DARKO LUNGULOV DIRECTOR OF THE MOVIE “THERE AND HERE”

The first full-feature film of the director and the scriptwriter of the film “There and Here” will close the 37th FEST. The film made by an international crew from two continents was awarded the initial resources for production on the Competition for the Funding of Film Production of the Belgrade City Hall. The scenario for the film was extended the award of the Balkan Script Development Fund on the Thessalonica Film Festival.

“It’s really a great honor for me to have my film closing FEST. I grew up with FEST and Kinoteka. Many years ago, I spent the night waiting to buy tickets for Walter Hill’s “Warriors”. It’s interesting that my film “There and Here” features Antoine Pagan, who played a Latino gang member in the said Walter Hill film. I can say that I was “educated” on FEST and I find it is the right place for my film to begin its life in Serbia.

There were several financial tight spots and one of the biggest was at the beginnign of the filming of the Belgrade part of the plot. Fortunately, the sponsors – which I will not be itemizing here for fearing of forgetting someone – helped us and I hereby want to thank them. Without their support, we wouldn’t have been able to finish the shooting. What is good is that I find that the film had a good karma and that everyone working on it embarked on it with all their heart. Many people invested effort, heart and sweat to make this film happen. The film was fortunate enought to have talented people, the mood on the filming was good, full of enthusiasm... I don’t know if that’s because the basis for the film was also my life story... upgraded, of course.

Living in New York was neither difficult, nor ugly or easy in the first ten years. I drove that van and did my best to make ends meet. And then I returned to Serbia. When the time finally came to have some enjoyment, I came back.

The changes mentionned by David were indispensible. We had rehearsed all the scenes in the room with actors and even if we found them good, they didn’t seem realistic on the streets. That’s why we changed the scenes on the spot.

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