Besa", from the production company Natenana, which is responsible for the sitcom "Deuč caffe", and is included in the project as a co-producer. It is another opportunity for him and for Montenegrin film workers to learn and connect with the bigger and more experienced ones from our environment, where the tendency of homogenization and unification into a single scene made up of the same cultural space, the space of the former Yugoslavia, is increasingly visible.
Kovačević says that there were challenges, mostly due to corona and several rainy days, but that everything was overcome and that everyone is satisfied. The last part was filmed in the village of Dujeva near Rijeka Crnojevića, and previously they mostly worked on the Montenegrin coast.
Already in the first season, it is evident that the series draws attention to the beauty of Montenegro, how significant can that be for our country?
Well, of course, for many years we have been fighting with our fellow producers to bring foreign productions, which are doing significant things both at the regional and world level, to shoot in Montenegro, to promote Montenegro as a tourist destination because despite all the systems or of marketing means, however, the game form, whether it is a series or a film, is something that best presents the country, with all its natural beauty. We have examples through blockbusters, let's say what "The Lord of the Rings" made of New Zealand as a tourist destination, and "Game of Thrones" made of Dubrovnik... I think it is very significant, that people recognized it and worked on it. Because I would agree with Igor that Montenegro is a small studio, we talked for a long time about what Montenegro has to offer and that we should invest in that industry, that the state should stand behind film workers, that some studio should be created with a private-public partnership , which will certainly pay off, maybe not specifically through that project, but at the level of the entire country and at the level of economic profit. You can see for yourself, we just need to turn to Europe and the region, because surely the people who studied in Prague or Budapest did not do so without some economic calculation.
Do projects like this, which have international potential, particularly help to move towards that path of promoting Montenegro in film circles and strengthening the film industry?
Of course, this is a very important project and I really have to express my great gratitude and pleasure for collaborating with producer Teo Korolija and Srdjan Šaper's Adrenalin production company. This is a great experience for me. Of course, projects like this are very complex, they are not easy to carry out, especially not in a country where the film industry is not developed enough, but there is progress and we do not lose hope, we approach each project enthusiastically, with the fact that in Montenegro we are training film workers, service productions, people who are able to pull in and put together a project that will present them at the right level, and yet bring benefit to all those who are here, from the film workers we hired on this project, drivers, catering and the like. You can see for yourself how the village has come alive since we have been here, and that is very significant. Now imagine what it would be like if we had ten such teams at ten locations in Montenegro, if it became our trend. I believe that with dedicated work and intention we can achieve it in a few years.
How did the production collaboration with Adrenaline come about, was it based on your past experiences and contacts?
That's right, I played in the first season and we became friends and recognized each other on a human and professional level. When I was working on "Deutsch Cafe", I was a co-producer of "Real Stories" with Gordan Kicic, and worked on some other projects, they saw that it would be good to collaborate and invited me. It was really very challenging for me, I felt a responsibility because I am aware of how big the project is. But here, I can see from the team that they are very satisfied, I can see from the material that it looks fantastic and I think that the second season will be much more successful than the first, although maybe now it seems almost impossible after the success of the first.
What else are you working on?
Along with all of the above, I perform my function as the artistic director of the City Theater, which requires a lot of energy, but I do not neglect the theater because it is my first love and a great responsibility. Unfortunately, the situation is such that everything we planned, and we had great ambitions, was prevented by this pandemic and the audience was prevented from coming to the theater. After the opening of the theater, I will also return to my repertoire in the Montenegrin National Theater and Zeta House, where I play everything. A Croatian film should be shot in the spring, in which I am also a co-producer, and there will be an opportunity to talk about it when the time comes.
What is the impact of the corona on the cultural scene in our country and how do you assess the state's response?
I try to justify all the decisions of NKT because it is not easy to make some decisions, but I really think that we artists are perhaps the most vulnerable. All this has a strong effect on the artist's psyche, on the actor's psyche, because an actor cannot live without an audience. I think all my colleagues will agree that we are going through a psychologically difficult period, I am not talking materially, because we do what we have chosen out of love and from the primary feeling that we are changing people from the stage as mediators. If we manage to change at least one person in his lifetime, we have succeeded.
"Deutsch caffe" opens the doors of the region
In recent years, all borders have been erased, there is more and more cooperation in the ex-YU area, and these kinds of co-productions are becoming more common. What is the position of Montenegrin film workers there?
I will tell you in two theses, if you have followed my work. The idea to create "Deutsch Cafe" is a local, authentically Podgorica story. However, if you followed from episode to episode, we brought various actors from all over ex YU, in order to open the market, and from the first day I am an advocate that Montenegro has a small market, that it does not exist as an individual, it is one neighborhood in to a bigger city. Without a regional market, we do not exist on the map, we are a statistical error in terms of the number of inhabitants who view any cultural product. Through that project, I advocated for it, and I hope that the audience throughout the region will see "Deuč caffe" on television and that it will open doors.
On the other hand, when we talk about the opening to the region, I must mention that if you follow the theater, as the artistic director of the City Theater, I am one of the founders of RUTA, the Regional Union of Theaters, where six theaters from as many ex-Yu republics formed a union. We signed the agreement in the Parliament of Belgrade and the first cycle of RUTA started there in December and then took place in March in Podgorica, where the audience could see eminent names that they rarely get to see. Then of course the corona stopped us, we plan to continue where we left off in April and go to Ljubljana, Sarajevo, Brijuna, Skopje, Belgrade and return to Podgorica again. It is a concept, that we circulate around the region and that we always exchange culturally.
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