42 | Intervju » Interview KULTURA / CULTURE Are you expecting another film that will – like almost all of its predecessors – immediately gain legendary status? “I don't knowwhether this filmwill achieve the popularity of the other films that I wrote the screenplays for and the ones I directed, but judging by the reactions of the people who’ve watched it, it seems to me that it will be extremely interesting for the audience. The passage of time confirms everything we do in the field of art. The taste or evaluation of critics at one juncture is very telling and indicative of the future for something you’ve done, but some years need to pass for that judgement to be confirmed.” Is there any line from the new film that could become immortal? The trailer seems to suggest that we’ll laugh, at least until we cry... “This film is in the same spirit as those I’ve made previously. With all due respect to 20-odd younger actors, I would single out Lane Gutović, who has unfortunately departed, andMira Banjac, my old friend and an actress with whom I worked from the beginning of the ‘70s.Their lines will certainly remain remembered.” Why is it good to be human? It seems to be getting ever harder to be one if we're talking about a human with a capital H? “We live ina timeof great acceleration. Insuch speed and constant stress, a man begins to imperceptibly focus on himself and his own existence, which is imperilled by everyone and everything. It seems to me that, viewed globally, the basic problem is a lack of empathy. Man has succeeded in exploring the endless expanses of the cosmos, arriving in distant, undreamt-of places, while in the cosmos that exists within man he hasn’t gone far.That is the eternal story - the struggle between good and evil. Good implies your personal action and private struggle to preserve some values, while evil is something that has been present since time immemorial and is something that we must fight against. On the basis of the fact that there are still somany of us on the planet, and that we are acquainted with an exceptionally large number of good and martyred people, I believe that good will always win in the end. Of course, the issue of the casualties of that war between good and evil is increasingly problematic from year to year.” You pose eternal questions, like whether there is life after death, but also a perhaps even more interesting question: is there life before death. Will the film provide answers? “Frommy first serious work, The Marathon Family, all the way to this film, my interest in life before and after death, as well as the dividing line that separates us from those two great wonders, which we are aware of from childhood, and the constant fear of disappearing that we live in, is actually the core topic of everything I’ve done. What happens to people when they depart, and is there any chance that they will reappear on this planet? May hope always exist, and it is expressed to a greater or lesser extent among various nations, belonging to their culture and religion. This film will attempt, in a darkly humorous way, like everything else Svaki dan hranim oko 50 golubova, stotinak vrabaca, desetak mačaka i isto toliko pasa. To je lepši deo mog radnog dana Every day I feed about 50 pigeons, around a hundred sparrows, a dozen cats and just as many dogs. That’s the prettier part of my workday.
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