What a man!

Almost six years have passed since Damo Suzuki was here the last time, and then it was in the Yu Fest cafe which is now at the Grand Terrace in Palić.

It was not only Damo that evoked the memory of this famous cafe. Jarboli also had a gig in that long-past 1999 in broad daylight. They both seem to be those boomerangs of nostalgia that suddenly come back to you and remind you that not everything is lost yet. That there are still fires burning in hearts.

Damo Suzuki is an ordinary man, but what a man! Like some heat modifier, Damo Suzuki wanders around the planet and spreads, together with local bands and artists, the shaman energy. The energy that has been almost completely forgotten in the fossil and nuclear fuels. Actually, it slipped our minds how much we, as naked, lonely and over-sedated human beings, need that kind of refinement. Damo takes care of the human kind, so he drops in to check if the fire has died out, so he lights it again, makes it burst into flames and then he goes away.

But, the smiling man wearing a bowler hat is not a travelling preacher who spreads his cult. He is not an ideologist who tries to turn ideas into gold. Nor is he a conceited artist who tries desperately to earn riches on the account of his long-past glory. No, Damo Suzuki is your friend who you can have a beer with and talk a bit about the beautiful colour of the lake in the dusk. Damo Suzuki is your man for the connection with metaphysical wanderings.

We found Mister Natural in the meadow beside the lake while he was listening to birds singing.
The team of The Crossovers workshop started the cameras and the sound and Damo started the metaphysical machine…

Damo Suzuki: I cannot talk about many things. It all depends on people. On energy. But people are not aware of things, the supernatural things which exist but which cannot be seen, as well as many kinds of energy, spiritual things.

Do you believe in those spiritual things?

No, no, I am not a believer. I live it. Always, always you have to think positively. I mean, I am not a preacher or anything similar, but things are pretty clear, because if you think positively, you will be happy. I do not offer answers. Even music is not the answer. Music is the flow. I am not interested in any kind of answers and I am not looking for them. I am interested in people. I am interested in creating something with people. I love to create the works which are not part of some system planned in advance.

How do you cooperate with other artists?

It comes naturally. I like natural things. Everyone carries creative energy in themselves. Every moment of your life is art. Everyone is an artist. Every move you make is art. You are art. You realize that you are capable of transferring those things to other people as well. You have to be aware that every moment is special. Because it is art. Many people think that art belongs to only one part of social milieu, but it is not true. Every life is art. Everyone carries their own stories, their own perspectives. I really do not want to be part of some elitist life philosophy. I believe in everything. I believe in people and their art. I do not see any differences among people. I believe in all human beings.

Enough with the turco-german dramas

National identity in my case is not something fixed, but a thing that is changing. Sometimes I feel more like a Turkish woman, and sometimes more like a German one. When I am in Turkey - I feel more like a German woman. And vice versa.

Yasemin Samdereli was born in Dortmund in 1973. From 1993 to 2000 she studied at the School of Film and Television in Munich. From 1994 to 1998 she was associate of Bavaria Film and worked as an assistant director in many international productions. She recorded a TV comedy Alles getürkt! In 2002, she was a collaborator on the script of the series Türkisch für Anfänger, and appeared in front of cameras for the first time in 2004 in the film Delicious. Almanya - Willkommen in Deutschland is her film debut.

That way, after several dramas, a comedy – Welcome to Germany, joined the group of films that deal with themes from the life of Turks in Germany. This film as well, by admission of its director and co scenarist Yasemin Şamdereli, could have been a drama, but she and her sister Nesrin, who worked together on the script, prefer a brighter view of life. Perhaps it is, due to this approach, why they waited ten years for realization of this debut film.

Was the decade-long waiting worth it, having in mind that the film became a hit in German cinemas, earning 1.2 million EUR so far?
More things obviously coincided. People are, in my opinion, fed up with drama. That is why they like our easy - but hopefully not stupid - comedy about the life of Turks in Germany. It seems that they feel familiar with the family aspect of the film as well, and the presentation on Berlinale which was in the media, certainly contributed to its success.Your sister and you, members of your family's third generation in Germany, have brought into the film a lot of personal experiences.

Since in the film you deal with the theme of complexity of identity, how do you personally see yourself – as a German or a Turkish woman?
I feel mostly like a puzzle. National identity in my case is not something fixed, but a thing that is changing. Sometimes I feel more like a Turkish woman, and sometimes more like a German one. When I am in Turkey - I feel more like a German woman, and vice versa. People are much more complex and determined not only by nationality they belong to. Sometimes I fell less a woman and more a European woman. In the film Welcome to Germany we just wanted to focus on the human aspect, universal for all families, regardless of their ethnic or religious background. It always made me sad that my grandmother or grandfather were looked at through stereotypes. Although she wore a feridza, my grandmother was very self-conscious and witty, a complex personality. But the people who came to our house did not notice that. For them she was just a woman who poured them more tea, and spoke German poorly.

How do you see the position of German artists of Turkish origin? Apart from the filmmakers, among which the most famous is certainly Fatih Akin, there are well-known writers, artists, hip-hop artists...
I think that it is a matter that is the same for all cultures. A crisis or a problem can lead to artistic creativity. I suspect that many Turco-German artists while growing up asked themselves more complicated questions, because of their origin and status.
On the other hand, the fact that what we can look at life from various cultural aspects, makes us more complex and richer.

This is your first time at Palić. What do you think about the Festival ?
The festival has an intimate atmosphere and I like that very much. Larger festivals are too focused on work and people are not as "warm". In that sense, Palić is a different experience for me. I'm glad to be here.

One monograph, an exhibition, two workshops, three panel discussions, five concerts and three hundred guests - in the city without a cinema

This year's Film Festival program remains largely in previous dimensions, however, several additional programs bring many innovations. Palić '11 will be much more dispersed in terms of programming, compared to last year, and the whole physiognomy of the program is divided into two parts: the film and the following, not-film programs. According to executive producer of the Festival Blažo Perović, for the very first time, the emphasis is on the debate programs, so this year we will have three round tables: "The first is dedicated to the achievements of Serbian cinema in year 2010, where our 'authors' team' will participate, and after that ,the plan is to issue a collection about what was said. "

The second one "How the War Started on My Balkan Peninsula", builds on the selection of (anti) war films from former Yugoslavia. "At this roundtable," says Perović, " around twenty intellectuals from the former Yugoslavia will participate, and they will try to answer three questions: Was there a breakup germ in the foundation of the former Yugoslavia?, How much guilt is there in regional national oligarchies for the breakup and the wars in former Yugoslavia? and how much is international community involved in everything? ". The third round table is dedicated to the environment and builds on the selection of "Eco Dox". This year’s topic is eco-innovations.

Perović points out that this is the first segment of " the not-film part of the Festival". About the second one, he says: "It has two workshops, designed for students of film academies. One is called 'Crossovers', which we are doing in cooperation  with the Festival of rock film in Vinkovci, and there, the students from Serbia and Croatia will make films about rock concerts to be held at the Festival. The second workshop is designed for students who are engaged in production."

Having in mind that this year marks the centenary of Serbian film and Lifka’s cinema in Subotica, Perović announces convenient Serbian-English collection of works by 14 authors who mark the territory where Lifka and his family were moving across: "In this way, we want to reaffirm Lifka in Europe, because we believe that he is not only significant for Serbia, but that he is an important European name as well. Through the Yugoslav Film Archive, as co-publishers, we will try to send this monograph to all relevant addresses of European archives and to ask them through cover letters to send us new information about Lifka. If they have any, of course. "

Regarding that, Perović announces an exhibition dedicated to the centenary of cinema in Serbia, which will be held in cooperation with the Yugoslav Film Archive and the City Museum in Subotica: "That way the local public will have the opportunity to see many details related to this sector, including our own, Subotica’s. "

In the end, Blažo Perović reminds us of concerts and parties which will be held every night of the Festival, adding that this year the number of over 300 guests from Serbia and abroad will amount to almost double comparing to last year's number."I think this is the best indicator that the festival, which is within the budget similar to last year’s, continues it’s line of development. Unfortunately, this year’s Festival is faced with two key problems. The first one is the fact that it takes place under circumstances where Subotica and Palić have no real cinema, and the other, that Palić does not function touristically in a way that would be suitable for a festival", says Blažo Perović.

From its beginnings Palić festival had an authentic atmosphere, good movies and good socializing. I was and still am his big fan

Srđan Karanović probably stopped counting his awards long ago. So far, he has directed nine feature films, more than 70 documentaries, short films and advertising films, and most of them were awarded. For Fragrance of Wild Flowers he received the critics award at Cannes, in Valencia he won the second prize for Something in Between, for A Film with No Name Grand Prix in Istanbul, and for  Virdzina again in Valencia ... In addition, Bane Bumbar, Uške, Rubiroza, Goca, Čombe and a couple of millions of  citizens of Yugoslavia, to this day consider its 10 episodes of Jagode u Grlu most valuable local TV series ever.

Against all formalities - what and how much does the prize "Aleksandar Lifka" really mean to you?
This award is a great honor, especially since it is practically the first one of those awards that are given to authors at the end of their careers. It is significant because it keeps the memory of Alexander Lifka, his "first real cinema", and of his traveling cinema as well, which he, to my knowledge, led with his brother and which was wonderfully called - "Electric Cinema ,Theatre’"!

When you first came to Palić festival, what kind of impressions did you have?
I do not remember exactly, I think it was during the sanctions when I was a jury member.
From its beginnings Palić festival had an authentic atmosphere, good movies and good socializing. Even then, it differed from the majority of the festivals fromYugoslavia for its authentic spirit. I was and still am his big fan.

Recently you said that you feel that this award gives you recognition, as you say  - "despite all my delusions." What kind of delusions are you referring to?
I am not one of those authors who unreservedly admire their work. I am very suspicious of everything I did and I often think that most of my films I would now do differently. In dreams or in reality I come across some new solutions for specific movies or scenes. This is, of course, all in vain, but my everyday life is not boring.

There is an interview on the Internet with Đorđe Kadijević, in which the director of  Butterfly says he became a director in order to change the world. And as he was filming new films, the world was getting worse. If you share a bit of his motives about entering into the world of film, what are your experiences with - changing the world?
I have never had the ambition to change the world. I wanted only occasionally, as circumstances permitted, to do some pieces of my alternative world that was, by the nature of its formation, different from the "common world". And that's all. But otherwise I would agree that the world is becoming inhuman, and therefore worse. I am convinced that I am the last one to blame for that.

Whoever wants to start magazine in Serbia as a model takes Zagreb “Start”; raspberry producers say they want to make jam like Slovenians do; and film producers, at the beginning of every new series, state that they expect success like the one Grlom u Jagode had. Did you believe, 35 years ago, that you shot series that will remain modern even today?
I worked on Grlom u Jagode with my associates, before and behind the camera, I worked long time, seriously and ambitiously. This “easy reading” or “film sequels” was a “handwork” that was still possible to accomplish on TV Belgrade at that time. We had an ambition for the series to be watched by various generations all around our country. Yet, we had no idea that the series would become very popular and that it would last so long. That was a very nice surprise.

Which one of your films makes you recognizable among European audience? And what do you think – why that particular film?    
I have never run that kind of record, and I couldn’t have even if I wished. Once a film is finished, producers and distributors takes your “baby” away, and you slowly lose sight of what is further going on with it. I just suspect that films I shot at the time of Yugoslavia were wider distributed than those I shot in Serbia. Maybe not because they were better, but because then there were fewer festivals and more internationally active distribution. I also think that the world was more interested in culture of Yugoslavia than it is now for cultures of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia… And I had a twelve-year-long break when I didn’t shoot a thing, between Virdzina and Loving Glances.

When and under what circumstances do you expect you could shoot again?
I Don’t believe I will ever shoot another film since I’m too far from the “real centers of power” that distribute significant financial means for professional realization of serious film projects. Other kinds of films are not of my interest, I think I outgrew them so younger directors should make them. But I always have some ideas…

Another winner of this year’s Aleksandar Lifka Award is Lordan Zfranović. He, like you do, belongs to a film movement described by Goran Marković in his book Prague School Doesn’t Exist. What do you think about Lordan’s films? Was it actually expected for both of you to get the same Award at the same time?
I think that Lordan Zafranović is one of the most significant authors from former Yugoslavia and Europe. I regret the fact that we, due to a circumstances, belong to different cinema, but I will always consider him a great, original author and good friend.   

       
Goran Tarlać