On the crowded terrace of the Institute (Zaprokul), the legendary filmmaker Đorđe Kadijević spoke, touching on his upbringing, the cultural climate of post-war Yugoslavia and the impulses that guided him throughout his life and career.
Sanja Milić, editor of RTS’s Cultural and Artistic Program, who conducted a conversation with the first guest of the new panel series “Conversations with Contemporaries”, noted that Kadijević always worked in his own, slightly subversive way when dealing with cinematography. In those times, as the famous director points out, he did not intentionally, consciously or ambitiously enter into a dialogue with the general reception of ordinary reality, which at that time significantly influenced film, literature and art in general.
Pictures from the cult director’s youth were brutal, and caused him to lose fundamental faith in people and history. This is how his greatest films were created, from the first phase of war films, through films about the otherworldly and fantastic, up to films and series on historical themes.
“Leptirica is the incarnation of one imagination, from the beginning of filming until today, there is no one who does not know about Leptirica, there is no one who does not equally accept that poetics and that theme,” Kadijević said, “and when the series about Vuk Karadžić was declared the best series in Europe, and the spiritual leader of that was Umberto Eco, he said then: this series is not just a series about one segment of Serbian history, this is a series about one segment of European history.”
In the end, the director concluded, “the overall driving force of everything I had could be summed up in one sentence: A real film about the borderline human situation. Then the real truth about us will be revealed.”
A large audience from the world of culture and art greeted this conversation with a standing ovation as a reflection of respect for the confirmed artistic results of Đorđe Kadijević and his immeasurable mark in the history of our contemporary cinematography and art.
