ANTONETA ALAMAT KUSIJANOVIĆ

ANTONETA ALAMAT KUSIJANOVIĆ, REDATELJICA NAGRAĐENA U CANNESU: ANTONETA ALAMAT KUSIJANOVIĆ, CANNES AWARD-WINNING DIRECTOR:

KAKO SMO NA MALOM HRVATSKOM OTOKU SNIMILI FILM KOJI JE OSVOJIO SVIJET HOW WE MADE A FILM ON A SMALL CROATIAN ISLAND THAT HAS TAKEN THE WORLD BY STORM

Kadrovi puni mora, scene za koje glumci moraju biti dobri plivači, poneki vješti i u ronjenju, loviti i ribu harpunom, plavetnilo suprotstavljeno otočnom kamenjaru, tako bi u jednoj rečenici vizualno opisali „Murinu” redateljice Antonete Alamat Kusijanović. Taj je film prošle godine na festivalu u Cannesu nagrađen Zlatnom kamerom (Camera d'Or), nagradom koju su svojevremeno dobili i Jim Jarmusch, Naomi Kawase i Steve McQueen. Alamat Kusijanović pripada novoj generaciji redateljica, u posljednje vrijeme izrazito vidljivoj u hrvatskom filmu, autoricama koje su ovdašnjem filmu udahnule drugačiju energiju, donijele ponešto i drugačiji narativ. Frame-filling shots of the sea, scenes in which actors have to be good swimmers or even competent divers and to fish with harpoons, the blue against the background of the island’s rocky ground – this is how one could, in a sentence, vividly describe Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s Murina. Last year, the film won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Festival, an award that, at one time, was received by Jim Jarmusch, Naomi Kawase and Steve McQueen. Alamat Kusijanović belongs to a new generation of female Croatian film directors who have recently risen to prominence, breathing a new life into films made in this country and bringing a somewhat different narrative.

Fotografije / Photos: Zen Lefort Mario Topić Press Kit Murina Alban Pichon (Cannes)

MARTIN SCORSESE, KOPRODUCENT „MURINE”, ODAVNO PRATI I IZNIMNO CIJENI RAD ANTONETE ALAMAT KUSIJANOVIĆ

MARTIN SCORSESE CO-PRODUCED MURINA AND HOLDS ANTONETA ALAMAT KUSIJANOVIĆ’S WORK IN HIGH REGARD, HAVING FOLLOWED IT FOR SOME TIME

Priča koju film pripovijeda obiteljska je psihološka drama, a radnja se zbiva na jednom hrvatskom otoku u samo četiri dana. „Murina” je svojevrsni nastavak redateljičina kratkometražnog filma, na festivalima u Berlinu i Sarajevu nagrađivanog, „U plavetnilo”, koji je bio nominiran i za studentskog Oscara. Nakon što je vidio „U plavetnilo”, za rad hrvatske redateljice zainteresirao se Martin Scorsese te je njegova producentska kuća koproducent „Murine”. Osim novca od Scorsesea je autorica dobila savjete i kolegijalno ohrabrenje dok je radila na filmu. Redateljica Alamat Kusijanović na zagrebačkoj Akademiji diplomirala je produkciju, a potom na njujorškom Sveučilištu Columbia režiju. Zašto je nakon života u New Yorku, s diplomom Columbije, odlučila snimati u Hrvatskoj? „To je zemlja koju dobro poznajem. Kad radiš debitantski film, vrlo je važno baviti se temama koje u tebi provociraju snažnu reakciju, strast, želju za borbom. To nisu teme koje proizlaze iz društvenog aktivizma, to je meni dublje od toga, to su teme koje proistječu ponajprije iz vrlo osobnih emocija, a takav impuls imam jedino prema Hrvatskoj i hrvatskom mentalitetu.” Nacionalni park Kornati gdje je, uz otoke Koločep i Hvar, snimana „Murina”, ove je godine bio u finalu izbora za najbolju europsku filmsku lokaciju, odnosno nominiran je za najljepše mjesto gdje je sniman neki film ili serija. Osim „Murine” u finalu su bile lokacije na kojima su snimani filmovi „Dina” i „Zlatni vitez” te serije „Damin gambit” i „Kruna”. Tako je „Murina” pozicionirala Hrvatsku na vrlo visoko mjesto i među filmskim lokacijama. Otok Koločep, koji tamošnji ljudi i stanovnici dubrovačkog kraja zovu Kalamota, mjesto je gdje je redateljica posjećujući prabaku, potom baku dijelom odrastala, kraj u kojem se kao dijete formirala. „Kalamota je do danas ostala idilična. Ondje cijelo selo odgaja djecu, svak’ pazi na svakog. Dobar dio vremena, skupa s ostalom djeThe story that the film tells is a family psychological drama that takes place on a Croatian island over four days. Murina is a sort of a sequel to the director’s short film Into the Blue, which won awards at the Berlin and Sarajevo festivals and was nominated for a Student Oscar. After seeing Into the Blue, Martin Scorsese got interested in the work of the Croatian filmmaker, and his production company co-produced Murina. While working on the film, the Croatian fillmmaker got more than money; she also received some advice and encouragement by her fellow director. Filmmaker Alamat Kusijanović graduated from the Zagreb Academy with a degree in production, then went on to graduate from New York’s Columbia University, receiving a degree in directing. Why did she decide, having lived in New York and with a degree from Columbia, to make this film in Croatia? “It’s a country I know well. When you’re making a debut film, it’s very important to deal with topics that provoke a strong reaction in you, that bring about passion, the desire to fight. These are not topics that emerge from social activism; for me, this is deeper than that. These are topics that primarily come from very personal emotions, and I have such impulses only towards Croatia and the Croatian mindset.” This year, Kornati National Park – where, in addition to the islands of Koločep and Hvar, Murina was filmed – was one of the finalists for the best European film location award. It was nominated for the most beautiful filming location in a film or a TV series. Apart from Murina, the finalists included the locations where the films Dune and The Green Knight as well as the series The Queen’s Gambit and The Crown were made. This is the way Murina helped Croatia join the high ranks of locations where films are produced. The island of Koločep, which the islanders and the people from the Dubrovnik region call Kalamota, was part of the filmmaker’s growing up, the place where she, visiting her great-grandmother

com na otoku, odrastala sam na jednoj maloj plaži. I danas me, kad se toga sjetim, ugrije osjećaj zajedništva. Svi su tamo rođaci ili, ako i nisu, znaju se, kao da su krvnom vezom povezani. Takvih mjesta na svijetu sve je manje i treba ih čuvati”, govori. Kalamota nije samo asocijacija na dječju radost koju je ondje osjećala, taj je otok uvelike uključen i u njezin sadašnji život. „Ondje sam posljednjih godina snimajući svoje filmove imala golemu podršku. Iako na otoku nema logistike za snimanje kratkoga, kamoli dugoga filma, mnogo smo toga uspjeli snimiti dobrim dijelom zahvaljujući i toj otvorenosti mještana koji su možda i prepoznali važnost koju to ima za otok. Lokalni ljudi dali su sve od sebe da pomognu, da uspijemo snimiti takav film na otoku na kojem nema auta, cesta, na kojem nema infrastrukture za veliku produkciju. Mislim da sam se snimajući na Kalamoti zapravo više vratila tim ljudima negoli samoj lokaciji. Jer podmorje je u cijelom Jadranu, ali na tom otoku sve mi je poznato i domaće.” Jednu od ključnih scena filma u kojoj tinejdžerica roni slijedeći ribu murinu snimili su zahvaljujući pomoći redateljičine bake. „Tražili smo lokaciju za tu vrlo kompleksnu scenu koja bi se svugdje u svijetu snimala u studiju s dubokim morskim bazenom u kojem bi trebalo uprizoriti morsku špilju. Tragali smo za lokacijom po bazenima širom srednje Europe, raspitivali se sve do Grčke. No takvo što košta zaista mnogo, a bio je veliki upitnik hoćemo li u nekom bazenu uspjeti snimiti scenu na uvjerljiv način. Spomenula sam tu brigu svojoj noni, a ona mi je učas odvratila da ima jedna špilja na Kalamoti, na dijelu otoka gdje sam se kao djevojka odlazila kupati. ‚Špilja je izolirana, ali ne brini se ti, možete joj lako prići preko svjetionika’, rekla je odmah none dajući nam razne upute”, smije se redateljica pa objašnjava: „Moja none nije žena koja zna kako se snima film, ne zna da je iza kamere možda i stotinu ljudi kako bi snimili jednu osobu u špilji. I koliko god nama tada zvučalo suludo da bi to zaista moglo biti ono za čime tragamo, otišli smo provjeriti lokaciju i na kraju doista odlučili ondje snimati. Ne moram ni govoriti koliko je neobično da smo cijelu tu scenu, tehnički vrlo kompliciranu, a za protagoniste zbog njihove sigurnosti vrlo zahtjevnu, uspjeli realizirati baš na toj morskoj lokaciji, daleko od bazena i studijskih uvjeta”, glasom će koji pokazuje da je veseli pričati tu anegdotu. and later her grandmother, spent some of her formative years. “Kalamota has remained idyllic to this day. Children are raised there by the whole village, and everyone looks after everyone else. I spent a lot of the time growing up on a small beach, along with the other kids on the island. Even today, when I think about it, I can feel the warm sense of community. Everyone there is a relative or, if not, they know each other, as if they were connected by blood. There are fewer and fewer such places in the world and they need to be preserved,” she says. Kalamota does not only remind her of the joy she experienced there as a child; this island is also a great part of Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s current life. “I’ve had tremendous support there making my films in the last few years. Although there is no logistics on the island to make a short, let alone a feature film, we managed to shoot a lot there, thanks, in large part, to the great openness of the locals who may have recognised the significance this has for the island. Local people did their best to help us make this film on an island where there are no cars, no roads, no infrastructure for a major production. I think that by filming on Kalamota, I actually went back to those people more than I did to the location itself. Because the underwater world can be found anywhere in the Adriatic, but this island is what I know well and it feels like home.” One of the film’s key scenes in which a teenage girl is swimming undersea following a moray eel (murina in Croatian) was filmed thanks to the help of the filmmaker’s grandmother. “We were looking for a location for this very complex scene, which would be filmed everywhere else in the world in a studio with a deep seawater tank, where the underwater cave would be set. We searched for underwater stages all over Central Europe, and made enquiries all the way to Greece. But such a thing costs a lot, and there were some doubts whether we would be able to shoot the scene in a tank in a way that was convincing. I mentioned this concern to my grandmother and she instantly said there was a cave on Kalamota, in the part of the island where I went swimming when I was a young girl. ‘The cave is isolated, but don’t worry, you can easily approach it from the lighthouse!’ my grandma added right away, giving us various instructions,’ the filmmaker says laughingly, and then explains, “My grandma is not a woman who knows how a movie is made; she doesn’t

NACIONALNI PARK KORNATI, GDJE JE DIJELOM SNIMANA „MURINA”, PROGLAŠEN JE JEDNOM OD NAJLJEPŠIH FILMSKIH LOKACIJA U EUROPI

KORNATI NATIONAL PARK, WHERE PARTS OF MURINA WERE FILMED, HAS BEEN NAMED ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FILM LOCATIONS IN EUROPE

„MURINU” SMO SNIMILI NA MOJEM OTOKU KALAMOTI, KOJA JE DO DANAS OSTALA NETAKNUTO IDILIČNA

WE FILMED MURINA ON MY ISLAND, KALAMOTA, WHICH HAS REMAINED INTACT AND IDYLLIC TO THIS DAY

Snimanje „Murine”, pripovijeda dalje, pamti po čarobnim svitanjima u hvarskoj uvali Dubovici, sinergiji ljudi i prirode, po napornom radu, ali i po pjesmi, plesu, jedrenju prema Kornatima. „Bilo je mnogo emocija za sve nas i to smo željeli prenijeti na film.” Zašto je „Murina” uspjela, što autorica scenarija i redateljica smatra da je najveća snaga tog filma? „Makar se bavi obitelji s jednog malog dalmatinskog otoka, ima priču koju mogu razumjeti širom svijeta. Jer ispričana je tako da gledatelja koji je geografski, kulturološki i na ine načine možda vrlo udaljen, nekoga recimo u Japanu ili u Teksasu tko nije u tinejdžerskim godinama kao moja protagonistica i tko je u posve drugačijem okruženju i mentalitetu, dramaturški lako vodi u situaciju te djevojke, može lako slijediti njezine poteze, osjećaje i razmišljanja.” Alamat Kusijanović trenutačno s poznatim hrvatskim piscem Ivorom Martinićem razvija scenarij za film „Stane”, dramu o hrvatskoj iseljenici u New Yorku koja se kad upadne u životnu krizu, iako je rasla i odgojena u američkoj kulturi, odjednom suoči s mentalitetom hrvatskog kraja iz kojega je kao dijete s roditeljima došla u Ameriku, a za koji je mislila da je daleko od nje i njezina života. Radi na više projekata paralelno, među ostalim priprema snimanje jednog filma u Meksiku. „I nakon ‚Murine’ nastavljam se baviti obiteljskim odnosima. Često je među ženama u nekoj obitelji tanan, delikatan odnos, ponekad može biti i agresivan, odnos rivaliteta, ali ispod kojega je snažna ljubav i mnogo odricanja. Najkompleksniji su odnosi u kojima smo u dilemi između vlastitih potreba i potreba djeteta. Roditeljstvo nas blisko dovodi u kontakt s duhovnom stranom života.” know that there might be a hundred people behind the camera to film one person in a cave. And, as crazy as it sounded to us at the time that this could really be what we were looking for, we went to check the location and eventually decided to film there. Needless to say, it is unusual that we managed to make this whole scene, which is technically very complicated as well as extremely demanding for the actors for safety reasons, at that sea location, far from tanks and studios,” she says in a voice that shows she is happy to tell this anecdote. She will remember the filming of Murina, she goes on to say, for the magical dawns in Hvar’s Dubovica bay, the synergy of people and nature, for a lot of hard work, but also for singing, dancing, sailing towards the Kornati islands. “It was very emotional for all of us and we wanted to transfer that to the film.” Why has Murina been so successful; what does its screenwriter and director believe to be the film’s strongest point? “Even though it’s about a family on a small island in Dalmatia, people around the world can relate to the story. It’s told in a way that a viewer who geographically, culturally and in other ways may be very distant – a person, say, in Japan or Texas who is, unlike my protagonist, not in their teens and who is surrounded by a completely different environment and mindset – that even he or she can easily get involved into the situation that this girl finds herself in, and can easily follow the things she does, her feelings and thoughts.” Alamat Kusijanović is currently working with the famous Croatian writer Ivor Martinić on a screenplay for the film Stane, a drama

Posljednjih dvanaest godina živi na dvije lokacije. Kalamota i Dubrovnik adrese su na kojima provodi pet mjeseci godišnje, ondje je ljeti te svaki prosinac i siječanj, oko Božića. Ostatak vremena provodi u inozemstvu. Pet je godina živjela u Americi, dvije u Parizu, potom se vratila u Ameriku, pa otišla u Meksiko. Trenutačno je u teksaškom Hustonu. O životu na dva kontinenta kaže: „Ponekad me frustrira što nemam sve knjige na istom mjestu.” Smijući se, dodaje: „To što nemam garderobu na jednom mjestu manji je problem, ne marim više za stil, odijevam se funkcionalno.” Što život na dva kontinenta donese iznutra, čime oplemenjuje? „Daje mi objektivan pogled i na Hrvatsku i na tu drugu zemlju u kojoj živim, a najčešće je to Amerika. Takav me život cijelo vrijeme drži na klackalici, veoma mi je važno uvijek preispitivati sebe i svoj sljedeći pokret jer sve se stalno mijenja, ništa ne stagnira. Mislim da je to dosta zdrava dinamika za život. Svijet se razvija prema tome da smo sve više nomadi, da sve više imamo potrebu kretati se, zaljuljati ustaljene predodžbe koje nosi život na jednom mjestu.” Amerika i Europa po mnogočemu su dva različita svijeta, to se ogleda i u filmskoj industriji, od načina financiranja nadalje. U kojem je sustavu lakše raditi, koji se sustav čini funkcionalnijim? „Svaki sistem ima prednosti i mane. Europski je u načelu vrlo dobar jer filmove sufinancira novcem poreznih obveznika. Zato umjetnici imaju veću slobodu izbora tema i načina izražavanja jer im uvjete ne diktira isključivo tržište. No tu je veoma važno jesu li i koliko su about a Croatian expat in New York who finds herself in a life crisis and, although she was brought up in the American culture, is suddenly faced with the mentality of the Croatian region she left as a child to come to America with her parents, a mentality she thought was far from her and her life. She is working on multiple projects at the same time. She is pre-producing a movie in Mexico. “Even after finishing Murina, I have continued to explore family relationships. Among women in a family there is often a gentle, delicate relationship; sometimes it can be aggressive, a relationship of rivalry, but underpinned by strong love and a lot of sacrifices. The most complex are the relationships that pose a dilemma of choosing between our own needs and the needs of the child. Parenting brings us closely into contact with the spiritual side of life.” She has lived in two locations for the last twelve years. Kalamota and Dubrovnik are the places where she spends five months a year; she is there in summer and every December and January, around Christmas. The rest of the time she lives abroad. She lived in America for five years, followed by two in Paris. She returned to America once again, and then went to Mexico. At the moment she is in Houston, Texas. About living on two continents, she says: “It’s sometimes frustrating not having all the books in the same place,” and adds, laughingly, “Not having my clothes in one place is less of a problem. I don’t care about style anymore, I dress functionally.” What does living on two continents bring to your inner life, how does it enrich it?

DA BISMO SNIMILI JEDNU OD KOMPLEKSNIH SCENA, TRAŽILI SMO LOKACIJU PO CIJELOJ SREDNJOJ EUROPI I DO GRČKE, A NA KRAJU JU JE NA NAŠEM OTOKU PRONAŠLA MOJA BAKA KOJA SE U FILMSKU INDUSTRIJU UOPĆE NE RAZUMIJE

WE LOOKED FOR A LOCATION WHERE TO SHOOT ONE OF OUR MORE COMPLEX SCENES ALL OVER CENTRAL EUROPE AND EVEN WENT TO GREECE; IT WAS EVENTUALLY FOUND ON OUR ISLAND BY MY GRANDMOTHER WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT THE FILM INDUSTRY

profesionalni, odgovorni i korektni ljudi koji odlučuju koje projekte financirati javnim novcem. U Americi tržište diktira što će se financirati, novac uložen u filmsku industriju privatni je novac, nije iz javnog budžeta i veoma se pazi na to da se to ulaganje financijski isplati. To donosi drugu vrstu problema, nekad ne daje šansu dobrim, ali manje komercijalnim projektima. No jednom kad se takvi redatelji etabliraju imaju priliku raditi autorske projekte. Idealna bi bila kombinacija tih dvaju načina financiranja. To je upravo ono što smo mi s ‚Murinom’ napravili. Dobili smo inicijalni novac od HAVC-a (Hrvatskog audiovizualnog centra), znači financiranje iz javnog budžeta, a potom su projekt u kasnijim fazama financirali privatni investitori. To je model koji bi bio dobar za budućnost hrvatskog filma, da se podrže mladi autori, da im se javnim fondovima otvore vrata, a potom potakne druge da svoj novac investiraju u takve projekte i time ojačaju naše malo filmsko tržište. Hrvatski film snažno ovisi o novcu poreznih obveznika, što je nedovoljan budžet za snimanje filmova koji mogu biti kompetitivni na svjetskom tržištu. Pola budžeta trebalo bi biti od privatnih investitora.” Rođena je u Dubrovniku, ondje je išla u školu, rasla. Smije se kad je pitamo da pripovijeda o onom Dubrovniku koji strancima ostaje nevidljiv: „Najčešće se na početku turističke sezone povučem na Kalamotu. U Dubrovnik dolazim po opskrbu hranom i pićem, ali zapravo sam na Kalamoti. Na otoku se oko pet bude zrikavci, potom se javi seoski pijetao. Tad ustajem i pišem na taraci. Oko podne se vraćam u krevet spavati. Kasnije plivam u moru, kuham, navečer se družim s prijateljima. Mnogo mi ljudi dolazi u posjet, ostaju nekoliko dana kod mene, kuham im, s njima pričam do duboko u noć…”  “It gives me an objective view of both Croatia and that other country I live in, and most often that’s America. This kind of life is a sort of a balancing act; it is very important to me to always question myself and my next move, because everything changes all the time, nothing stays the same. I think it’s a pretty healthy life dynamic. The world is evolving towards us being increasingly nomadic, towards us increasingly needing to move, to challenge the established notions which living in one place carries with it.” America and Europe are, in many ways, two different worlds; this can well be seen in the film industry, from the way films are financed onwards. Which system is it easier to work in; which one seems more functional? “Each has its advantages. And disadvantages. The European one is generally very good because it co-finances films with taxpayers’ money. That’s why artists have greater freedom to choose their topics and the ways to express themselves because what they do is not dictated exclusively by the market. But it’s very important here whether and how professional, responsible and fair the people are who decide which projects to finance with public money. In Croatia there is often lobbying and pressure exerted by interest groups. In America, the market dictates what gets financed. The money invested in the film industry is private money; it doesn’t come from public sources and great care is taken that the investment pays off financially. This brings another kind of problems, and sometimes good but less commercial projects don’t get a chance. But once such directors have established themselves, they have the opportunity to do their own projects. A combination of the two ways of financing would be ideal and that’s exactly what we did with Murina. We received initial money from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC), which is public budget financing, and then, in the later stages, the project was financed by private investors. This is a model that would be good for the future of Croatian film, to support young filmmakers, to give them a start using public funds, and then to encourage others to invest their private money in such projects and, in this way, make our small film market stronger. Croatian films are heavily dependent on taxpayers’ money, and that kind of budget is too small to make films that can compete in the world market. Half of the budget should come from private investors.” Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović was born in Dubrovnik and went to school there; she grew up there. She laughs when answering the question about the side of Dubrovnik that is invisible to foreigners: “Most often at the beginning of the tourist season I retire to Kalamota. I come to Dubrovnik to buy food supplies, but I actually stay on Kalamota. On the island, crickets wake up around five, then the village rooster crows. That’s when I get up and write on the terrace. Around noon, I go back to bed, to sleep. Later I swim in the sea and cook; in the evening, I hang out with friends. A lot of people come to visit me and stay at my house for a few days. I cook for them and talk to them into the small hours.” 