“Collaboration with Srđan Koljević was like genuine poetry,” said Slovenian director Janez Burger, discussing his joint creation “Observation” that premiered last night at the 29th Auteur Film Festival in Belgrade. The screenplay of this film is co-authored by the recently departed Serbian author Srđan Koljević, whom Burger praised for their collaboration, stating it was “like genuine poetry.”
This year, a special program was dedicated to Srđan Koljević at the Auteur Film Festival, titled “Homage to Srđan Koljević,” featuring six of his favorite films: “Bitter Part of the River” by Jovan Živanović, “Bridge” by Hajrudin Krvavac, “Rio Bravo” by Howard Hawks, “Five Graves to Cairo” by Sam Peckinpah, “The Cheyenne Autumn” by John Ford, and “The Great Illusion” by Jean Renoir. The movie “Observation” had its premiere screening at the festival’s Cultural Center Hall in Belgrade, followed by a discussion with the audience.
“We had a really wonderful time, and I can see that the impressions are positive. There was also a debate, which is good. We make these kinds of films to spark some discussion, that was our goal,” said director Janez Burger.
Film’s screenplay for “Observation” was inspired by a true event: a young man, Kristijan, was left in the hospital after a brutal assault, an incident that was also live-streamed on Facebook. Despite over 20,000 people watching the video on the social network, nobody called the police.
“At first, I found it odd that no one had made a film about it before me. Then I got afraid that someone would surpass us while we were making the film because in Slovenia, the process of preparing a film is lengthy. Specifically, ‘Observation’ took us five years,” revealed the director and co-screenwriter Burger, adding that it seems to him that this kind of painful theme of violence and live broadcasting will unfortunately continue to be relevant and that there is no end to it.
According to him, we haven’t fully grasped social networks, their power, and influence. Today, it’s a real revolution in technology, as if we haven’t gotten used to it at all.
“It’s similar to when automobiles first appeared. We start from the point that they’re dangerous; they can hit and run over a person. It’s the same with Facebook, Instagram; we don’t grasp the consequences,” assessed Janez Burger.
The renowned Slovenian director then reflected on his collaboration with Srdjan Koljević, who sadly passed away in July this year after a long and difficult illness.
“Working with our dear Srdjan was like poetry, something truly special and very beautiful. We had worked on a film together before and had plans for another one after ‘Posmatranje’. Now that he’s gone, it’s very hard for me without him,” Burger emotionally spoke about the late screenwriter and director Koljević, with whom he co-wrote his film ‘Ivan’ (2017), where Srdjan’s wife, Melita Pota Koljević, was also a co-screenwriter.
