A reminder of the beauty of life, far from everyday life

A reminder of the beauty of life, with the aim of making viewers smile, sending a message that everything will be okay, but also awakening them - that is what the short film "What is this Earth without art? Just a rock" is, one of the authors tells "Vijesti", Anja Milić.

Although it was created as a result of a school assignment at the "Niko Rolović" Gymnasium in Bar, the film quickly sparked a series of reactions on social networks, and is available on the Instagram profile parac0sm.jpg and recently on the YouTube channel "Anja Milić".

"Professor of Philosophy" Nela Dabanovic gave us several topics from which we had to come up with a story and make a film. In our small but selected team, which consisted of Ksenija Sorovic, Milica Radunovic, Ana Celebic, Dina Djulamerovic, Teodora Jovanovic "And my little one, we unanimously decided on the topic of aesthetics as a form of art. All the girls gave their voices, which you can hear during the film, while Dina wrote a great text based on Dostoevsky's essay 'What is art?'" says Milić.

Given that the film's title itself asks the question "What is this world without art?", Milić also reveals whether she and the other members of the creative team have come up with an answer...

"A world without art is really just a stone. Art quietly and inconspicuously weaves its threads through our daily lives and our entire lives. The whole point is that you don't have to be a professional in a branch of art to be an artist. The uniqueness and honesty of a person with yourself, when you do what you love, when you know how to show that love and when the light that exists within you shines - you are an artist. That's what makes this world so beautiful and unique," she said.

And that they approached their school assignment carefully, with love and skill, and with the utmost seriousness, is demonstrated by the very layers of their achievement, their effort, expertise, technical characteristics, but also their vision...

"The concept of the film itself is designed to take you on a long journey of self-discovery, precisely through the prism of art. It is designed to make you wander away from everyday life, at least for those seven minutes, and pay attention to some things that you may be overlooking. While I was editing, the footage and thoughts simply flowed, as if they were waiting for this very moment to shine," says the graduate.

The entire process of creating the film lasted about a month, and Milić says that after the first viewing of the working version, she felt an emotion that she wanted to convey. She managed to convey the emotion, but also to provoke, encourage questions and thoughts, and she also talks about how...

"I was really emotional, perhaps because of the spontaneity of the creation and, in the end, such a result. After the first screening of the film in the classroom, the reactions were really positive, which led us to publish our film on social networks. We are aware of the fact that we live in a fast-paced life where we have less and less content that holds our attention for longer than 15 seconds, and with those 15 seconds, along with the concentration we lose, we get a feeling of indifference. That is precisely why the film was published on social networks, to try to break that chain," says Milić, for whom film and cinematography have always been a passion.

"It's a space where you can play and in that way create something that a large number of people can identify with, and at the same time, causing catharsis is really fascinating. That's how the title of this film and the question that opens the frame came about: "What is this Earth without art? Just a rock", is the statement of the famous actor Timotija Shalamea, "which brings about a good discussion and conversation, and it forced us to make a film," she points out.

The film's description mentions silence as a space where the deepest emotions are hidden. Thus, silence was both a powerful dramaturgical and aesthetic device, and a tool in the film itself...

"Silence is an integral part of our lives. It hides the most sincere emotions and contains words and thoughts that may never come to light. Often, we can learn much more from silence than we think. That is why it is an integral part of the film. Art does not exist without silence, and silence would not have its weight without art. An unbreakable bond. Speaking and expressing emotions requires time and a certain maturity, and silence is precisely the path to that goal," the author states.

However, along with silence, the film also features selected interlocutors from different spheres of society.

"These are people who are truly excellent at their job and from whom one can learn a lot when it comes to art. They have made a huge contribution to film and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them very much for that." Milija Šćepanović director, Nikola Sorovic law student, Frano Kolović graphic designer, Jovica Lalovic architect Dalibor Dado Ćetković "A visual artist and professor. Dado has also been my professor and mentor for many years, the person who made me fall in love with photography and film. He is someone who taught me patience and many other life lessons, for which I am immensely grateful," Milić said.

The visual identity, the nature, the shots, the contrasts (black and white and red, for example), carry strong symbolism and build an interesting and authentic atmosphere, visual language and emotion. Milić says that “the visual identity of the film - a language special to itself”.

“The alternation of black and white and color shots represents life in its entirety. If it weren't for those black and white moments and situations, we wouldn't notice and appreciate life in color. I recently watched a few black and white films, including the brilliant 'C'è ancora domani', directed and starring by Paole Cortelesi, which speaks much more and gives a wide range of colors and emotions," says the author and adds:

"I believe that art and culture represent a picture of a society. If we don't pay enough attention to it, consider it a degradation of the entire system. When observing other people, and in some ways ourselves, it is quite difficult to be honest with ourselves, and throughout our lives we gradually discover ourselves - through our own or other people's experiences. This is exactly what films are for, as special universes originating from someone's heart with the desire for another universe to understand or experience it in its own way. Our film is a reminder of the beauty of life, and the goal at the end of watching it is to make you smile, to tell you that everything will be okay, to wake you up," says Milić.

Although young, Anja Milić has been involved in art for years, and has been an amateur photographer for five years. She says that it is solely because of her love for it that she continues to talk about how important art is to her personally.

"I think that especially today in the era of social networks and numerous other platforms, an artist can manage to express his thoughts and views through work and creativity. It is precisely because of social networks that I had the opportunity to learn and meet numerous people, thanks to whom I have much more self-confidence in my creation. Especially in Montenegro, there are numerous education programs that help you and encourage you to continue working. One of them a few years ago was 'Stories from my Home' by the actress Branka Otasevic, "who gave me the wings to create my first video content and from whom I learned a lot," she says and adds.

"I will certainly continue to cultivate my love for photography and film, who knows what time brings."

A combination of ecology and art

Anja Milić was born in Bar in 2006, where she completed the “Blažo Jokov Orlandić” Elementary School and is now finishing the “Niko Rolović” High School.

In addition to art, she shows a great interest in ecology, and combines both areas in her work. In 2022, she won first place at the national competition of young eco-reporters in Montenegro, in the category of elementary school students for the work “Golo brdo”, under the mentorship of MSc Chemistry Jelena Barjaktarović. The same work was one of the representatives of Montenegro at the competition “Young reporters for the environment” in Copenhagen. In the following years, she won awards at the same competition and presented herself in Denmark.

"I had the honor of having my work "Olives in Flames" under the mentorship of MA Jadranka Tršić in 2023 be selected to be one of the Montenegrin representatives at the competition in Copenhagen. The goal of this work is to raise awareness both locally and at a wider level towards protecting our treasure, the olive tree," she said, adding that she also presented herself last year with the video work "Mills Grind Plastic" where she won second place together with Nikola Đenđinović and again qualified for the event in Copenhagen.

She is actively involved in photography and attends the Art Studio “Dalijas” of academic artist Dalibor Dado Ćetković. She has participated in collective local exhibitions, won a number of awards at various domestic competitions and contests, and it is interesting that she painted the interior of the Bar Youth Center in SC “Topolica”.

She participated in the Sarajevo Film Festival, as part of the Teen Area program. She was a member of the Young Audience Award jury for two years. As one of the members of the Montenegrin robotics delegation “Montenegro robotics”, she participated in the world competition “FIRST GLOBAL challenge 2024” in Athens, where they won two awards, namely the “Social media award” and the “Video Storytelling award” for one of the best video presentations of the Montenegrin delegation, which was signed by Milić.