Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic praised Kerala audience as the best in the world. He was ‘in conversation’ with film critic Bharadhwaj Rangan, organized as part of the 18th IFFK. The ace director also added that directors like Mrinal Sen and Satyajtih Ray are no more to be found in the industry. T Paskaljevic who is of the opinion that artists should know to criticize their own works, added that they should accept if they went wrong. “Critics can help us to understand our fault”, he added.
Opening his mind about ‘Mid-winters’ Night Dream’, which is receiving much appreciation from delegates; he told the audience that it was made to signify the ‘Autism affected society’ surrounding him. “Making Jovana, a real life autism patient, play the lead was to give it a real life touch”, he revealed.
On the matter of him being the producer of his own films, “I can never compromise in script depending upon the wishes of distributors and therefore produces my films”, director opened up. Goran Paskaljevic, who likes to take risks, said that it is of the same that makes him to be a producer even though he hates that role. “Potential directors have to sacrifice considering the market. It’s a fight, but we are losing unfortunately. Distributors are afraid that they are going to loose money”, Goran revealed his situations of film making.
Speaking about the current trends in Serbian film industry, he said that East Europe has made some wonderful films and for the good cause, Serbian directors are giving prominence to serious subjects these days. While expressing his unhappiness in Hollywood films, the versatile director frankly spoke that they are becoming repetitive which results in stories to be predictable.
Expressing his view of art must be humanistic; he said that his preference would be outsiders over war heroes to play the protagonist in his films. “I love simple stories; because audience can relate with it, they have to leave the theatre with some emotion”, he concluded.