Download Slavenka Drakulic - AS IF I AM NOT THERE

A Wide Eye Films and
Octagon Films
Production
Supported by Eurimages, Swedish Film Institute and the
Macedonian Film Fund
In co-production with
Sektor Film, StellaNova Film and Film I Vast AB
In association with WMG Film GmbH
With the participation of
Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board
AS IF I AM NOT THERE
Written and Directed by Juanita Wilson
Based upon the novel by
Slavenka Drakulic
For press enquiries please contact Nell Roddy.
[email protected] or call 01 6185032
PRODUCTION NOTES
SYNOPSIS
As If I Am Not There is a story of a young woman from Sarajevo whose life is shattered
the day a young soldier walks into her apartment and tells her to pack her things.
Rounded up with the other women from the village and imprisoned in a warehouse in
a remote region of Bosnia, she quickly learns the rules of camp life. The day she is
picked out to ‘entertain’ the soldiers, the real nightmare begins.
Stripped of everything she ever had and facing the constant threat of death, she
struggles against all the hatred she sees around her. In a final act of courage or
madness, she decides to make one last stand: to dare to be herself. And this simple
act saves her life.
It’s when she realises that surviving means more than staying alive that she has to
make a decision that will change her life forever.
As If I Am Not There is a modern war story that explores love, identity and the
connections between us.
ABOUT THE CAST
ABOUT THE CAST
NATASHA PETROVIC
SAMIRA
Natasha is a second year acting student and native of Skopje. As If I Am Not There is
her first film.
FEDJA STUKAN
THE CAPTAIN
Fedja is a native Bosnian TV and film actor. Among his film credits are Some Other
Stories (2010), It's Hard to Be Nice (2007), Nafaka (2006) and Warchild (2006).
ABOUT THE FILM MAKERS
JUANITA WILSON
WRITER / DIRECTOR
Irish director, Juanita Wilson has just followed up her Oscar ® nominated first film, The
Door (2008) with an equally hard hitting true story from the Bosnian War, As If I Am Not
There, based on Croatian journalist Slavenka Drakulic’s book of the same name.
The Door was shot on location in Pripyat and Kiev in the Ukraine and so far has
received worldwide critical acclaim both for its cinematic imagery and its moving
story. The Academy Award® nomination in March 2010 followed a string of awards
throughout the world including Bilbao International Film Festival Golden Medal for
Fiction; Irish Film and Television Academy Award for Best Short; Foyle Film Festival ’08
Best Irish Short; Cork Film Festival Clare Lynch Award for Best First Time Director;
Warsaw’s Grand OFF International Film Festival’s Award for Best Direction and The
Bird’s Eye Festival in London where it won Best Short. The Door was in the official
selection at Munich, Edinburgh and Telluride Film Festivals 2009. At the Sarajevo Film
Festival in August 2009, Stellan Skarsgard awarded Juanita the prestigious Katrin
Cartlidge Foundation Bursary.
Juanita jointly developed and produced two powerful, award winning feature films:
H3 (2001) written by surviving Irish hunger striker Laurence McKeown about his
experiences and Inside I’m Dancing (2004) about the quest for independent living by
two Dublin men with disability. H3 won the Bergamo Film Festival Audience Award in
2002 and Inside I’m Dancing, starring James McEvoy, won the Edinburgh Festival
Audience Award in 2004. In 2005 it was in the official Selection of the Sundance Film
Festival and won the Irish Film and Television Audience Award for Best Film.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Juanita studied Fine Art in the National College of Art and
Design and, after a year living and studying in Paris, she went back to achieve first
place on the postgraduate Diploma in Arts Management in UCD. After a spell
working in the independent production sector in Dublin, she went back to college
and graduated with the top marks as a professional journalist at the Dublin Institute of
Technology.
Not afraid to take on strong subjects and, driven by a desire to discover what it
means to be human, her work to date combines her love of image making with her
desire to tell powerful stories about the resilience of the human spirit.
JAMES FLYNN
PRODUCER
In July 1997, James along with Juanita Wilson established Metropolitan Film
Productions Limited with the intention of making strong, independent and resonant
films for the international market. In-house projects developed and produced by
Metropolitan Films include Nora (2000) and H3 (2001).
James Flynn formed a strategic alliance with Morgan O’Sullivan in August 1998 and
through this partnership, they both provided Executive/Co-Production services to
incoming productions.
James and Juanita established Octagon Films in 2002 to develop and produce high
quality films for the international market. Octagon developed and produced Inside
I’m Dancing (2004) written by Jeffrey Caine (Goldeneye, The Constant Gardener)
and directed by Damien O’Donnell (East Is East, Heartlands). Produced in
conjunction with Working Title/Universal, it won the Audience Award at the Edinburgh
International Film Festival and was released by Momentum Pictures in autumn ‘04.
Among Octagon’s recent producing credits are The Door (2008) by Juanita Wilson,
Neil Jordan’s Ondine (2009) starring Colin Farrell; Dorothy Mills (2008) by Agnes Merlet;
Becoming Jane (2007); Brendan and the Secret of Kells (2009) and The Tudors (20072010) starring Jonathan Rhys-Myers. James is currently producing The Borgias in
Hungary starring Jeremy Irons and being written and directed by Neil Jordan
NATHALIE LICHTENTHAELER
PRODUCER
After graduating from university in Germany with a Masters Degree in Economics,
Nathalie ditched a promising career in international marketing in the fashion industry
and signed on as a Production Assistant on a film set.
Nathalie's rise through the production ranks was swift. Having worked on approx. 14
feature films and TV movies, Nathalie made her move into producing.
In 1995 she relocated to the US where she studied for a short time in New York before
continuing her film studies in Los Angeles. In 1999, Nathalie located to Ireland where
she established Wide Eye Films Ltd.
Among her credits are the feature films Vasha (2008), The Front Line (2006) and
Cowboys and Angels (2003).
SLAVENKA DRAKULIC
WRITER (NOVEL)
Slavenka is a noted Croatian writer and journalist and author of the 1999 best seller As
If I Am Not There (published in US as S: A Novel about the Balkans, 2000) on which the
film is based.
Born in Croatia, she graduated from the University in Zagreb in 1976. From 1982 to
1992 she was a staff writer for the Start bi-weekly newspaper and news weekly Danas
(both in Zagreb), writing mainly on feminist issues.
Drakulic published her first novel, Hologrami straha (Holograms of Fear) in 1988, and
her essay collection How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed (1991) was her
first book to be written and published in English.
She began working as a journalist, acting as the Eastern European correspondent for
Ms. magazine and as a contributor to Danas, a major Croatian political journal.
Drakulic has written articles and reviews for publications such as The Guardian (for
which she is a regular contributor) New Republic, The Nation, and Time magazine as
well as European newspapers such as La Stampa, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,
Dagens Nyheter, and Politiken.
She has so far written four novels – Holograms of Fear, Marble Skin, The Taste of a
Man, As If I Am Not There – and four non-fiction books – Balkan Express, How We
Survived Communism and Even Laughed, Café Europa and They Would Never Hurt a
Fly – all of which have been translated into many languages.
She was awarded a Fulbright award in 1990, the 1992 Independent Foreign Fiction
Award for Holograms of Fear, and an award from the Institute of Human Sciences in
Vienna in 1994. Drakulic lives in Stockholm, Sweden.
TIM FLEMING
CINEMATOGRAPHER
A native of Galway, Ireland Tim has been named as one of Variety’s ‘10
Cinematographers To Watch 2008’. Tim was cinematographer on Juanita Wilson’s
Academy Award® nominated short film
The Door (2008) and also Cinematographer on the Oscar winning Irish feature, Once
(2006). Other feature credits include The Last Furlong (2011), Small Engine Repair
(2006), Cre ne Cille (2007) and the award winning short The Man Inside (2008). In 2009
he shot a number of flagship dramas for the BBC including Silent Witness, Moses Jones
and Luther.
NATHAN NUGENT
FILM EDITOR
Nathan has been editing features and documentaries for over ten years. He has
recently cut Juanita Wilson's Oscar® nominated short film ‘The Door' (2008), and also
her first feature 'As If I Am Not There' (2010). Other feature work includes the comedy
'Zonad' (2009), the dark comedy 'Sensation'(2010) , and the feature length
documentary 'Waveriders' (2008) . Other award winning documentaries for television
include political series 'Bertie', and 'Get Collins'. Nathan also recently completed a
comedy series, 'Trivia', for Irish Television.
KIRIL DZAJKOVSKI
COMPOSER
Native Macedonian Kiril began his musical journey in the early eighties by teaming up
with award winning director Milcho Manchevski to form Bastion, one of the first
electronic bands in Macedonia. He then went on to play with one of the most
famous Macedonian bands 'Leb i Sol', recording two albums and touring extensively
around the Balkans and Europe.
In the nineties, Kiril moved to Australia and began experimenting by combining
ethnic Macedonian music and electronic beats. This led to his first solo release,
'Synthetic Theatre', an EP received extremely well by Australian independent radio
stations.
In 2000, American label Tone Casualties released his album 'Homebound', which
continued the concept of blending Macedonian ethnic instrumentation and
electronica. It received excellent reviews around the world, including USA, Canada,
UK, Spain and Japan. The single from the album, 'Primitive Science', included remixes
by well known London producers and DJs: Bushwacka, Subsonic Legacy and
Dreadzone.
In addition to his work with electronic projects and his solo albums, Kiril writes music for
film, television and theatre.
Kiril wrote and produced the soundtrack music for Dust (2001), the long awaited
second movie by Milcho Manchevski. Dust officially opened the 2001 Venice Film
Festival. He then wrote the music for The Great Water (2004), a feature film directed
by Ivo Trajkov which was the official Macedonian entry in the Best Foreign Language
category at the 77th Academy Awards® . Kiril wrote and produced the soundtrack
for Bal-Can-Can (2005), including the hit single Baba Zumbula.
CAST (in order of appearance)
Samira
Natasha Petrovic
Samira’s Sister
Angela Stojanovska
Samira’s Father
Zoran Trajkovski
Samira’s Mother
Sofija Kunovska
Village Neighbour
Elpida Pakovska
Village Neighbour’s Husband
Ivo Stojanovski
School Boy
Filip Pesov
School Girl
Jana Mircevska
Arresting Soldier
Kristijan Svetiev
Commander
Miraj Grbic
Jasmina
Jelena Jovanova
Threatening Soldier
Blagoj Veselinov
Nurse
Sanja Buric
Nurse’s Daughter
Marija Milicevic
First Rapist
Nino Levi
Second Rapist
Igor Angleov
Third Rapist
Aleksandar Mikic
Alisa
Irina Apelgren
Halida
Zvezdana Angelovska
Mirsada
Nikolina Kujaca
Amina
Slagana Vujosevic
Caretaker
Jasna Diklic
Sleeping Soldier
Bojan Velevski
Experienced Soldier
Sasko Kocev
Experienced Soldier
Gjorgji Neskoski
Bojan
Nenad Mitevski
The Captain
Fedja Stukan
New Woman
Kristina Lelovac
Doctor
Stellan Skarsgärd
Hospital Nurse
Jana Stojanovska
Samira’s Baby
Andrej Bogoeski
Singing Girl
Anna Walsh
Written – Directed by
Juanita Wilson
Produced by
James Flynn, Nathalie Lichtenthaeler and Karen Richards
Co-Producers
Vladimir Anastasov
Lena Rehnberg
Tomas Eskilsson
Director of Photography
Tim Fleming
Film Editor
Nathan Nugent
Production Designer
Bujar Mucha
Costume Designer
Zaklina Krstevska
Executive Producer
Winfried Hammacher
Music Composed By
Kiril Dzajkovski
Additional Music
Brian Crosby
Casting Directors
Fatima Grahic, Nela Vitoshevic