Grand Prix for Best Director to Čedomir Marković and the film "Everything Will Be - Maestro Radovan Papović"

The feature-length documentary film "Everything Will Be - Maestro Radovan Papović", directed by Čedomir Marković, was recently awarded at the City Fest film festival in Niška Banja, and the director, as well as his wife and Radovan Papović's daughter, Neda Papović Marković, who, as a screenwriter and producer, is also responsible for the realization of this achievement, spoke about the "Desimir Stanojević" Grand Prix award for best direction for "Vijesti".

In addition to them, the film crew also included Lazar Obrenović, Igor Ivanov, Danilo Vujačić, Dalibor Nedović, Luka Klisić and Goran Drinčić, while the director and screenwriter expressed special gratitude to co-producers Branka Bošnjak and Darko M. Ivanović and the NGO "35mm".

At the beginning of the conversation, Marković shared his impressions from City Fest, and also reflected on the significance of the award that bears the name of a great figure in Balkan acting and cinema.

"Honestly, the first reaction was a feeling of great gratitude. The very fact that the film 'Everything Will Be Alright – Maestro Radovan Papović' was recognized and awarded at the City Fest in Niška Banja is a great pleasure for the entire team. When you hear that the award for best director is named after Desimir Stanojević, you don't just think about the recognition, but also about everything that name carries with it. My generation grew up with his roles. He was part of a time in which artists had the power to gather families around the television and become part of people's everyday lives. That's why an award like this has a special emotional weight," he concludes.

"While I was making the film about Radovan Papović, I often thought about how quickly we forget people who have marked our society. Not just artists, but people who left a deep mark with their work, knowledge, character and relationship with others. Radovan was exactly that kind of man. That's why I experience this award in a somewhat symbolic way. Both Desimir Stanojević and Radovan Papović belonged to a generation of people who left behind much more than professional successes. They left behind memories, emotions and an impact on the lives of other people. If my film managed to save even a small part of that from oblivion, then I believe its mission has been fulfilled," adds the interviewee of "Vijesti".

"Of course, the recognition means a lot to me, but it is equally important to me that it has reached beyond the borders of Montenegro. In a way, that makes me happy, but it also makes me think. The film has so far been recognized and awarded abroad, while in Montenegro it has not had the opportunity to be shown at certain festivals. I am not saying this with bitterness, because every festival has the right to its own choice, but with the conviction that sometimes we trust our own stories and the people who create them too little. The good news is that this film will close the Herceg Novi Film Festival on August 27th, in front of Andrić's house," said Marković.

"Maybe that's why this recognition reminded me not only of the importance of the award, but also of the importance of memory. Because if we forget people like Radovan Papović, then we not only lose the memory of them, but also a part of ourselves. That's exactly why I'm happy that his story found its way to the audience and that, I believe, it will continue to live on after this festival," the director emphasized.

He, like Neda Papović Marković, was guided during the work on the film by the desire to preserve memories of the work and life of Radovan Papović, but also to leave a lasting mark on Montenegrin musical culture.

When asked if this award is confirmation that the story crossed the boundaries of the personal and local, and touched the audience and jury in a wider area, Papović Marković says:

"My late father was one of the most important figures in the musical and cultural space of Montenegro, who laid many foundations for the development of various musical fields, and was a man whose work was recognized throughout the former Yugoslavia, but also much wider. It was demanding to prepare the material that my father left me with the desire to write a monograph for him one day, but even more demanding to find the best way to transform all that material and data into a film, but also the audacity to even embark on such an endeavor, as a screenwriter and one of the film's producers."

As she says, she was guided by the thought of her own responsibility in the face of this "not at all simple task, but also by a great desire to persevere, to repay, to give thanks, and to do something worthwhile."

"For me as a daughter, working on this film was a challenge for many reasons, but mostly because in the process of creating a documentary film you have to maintain objectivity in order to respect the basic code that a documentary film requires. On the other hand, considering that we are building a kind of film monument to my father, I felt the need for this film, in addition to the rich archival material, photographs, original audio recordings, and truly emotional and diverse interviews with his colleagues, students, and friends, to convey fragments of our subjectivity and emotionality," she explains.

"This is how the film 'Everything Will Be' was created, as a kind of poetic and documentary achievement, and as such it could not fail to touch not only the Montenegrin audience, but also the audience and jury of the City Fest International Film Festival in Niška Banja with its universal meanings, emotions and messages. The film is an unusual combination of documentary and poetic codes, which actually intertwine, and which make the story of my father's life and work become a universal story about a man, his path, transience, traces, the meaning of life, art, its position in our society and in general about the lofty mission that an artist has. When you use your knowledge with all your heart, bravely and responsibly for a higher goal, out of love and with the desire to give your father and Montenegro a film like this as a gift, then the reward must come," believes Papović Marković.

The screenwriter and director reveal how challenging, but also valuable, it was to direct and edit such extensive archival material and the film's emotional message to achieve such a high festival rating.

"Working on this film was a particular challenge precisely because of the huge amount of archival material, photographs, audio recordings and memories of people who knew Radovan Papović. However, the biggest challenge was not collecting the material, but finding a way to make a film with soul out of it all," says Marković.

"From the very beginning, it was clear to us that we did not want to make a classic biographical story that would chronologically list the events of one life. The idea was to try to capture the emotion, atmosphere and the elusiveness that made Radovan special through the film. That is why the film was developed from the very beginning in the direction of poeticization. The archival material was just one of the layers. Through animation, music, the rhythm of editing and visual language, we tried to create a space in which memories, emotions and reality naturally intertwine," he adds.

"I think that this is where Čedomir gave the most as a director and editor. From a large number of different elements, he managed to create a whole that speaks not only about who Radovan Papović was, but also about a time, people and values ​​that this great conductor and professor represented. Such an approach required a lot of patience and dedication, because we were constantly looking for the border between document and emotion, between fact and experience. Sometimes it took more time to find the right tone for one segment than to edit an entire chapter of the film," continues Papović Marković.

"We also owe a special thanks to our animator Lazar Obrenović, who did an extremely important part of the work on the film. Thanks to his work, photographs, newspaper articles and numerous archival materials did not remain just silent witnesses of a time, but were given new life on the screen. His animations helped to see the past not just as a record, but as a living memory that still communicates with the audience today," she emphasizes.

"That's why this award for directing has a special weight. It is not only a recognition of the way the film is technically designed, but also for the courage to guide the documentary form through emotion, poetry and authorial expression. An archive can preserve facts, but a film must preserve a person. I think that was precisely the essence of this film - that behind all the data, dates and successes, the person remains visible," added Marković.

At the end of the conversation, Papović Marković shared her impressions from the festival in Niška Banja, and revealed how the audience there reacted to the documentary about maestro Papović.

"I really liked the organization of this festival, the hospitality of the organizer and producer Oliver Paunović, the festival's PR Branka Mihajlović, but also the quality of films with diverse themes from different parts of the former Yugoslavia that were included in the repertoire. I felt the space of true film lovers, great respect for our work, and everything did its part to give us the wind at our back for our further professional development and progress. The audience reacted very emotionally to our film, and I hope that there was also a future young artist among them and that this film will especially enchant and motivate them, because that segment is very important when it comes to the film 'Everything Will Be Alright, Maestro Radovan Papović'," she said.

“Between Heaven and Voice” - a new film dedicated to Nebojša Saveljić

Neda Papović Marković and Čedomir Marković took the opportunity to announce a new project, which is also dedicated to a recognizable face from the Montenegrin music world.

"The new project is titled 'Between Sky and Voice' and is dedicated to Nebojša Saveljić - Sky, one of the members of the iconic Monteniggers and a man who marked an entire generation. But this film will not just be a story about Monteniggers and music. Sky is a much broader and deeper story," announces Marković.

"He was a man who, with his talent, energy and way of thinking, left a mark that was much greater than the songs he created. Through his story, I want to talk about a generation that grew up between Podgorica, Kotor, Belgrade and the entire area of ​​the former Yugoslavia, a time in which friendships, music and ideas spread much more freely than we can imagine today," explains the director.

"What's interesting to me is that through Neba, we can talk about a time that no longer exists in the same way. About people who had the need to create, to push boundaries, to be different. And Nebo was one of those people who didn't try to fit into the times - but in a way tried to change them," believes the interviewee of "Vijesti".

As he says, this is precisely why he wants the film to be personal and universal at the same time.

"Through the memories of family, friends and people who created with him, we try to understand who Nebo was, what he carried within him and why he remained so important to the people who knew him, but also to those who know him only through his music," adds Marković.

It is especially important to him that this film be the story of Podgorica, but also of Kotor, Belgrade, and the space that Nebo connected with his life and creativity.

"I think that stories like these have value beyond the borders of a single city or country," he concludes.

"We already have people who have recognized the importance of the project and who want to help preserve this story. I hope that in the coming period we will also receive support from the Capital City, as well as other institutions, companies and people who recognize the importance of culture and our shared memory. I do not expect anyone to do what the author's job is, but I believe that stories like this should be of common interest," says Marković.

"Because 'Between Heaven and Voice' for me is not just a film about one musician. It is an attempt to preserve a part of time, one city and one generation - before the memories of them begin to fade," added the director.