There are primarily three directors from former Yugoslavia who have had made enough award winning films in the past decade to be considered among the worlds best: Emir Kusturica, Srdjan Dragojevic and Goran Paskajevic. Each has carved out their own artistic niche and each specifies different messages and styles in their films. Each filmmaker deals in a form of metaphorical realism- but with a different slant; Kusturica is the dreamer, Dragojevic is the realist and Paskajevic is the optimist.
Goran’s latest film Cabaret Balkan is about one hellish night in Belgrade where violent tensions escalate until every character is either the direct cause of or is directly affected by the madness. At times it displays dark humor but as it progresses toward its violent end it becomes rather bleak. Very simply Goran is making a statement about the war-torn region formerly known as Yugoslavia.
Here is a phone interview with Goran—who’s in a Beverly Hills Hotel--who’s film Cabaret Balkan (previously titled Powder Keg) played in various art houses in 1999 across the U.S.
- Matt Langdon
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Q: Was it difficult to get the film made considering the present situation?
Goran Paskajevic: Yes, because our industry doesn’t exist anymore. There’s no money there. So I brought nearly all the money necessary from abroad. From France from Canal +. I created this very strange co-production between Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia and I got the money from the European foundation. So I put all those countries together, which the politician cannot do [Laughs]. But especially now after this bombing I think that the industry will be on its knees. It is very hard just to survive [now] much less make films
Q: Is the literal translation from Serbian "Powder Keg"?
GP: Yes, but not 'Cabaret Balkan'. The Powder Keg is exactly the title in Serbian. And the film has opened all over Europe under this title and it was presented in all the festivals under that title. But here [in the U.S] now we are obliged to change it...I like the title Cabaret Balkan But I don’t like the reasons why...it’s Kevin Costner who registered this title for his next movie so the Warner Bros. lawyers told us that we absolutely have to change our title. I hope he is going to do a brilliant film because I don’t like to be mixed with him if he doesn’t do a brilliant film. [Laughs].
GP: In Serbian it means exactly Balkan. It’s a synonym for Balkan. Even President Clinton used that word for Balkan. And also my feeling is under all this pressure in Yugoslavia the last seven or eight years we all became small powder kegs ready to explode. That’s why this title.
Q: At first the film seems rather humorous like a black comedy but then it gets more and more serious as it goes along. This was your obvious intention I would gather? And was the play [from which you adapted] the same way?
GP: We did change the play a lot. The humor is still there but it’s true you lose the humor especially in the end because it’s not black comedy. My approach to the explosion and the complete disaster in the end [was to] use less humor. But you know the humor is something very natural. Even in the war situation we are ready to laugh. Maybe it’s the only weapon we have. During the [NATO] bombing I kept calling my friends and ever day there would be another joke and self ironic jokes. It’s unbelievable. It shows that the spirit is still there. It shows that you can destroy whatever you want but the spirit is still there.
Q: Does the play use the same opening and closing Cabaret motif?
GP: No, No. That’s added and the last scene of the lynching is added too. Many things are changed. I put this political background in the movie. When I say political background for example in the play the driver of the bus... he’s just a driver who is drinking coffee and they steal his bus. But I changed it so that he [later goes and] killed the guy who stole the bus. And I established the tragic person who is a refugee from Bosnia -- a professor in Sarajevo now -- he
is a driver of the night bus and he lives in the garage. So he is saying to his son, "You have to work. People kill for the jobs today. What are you doing? Etc’. And in the same night he will [go out and] kill. He became a very tragic person. All these little details we added. Also the play takes place in one year in time and it’s not concentrated in one night. Also the play [doesn’t take
place] in Belgrade it’s someplace in the Balkans.
Q: The politics are there but they don’t seem overtly mentioned. In other words there doesn’t seem to be ethnic groups represented. You leave that open to interpretation?
GP: Yes, because I’m interested in ordinary people. They are passing through the hell there. We all know the circumstances in which they all became so violent. I didn’t make an essay or a documentary. I made a metaphor of society.
Page Two: How to work with actors in political films.