SLOVENIAN FILM DATABASE
DO NOT MISS!
The shooting of the movie The Rattlesnakes directed by Nikola Ljuca and produced by the Biberche Productions film company began past weekend in Belgrade, with lead roles played by Ivana Vuković, Milan Marić, Jasna Đuričić and Tarik Filipović. Producer of Slovenian minority coproduction film is Perfo Production.
The Rattlesnakes is a drama with elements of suspense thriller and melodrama, set in present day Serbia. This cinematic story about personal, corporate and state interests that clash with love, friendship and moral principles, focuses on young people and their intimate space and choices, their personal decisions and moral principles that shape their lives and love in a merciless capitalist setting.
Commenting the start of filming, director Nikola Ljuca noted: "Writing the script together with Vuk Bošković and Staša Bajac, I knew that I wanted to direct this movie in a way to emphasize current social processes, present-day people and their choices, and accentuate the primarily personal decisions that they make, which - in turn - are conditioned by a ruthless capitalist order that leaves us little room for humanity. Our heroes are caught in the vortex of a long-drawn transition, a transition in which everything is for sale - with people being the cheapest commodity. The protagonists are faced with a choice, as all of us are, of becoming criminals or victims, or both."
The main character Nađa (Ivana Vuković) is a former activist of a human rights NGO, who now works as a personal assistant to Milanka (Jasna Đuričić) CEO of "Magnolia". Working within a consortium of foreign investors, this large corporation purchases a factory that was once part of a giant metal processing company - in order to turn it back into arable land. Having returned from Italy to Serbia, Boris (Milan Marić) - Nađa's former longtime boyfriend and colleague from an investigative NGO - starts working for Savić (Tarik Filipović), a businessman with political ambitions. Having been reconnected by work, Nađa and Boris are drawn into a vortex of personal, corporate and government interests - making the fate and the future of a large number of people dependent on the decisions of a few.
Over the next four weeks, the film will be shot at selected locations in Belgrade and Kovin. According to producer Nikolina Vučetić-Zečević, we have before us an intimate, exciting, powerful and courageous film: The Rattlesnakes is a film about people with moral integrity who can't find their way in a world of alienation, stark consumer mentality, false but unchallengeable authorities and of ubiquitous profit that devours all worldly values. The issues dealt with by The Rattlesnakes are not limited to Serbia and the present times - they are universal. This is evidenced by the fact that along with institutions in Serbia e.g. the Film Center of Serbia, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia and the City of Novi Sad, the film has received the support of the largest supranational European fund - MEDIA Creative Europe, of the Italian Re-ACT regional fund, as well as the backing of six national film funds - The Film Center of Slovenia, the Croatian Audiovisual Center, the Film Agency of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Audio-Visual Center of the Republic of Srpska, the Film Center of Montenegro and the Greek Film Center."
Nikola Ljuca belongs to a generation of promising young directors. Having graduated in directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts he pursued further education at the Sarajevo Talent Campus, the Berlinale Script Station and the Locarno Filmmakers Academy. His short films Thursday, Sergeant and Scenes With Women have been screened at numerous international and domestic festivals and received awards. His first feature film Humidity had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in the Forum program in 2016, and was then presented to the national audience - opening the Belgrade FEST FF - subsequently receiving most of the national film awards and participating thereafter in more than 20 international festivals. He also directed the second season of the acclaimed TV series Besa.
Biberche Productions is a film company founded in Belgrade in 2007 by a film professionals couple: producer Nikolina Vučetić-Zečević and director Dejan Zečević. The films they produced were screened and received awards at the most prestigious festivals, such as Cannes, Venice, San Sebastian, Karlovy Vary, Sarajevo and others.
The film co-producers are: Damir Terešak, Ana Grbac (Maxima Film, Croatia), Aleš Pavlin, Andrej Štritof (Perfo Production, Slovenia), Tomi Salkoviski (Skopje Film Studio, North Macedonia), Zoran Maksimović (Palchica Productions, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Đorđe Vojvodić (Bitter Frames Production, Montenegro), Yorgos Tsourgiannis (Horsefly films, Greece). Izvršni producent je Kristina Kljajić. In addition to Ivana Vuković, Milan Marić, Jasna Đuričić and Tarik Filipović, The Rattlesnakes cast list includes Boris Isaković, Miloš Lučić, Dragana Dabović, Milica Trifunović, Sunčica Milanović, Rade Maričić and Aleksandar Đurica. The director of photography is Mladen Teofilović. Kiril Spasevski is the set designer, Ljiljana Petrović is the costume designer, and Goran Ignjatovski is the make-up artist. The film will be shot in Serbia from July 12 to August 12, editing is scheduled to take place in Croatia, the video and audio post-production will be performed in Slovenia, and the original film score has been entrusted to the Greek composer Ted Regklis.
Source: Slovenian Film Centre
