I am a communist

This time we are not talking to Srđan Dragojević about the new movie, but about the new book. And that's two. In July, his book will be published by Laguna Before I say hello to the worms, and in September i Winged children. Director, screenwriter, clinical psychologist by training, MP in the Parliament of Serbia for the last two years, influential member of SPS for four years, these days he returned to his first profession - writing. Author of films We are not angels (1992) Beautiful Village, Pretty Flame (1996) wounds (1998) We are not angels 2 (2005) Saint George kills the dragon (2009) Parada (2011) and Atomic right (2014), was a successful poet and writer in the eighties. He published three books of poetry, and for A book of action poetry In 1986, he received the "Branko Radičević" grand prize in the competition of poets of the then SFRY. His stories were published in literary magazines throughout Yugoslavia and in a book Fantastic mechanics, and SF stories in the iconic Zagreb magazine "Sirius".

In an interview with "Vreme", Dragojević explains how he returned to writing: "Dejan Papić, director of the publishing house 'Laguna', my school friend, has been urging me to write a novel for years." I resisted for a long time, I was 'stuck' as a screenwriter and I feel good in that skin. So, in the end, we agreed that three scenarios, very important to me, should be included in the book Before I say hello to the worms. But before that I had to make some sense of it. And, I found it. A bit gloomy, though. I realized that I would be relatively satisfied with my professional life if I managed to make those three films until I died. As I'm doing pretty shitty, maybe that's too much, too optimistic. But here's the concept. That's the point. Winged children are a children's book. Over the decades I have made up many stories for my children, this one is about a planet where children up to the age of 12 have wings and can fly, and when they enter puberty the wings begin to slowly fall off."

WEATHER: Which three scenarios will appear in the book Before I say hello to the worms?

Srdjan Dragojevic: One is based on the motifs of the novel The prickly pig Julian Barnes, it's called Once upon a time in the east and deals with the first year of transition in Eastern Europe, a kind of mental and moral corruption in politics. The second scenario is a story about one night during the bombing of Belgrade in 1999 and is called Scraps. I wrote it together with Dimitri Vojnov and it is the final part of the trilogy with Beautiful villages i Wounds. The third scenario is based on the stories of the already forgotten French writer Marcel Aimé, who I was fascinated by in my childhood. It is called Heaven and deals with miracles in the 21st century, an age of false prosperity, but actually an age of return to the Middle Ages in all respects, and therefore excellent for - miracles. Three miracles, three intertwining stories, are what would happen if the main character, a former non-commissioned officer of the JNA, received a halo from God as a gift; then, what would happen if the state of Serbia passed a law that the year lasts 24 months in order to slow down the payment of debts, so by force of law everyone becomes twice as young as they are; the third is the story of a painter who begins to paint nutritious pictures - you look at them and you are full. The public declares these to be "good paintings", and the state wants to nationalize both the "useful" artist and his "nutritious" works. A sympathetic reflection on the purpose of art in today's world, I would say. Well, those films will be, for now, only on paper. I would be satisfied if, after seven films made and fourteen unmade - failed, which remained only on paper, made in the imagination, after so many destroyed projects over the years full of frustrations, frustrations, dozens of aborted characters - I would make at least these three films.

In the meantime, you are waiting for a competition for cinematography which, as you said, he was never so late, not even during Slobodan Milosevic's time, wars and sanctions?

It was last announced in December 2013.

You hope for him, even though you know you don't have much luck in contests?

It's not a matter of luck, there's no good from accusations and depressing stories, but I'd be crazy if I wasn't aware of how and why my four screenplays were rejected in the last six contests. Since the Film Center of Serbia has been in existence, I have never won a competition for a production, and this year marks the end of a decade. Seventy percent of the people involved in film in Serbia passed through those commissions. The conclusion is easily drawn and does not have to be stated. I fight, I like making movies, I enjoy it. Sometimes I manage to record them, despite the self-sacrificing work of my colleagues, but in most cases I don't. I applied twice with previously more than half of the budget obtained from foreign co-producers and distributors, obviously it was an even greater pleasure for my colleagues to reject those films of mine because they know that it is necessary to receive money from the state in order to be able to apply for Euroimage. When they saw that I was in favor The parade received support from the Macedonian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Slovenian funds, I guess they were ashamed that they rejected me at the competition with that project, so they gave me money, 15 million dinars, roughly half of what they gave for the selected film at the competition . It is in Serbia Parada had a viewership of 330.000, the state earned 22 million from VAT from tickets, DVDs, service tax and royalties. Let me hear what state subsidy was paid in this percentage. From which bank can you get this much interest? Thank you, the state, and the awards in Berlin are here for you - for nothing. It would be nice if my colleagues, who regularly win contests, would draw out and offer this kind of calculation. Without malice, but considering it an act of justice, so far I have put the names of the members of the commission that rejected the project on the check-out list. In case Parade that was very helpful Parada won three awards in Berlin at "Panorama", had 20 more international awards in addition to these three, had 600.000 viewers in the region, was sold in 37 countries in Europe and the world and a few months ago had a viewership of 2,8 million viewers on TV channel Arte . And none of the journalists called these people and asked them a question - how come you failed to evaluate a potentially successful project? Are you ignorant or corrupt? Or just mean and envious?

However, at the age of 52, I am not dissatisfied. I live from my hobby, and filmmaking in Serbia is just that - a hobby. And that fascinates me. Admittedly, everything is more difficult, with a loan for an apartment in the Swiss. What to do. Despite surviving on my hobby, I am no longer a free man.

Now you have a government job, the salary of a deputy.

The loan installment is higher than my salary, it has doubled since 2007. For that much credit, the commercials I shoot when they call me are more useful and, to tell you the truth, I enjoy that too. Fun and creative work.

You mentioned that the script Scraps, which will appear in the book, in fact the third part of the film trilogy of your films of the war nineties. On the other hand, Beautiful villages, wounds, Parada i Atomic right they are a kind of tetralogy that records the events in the so-called. region of the Western Balkans for the last 25 years. Atomic right is the final story about the destroyed lives of hundreds of thousands of people in transitional wild capitalism, which in the allegorical title you equate with what remains after a nuclear explosion. It is also your darkest film, more painful than Beautiful villages and from Rana. Does that mean that you are s Atomic from the right finished the chronicle about the final downfall of the region, happy ex-Ju space?

I would end up with her, but she won't end up with me. These three stories from the book Before I say hello to the worms they continue to deal, each in their own way, with the time and space in which we spend our miserable lives. They accuse me of portraying that time and space with too much persiflage and hyperbole. Those fools who accuse me seem to live in Scandinavia.

Well, maybe those hyperboles won't be the only ones Once upon a time in the east based on the novel by Julian Barnes Prickly prase, a film that in a much deeper way deals with politics and all those processes that have brought us to where we are now. The first year of the transition, the young state prosecutor full of ideals does not want to sentence the former president to prison without valid evidence, even though the new democratic government is pressuring him to do so. When he realizes that the new government will kill the president if he doesn't sentence him to a long enough prison sentence, he has to make a big and dramatic decision - whether to remain faithful to humanity, law, ideals, or become a conformist again, which, after all, he already is. was in the decades of communism. At the beginning of the film, in the present tense, the former prosecutor is the prime minister of that country, who is waiting for the police to take him to prison for corruption. It is a story about the daring of politics in the Balkans and in Eastern Europe. All three scenarios from the book speak of the courage of politics. These are some of my dilemmas related to my political and artistic being.

All in all, in the last 25 years I have only been actively creating for a few years, for two decades I have fought with windmills, mediocrities, petty, evil and little wretches, I have literally wasted decades and I have no problem at all saying that and living in peace

Film Once upon a time in the east, which you might manage to record, certainly corresponds with the events in Serbia, arrest and extradition of Slobodan Milošević to the Court in The Hague, all of which occurs nearly a decade after Barnes published The prickly pig. Our Hague drama is not over yet, it is current even these days with Vojislav Šešelj. How did you manage working on the script?, burdened by our reality?

An extremely bizarre thing happened to me, which I thoroughly deserve by working on a political film. Namely, in 2004, the film was rejected at Euroimage, because some representatives of the region vetoed it, claiming that I want to rehabilitate Slobodan Milošević, who was on trial in The Hague at that time, through this film. It's both sad and tragicomic at the same time. With the screenplay, I greatly improved the novel that Julian Barnes published in 1992 after spending several months in Bulgaria following the trial of Todor Zhivkov. My scenario deals with Eastern Europe, but it has built-in experiences of Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia, Romania and the Soviet Union, and it seems to me that with this distance, 25 years since the fall of communism and the "Iron Curtain", it is even more important and more current for this story to be told than it was when the novel was published, in 1992, or when I first tried to record it, in 2004. In 1992, it was daily politics, and in 2004, neoliberal capitalism was at its peak and it is no wonder that someone may have suspected: So what does he want with this? He deals with some communism that disappeared from the scene a long time ago, what does he want now so many years later when we all live fantastically? He must be laying some "coward's egg" with Milosevic. However, in 2015, when the whole world is in crisis and when the ideas of the left become relevant and interesting again, that scenario has a greater right to exist than it did twelve years ago.

As a clinical psychologist by training, and a politician, do you think that the current political elites in the region, of radical nationalist and right-wing origin, they can do something specific for better cooperation, than those before them - originally democratic? This is what your film is about Parada, but at the level of criminals and war profiteers.

I find this question of yours so uninteresting, I have no words. But I will do my best, disciplinedly, to answer somehow. I go to one seminar, four times a year, it's the European Academy for Democracy, the chairman is Pierre Mirel, honorary president of the European Parliament, young MPs, officials of state administrations from all countries in the region, including Kosovo and Albania, participate. These are all young politicians between the ages of 25 and 40. I am young in political experience, but not in age. Before that experience with young politicians, if you had asked me if I would recommend my children to run away from here, I would have answered yes. But now I am an optimist after listening to these young, educated, tolerant people and I believe that they will change the image of the region and the entire Balkans for the better.

Therefore, Can these "the right one" to do something real in solving the accumulated regional issues or do you think we should wait for those young forces to take the helm?

I'm not skipping anything, just, in principle, I don't like to talk theoretically, I talk about my experience, and draw conclusions from it. As a deputy, I deal with topics that have secondary importance in societies in transition, culture, education, ecology, the improvement of which can make a small but visible improvement. And I stop there. The fact that you ask me does not mean that I am censoring myself, that I do not want to answer you, but I am not interested in those topics. Basically, I'm not interested in humans.

And you are interested...?

I'm interested in that "minute for culture", I'm interested in achieving a consensus of all actors, broadcasters, culture boards, RRA, i.e. REM, that it is important and useful to extend one advertising block by one minute, so that instead of per hour 6 minutes on the public service will be 7 minutes, and instead of 12 minutes on TV with national frequencies it will be 13 minutes, of which in both cases one minute would be for culture, and thus we would get a huge wealth of a hundred and a few minutes a day where we would promote new books, new theater performances, new films, exhibitions, cultural manifestations. I am interested in that practical aspect of politics. Small, concrete things. Doable things. I am interested in the fact that MP Janko Veselinović, through the "Green" parliamentary group, is promoting specific proposals to reduce the number of plastic bags, it may be funny to some, but it is important to me.

I would like someone to solve the issue of the absurd debts of independent artists charged by the IRS because the City and local governments are late in paying those contributions, and the interest due to those delays has burdened the freelance artists. That's why many people get executions for robbery, they can't certify their children's health cards. I am interested in the real problems of specific people, and as far as big politics is concerned, I have neither the knowledge nor the interest nor the energy to deal with it, believe me.

How do all those people you are surrounded by in the Parliament who direct our everyday life in a live broadcast seem to you from the parliamentary bench?, it is, after all, the highest legislative body in the country?

It sounds dramatic when you say it, but I still have to note that unfortunately what is a shortcoming that needs to be corrected is that there is an imbalance between the legislative and executive powers. It is the evolution of political life, emancipation. Parliamentary power has a much smaller role than it should have. And as for the people, an experienced MP asked me: "Have you been in the army?" I say yes. "It's the same for you in the parliament," he says. There are an awful lot of different people, and they make up a cross-section of the entire country's society. It is, so to speak, Serbia in miniature. And it shouldn't be any different. It would not be normal for only top intellectuals and rhetoricians to sit there, the essence is that all profiles of people who represent the citizens of Serbia should be in the parliament. Otherwise, it would be a "virtual Serbia", Serbia from the viewpoint of Tadić's marketing experts. I talk to people from all parliamentary clubs, I'm just interested in what they think. I am talking about the problems of independent artists, and one member of parliament answered me: "It would be a shame if those fine players, musicians from Knez Mihailova disappeared." That member of parliament is an educated man, so not Megatrend educated, but he thinks that independent artists are those who play and they juggle in Knez Mihailova. These are neither less intelligent nor less educated people, they just deal with other things.

When you mentioned education as a topic of interest to you, you recently posted on Twitter an open letter from Zrenjanin high school students addressed to corrupt professors with a comment: An excellent letter that restores the will to live. In a country with corruption scandals in education, such as the fake diploma of the president of the state and doctorate-plagiarism of the Minister of Police, what is the effect of the rebellion of high school students in Zrenjanin against professors who extort some students for money or other benefits?

How someone got his diploma is up to him. I'm not interested in that. Nor can I understand what is so important about being a master or doctor of science. I finished my studies at two state universities and it never occurred to me to get a doctorate. It was a waste of my time. I taught for a while at FDU, they started explaining to me that I need a master's degree, a doctorate... What do I have to do with my films to get a master's degree, who cares? I've been reading one book a week since I was ten years old, and for 40 years I've had no desire to get a doctorate, I don't know what I'd do with that title. I'm not a brilliant interlocutor on the subject, but as far as education is concerned, two of my oldest children have finished their studies, one is nearing the end of elementary school, and I would like these two youngest to receive normal textbooks when they start school. I'm telling you about my two-decade frustration as a parent because of scandalous textbooks. In the assembly, I spoke about the fact that it would be very good if established visual, drama, and film artists were members of those evaluation commissions. Why shouldn't one Uroš Đurić, Mrđan Bajić, Vladimir Kecmanović, Dejan Stojiljković, Basara evaluate those textbooks? No one here has the idea that textbooks can be creative and interesting, that children can learn from something fun.

There are so many topics, I asked several parliamentary questions regarding the Avala film. It's frustrating when you ask one question, then another, only to be told they're not competent. Then you need to find an institution that is competent. Then the Prosecutor's Office, the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Money Laundering Prevention Agency give me the answer that they will "investigate the allegations" regarding the sale of the Avala film. It's devastating and frustrating. Only they are possibly competent.

Can something be done by asking the competent institutions?? Filmway Company (Movie road) d.o.o. from Belgrade officially became the owner of Avala Film, having paid the remaining amount of the purchase price the other day, and the Privatization Agency is for journalists "Today" said that there were no official objections to the privatization, despite the great noise in the public?

He can always do something. The worst thing is to raise your hands, and that is already a question of mentality. Let that sale be unfavorable for the culture of Serbia and the public interest, because if the state had converted that land into construction land and sold it at a tender, we would have received much more funds for the culture of Serbia, which could really be used to build an opera house, a museum of natural history, and restore cultural centers. . Land that has a commercial value of 100 million should be sold for 30 million, and that is better than these eight million. But let's see what about those eight? When the debts to the creditors are returned, five or four and a half million will remain. Let the culture get those four and a half million, let's buy the "Zvezda" cinema, which was sold in another criminal privatization of Belgrade Film. Let's buy another cinema, so that we have at least two arthouse cinemas in Belgrade. Let's invest a few million in the digitization of cinemas and centers of culture in Serbia. If we didn't get 50, 40, 30 million, let's fight for these five!

You mention buying out cinemas, you said that it is possible to cancel the privatization of Belgrade Film?

Of course, there are numerous documents and evidence that the new owner did not even fulfill the requirement to maintain the activity for two years, but simply proved that he did so in an accounting manner. Someone has to deal with it. In the Committee for Culture, we came to the conclusion that a working group should be formed, which will include the Ministry of Economy, the Prosecutor's Office, the Film Center and the Privatization Agency. So many months have passed, there is no working group, there is no one who is really motivated to push something.

Your SPS party is in the executive branch, is part of the ruling coalition, did you talk to Ivica Dacic about it, do you have discussions within the party about it?

In SPS, they support all the actions I initiated and everything I do. I think the right address is the ministry that should be interested in this topic.

The Minister of Culture is not interested?

I sent several initiatives to the Ministry of Culture. And in connection with Beograd film and Avala film, and the position of independent artists. I was confronted with their view of things that they are not competent for these topics. They found no interest in dealing with these topics.

Who told you that?, Minister of Culture?

I received an official answer to the parliamentary question. Regarding my idea related to the reconstruction of the network of cultural centers in Serbia, the Ministry said that it is a matter of local self-government. Everyone has their own vision and conception of how to solve certain things. I can't blame anyone for that vision. I can understand that due to the need to decentralize power, it should be the responsibility of local self-governments. It's just that, on the other hand, that concept leads to the fact that you have a cultural center in Serbia with 58 employees. How can you think about programs and creativity when 58 people need to be paid, and they have been hired since 2000, that is, in the last 15 years and - what should you do? I would like to see a topic where I could be useful in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture. These topics have not met with interest.

So you did not talk to Minister Tasovac? I am not referring to questions from the parliamentary bench, I think you, Srđan Dragojević, talk to Ivan Tasovac about the position of freelance artists and come up with something?

I see it differently. If I am already a deputy, then it is a question of both political and basic culture, not to skip it and to keep communication at that, in my opinion, quite sufficient, formal level. I have never been inclined to arrange anything personally and reduce it to a private relationship. In the parliament, I represent people from culture in Serbia and I need to communicate as a member of parliament. And I do that.

Does the Minister of Culture interfere in his work??

Obviously, some things are moving: after so many years, the works of fine artists have been purchased for museums, that's something we haven't had in years. The Minister of Culture has a concept based on his personality and worldview. Sometimes I agree with that concept, sometimes I don't. My opinion is that even high-end art does not make much sense if it is not mass-produced. Art is for everyone, and if it isn't, it says more about the creator and his work than about the potential users. I am a communist, I believe that pianists and symphony orchestras should play in factories, that art must be accessible to everyone. I believe that the point is not to distinguish between art and pop art and kitsch, but to learn from pop art how to promote top art. That is why I insist on the necessity of advertising culture, works of contemporary creativity and cultural manifestations, as well as on the restoration of cultural centers. But I can also understand someone's attitude that art is exclusive, that it belongs to the minority. That's another concept.

Is poverty or poverty more responsible for the state of culture??

It is not easy to answer that question. Faced with crony capitalism, we are still trying, especially in culture, to live in socialism. Two elements are missing for that - material resources, which are almost non-existent anymore, and top cultural workers such as, for example, Bojan Stupica, Mira Trailović, Ratko Dražević, who are the product of a multi-decade cultural strategy of a serious state. The money has been spent and the leading people in the culture are as they are, after two decades of mutations and negative selection. However, blaming only the state and any government is misleading and unproductive. The responsibility lies with us creators. In theaters, for example, there are actors who receive a salary for ten, fifteen, twenty years and do not play plays. I am very sorry that no one has the courage to say that. The one who has the courage goes through like Kokan Mladenović. After a couple of such examples, it's hard to find someone who has a burning desire to have a cultural bazaar pour a bucket of shit on their head on a daily basis. However, the government does not come up with logical and useful laws related to culture. The temporary law on the ban on employment cannot be applied to cultural institutions, especially not to theaters. Because production simply stops. I had a conversation about this with Minister Krstić, and he warned me that this law would endanger creativity and told me not to worry, they will solve it as in the case of "seasonal" workers at Kopaonik. "But, Mr. Minister, art and snowballing are not the same," I answered him. But what to do, we got that "clumping". But, I repeat, it is fair to look at things from "our side" as well.

And it is?

Self-employed artists have an obvious problem because benefits have been reduced to a minimum, many people will be welfare cases when they retire, if they retire at all, but on the other hand, we have associations with hundreds of members, many of whom are not involved in the arts. profession. The criterion for admission to the status of independent artists has been lowered to the point of absurdity. And how do you get there? Ketmanship, lack of resentment, struggle for small privileges, Šicardžija spirit, vanity led to the fact that people in culture are their own worst enemies. A few bad laws up and down will do them no more harm than they do themselves. But that's no reason not to try to fix things. We owe it to the new generations, the new cultural elite. Despite the inertia, despite the treachery and cunning of the ruling mediocrity. Here's what those tricks look like.

On the initiative of a few of us who deal with cultural policy, we created an initiative that was adopted by the Film Center of Serbia to stimulate and reward successful films and authors. To reward viewership, because it helps both the cinemas and the state, which receives VAT refunds from the tickets. And as a counterbalance to that, films that are not commercial but participate and win awards at major festivals are also stimulated. Everyone agrees that it's a fantastic concept, a balance between arthouse and commercial approach, and success is finally rewarded. And what happens? All criteria for the number of spectators are lowered, all criteria for the level of the festival are lowered, so some completely irrelevant festivals are taken into account. And, everything is equalized, everything is averaged, everyone gets a bit of money for some alleged successes, mediocrity triumphs again. Mediocrity in this country is indestructible. So, again, when you're really successful, either in the cinema or at prestigious festivals, you can't do anything with the money you get; everyone got a little bit and the whole idea turned into a freak, a mockery, its own opposite.

In the interview "Time" 2005. you said that you regret not being a member of JUL-a, because yes it is, you would personally see to it that the Avala film is restored. "Everyone who likes white tulips would participate in the reconstruction" you said. Is it now?, with political experience in SPS-u, you believe you are in the nineties, with membership JUL-a, could you renew the Avala film?

It's not just about the Avala film. We had a better position in the nineties than we have now. We had cultural infrastructure, more than 400 cinemas, more than 400 centers of culture in Serbia. During the XNUMXs, all of that was reduced to a double-digit number. During the XNUMXs, those rare remaining centers of culture became a base where less capable party personnel are employed - those who are not good for the city's cleanliness, for electricity distribution, get a job in the center of culture. The most difficult thing now is to rebuild that infrastructure. This is the most difficult thing to do in the industrial infrastructure as well - to restore it. Therefore, it is more difficult to do reindustrialization than industrialization. It's the same with culture.

Was I able to restore the Avala film? Well, it's hard to answer that, you need to be in the executive branch for something like that. I don't know if I could manage there. A politician in the executive branch must have a strong ego, a superiority complex. And you must have strong social intelligence. I have none of that. In addition, you must have complete autonomy. That when someone says "I want my party friend, godfather, grazed as the director of this and that theater", you have the right to say: "Take a walk, you and the grazed."

Recently from somewhere "from diplomatic circles" Information appeared that you are a potential candidate for a diplomatic position, ambassador?

Diplomatic circles are known for tact and discretion, right? I have a hunch that these are some other circles, concentric I guess. My films were already "ambassadors" in the region. Beautiful villages – the first film in Slovenia after the wars, wounds in Croatia. True, with Croatian subtitles. I am more appreciated in the region than here. Maybe I could personally help stop subtitling each other.

General Mihailović was rehabilitated this year, last year Koča Popović and Peko Dapčević won the streets in Belgrade, are these all populist moves by this government to finally satisfy all Serbs?, as you like to say mediocre, a little bit for everyone?

I like to say, but not in this context. As far as I'm concerned, the best thing would be to return the name to Marshal Tito Boulevard and add General Draža Mihailović. If it can matter to someone else. I almost said: "If you sacrificed your job, security, free medical treatment, education and vacation for the rehabilitation of the Chetnik general - I heartily congratulate you on that rehabilitation." What else can be said. The economy is devastated, half of the young people are out of work, and there are people who not only "baptize kids" but also "ripple" their fur, make "perms" on their tails and paint their hooves. The whole social dynamic can best be seen in kindergarten children. Like if someone talked kindergarteners into pleading guilty to Mickey and Sheila, instead of looking forward to getting buckets and shovels and having their play pools filled with sand and their swings fixed. Or, on the other hand, to speak out about the rehabilitation of SpongeBob, while they are starving and have to play in broken glass...

The same, regarding the order in which we live: no one has yet asked us whether we are for socialism or capitalism. We got capitalism in the same way that children in kindergarten would be asked if they would get a hundred grams of chocolate every day. And everyone would say: yes! However, no one warned them that only the strongest children would be able to distribute that chocolate, and that with the help of a few aggressive parents who work for the kindergarten's secret service.