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A 30-year dream |
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| 05/12/2007 |
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Producer Miodrag Certić speaks about the adventure that led to the making of Film Noir, the first competition film to screen at Courmayeur
One of the (not always acknowledged) foundations of the noir genre is that it emphasizes the importance of searching within ourselves to understand the world. And if it’s done with discretion and elegance, all the better, Robert Walzer would add.
Miodrag Certić, producer of Film Noir, the first competition film to screen here at Courmayeur, presented to audiences a cinematic adventure that is very much based on the aforementioned principles: a series of adventures, intersections and a return trip that, as Certić explained, were present from the beginning of the project.
“Actually, everything began in the 1970s,” he said, “when Srdja Penezic (a.k.a. D. Jud Jones) and I left Yugoslavia to go and live in the United States. For many years we lived, respectively, in New York and Los Angeles and worked in advertising. But we always said, ‘We have to make a film.’ A decade passed, then two, then three. In 2000 a wonderful thing happened in my country – the dictator Milosevic was overthrown. At that point, people like Srdja and I decided to go home, where it was possible to meet many interesting people. So we told ourselves it was now or never. And bringing together people who worked with us in advertising with others we’d met recently, we were able to start the film.”
Film Noir’s unique characteristics (the genre, a complex storyline, B&W images, animation) made it somewhat difficult to produce. “It wasn’t easy to find funding,” adds Certić, “but we ultimately did thanks to enormous dedication and the people we knew. We worked as a team and practically among friends, taking on numerous roles. For example, the main character’s voice is that of the General Motors ads, and belongs to the artist who scored the film’s music.”
Why was it an animated film? Says Certić: “The film began from Srdja’s screenplay and he suggested it be done through animation. The other director, Risto Topaloski, is Serbia’s best animation director. So the choice was pretty clear in terms of our skills. We began in 2D but then realized that there were new possibilities that helped create a more suitable atmosphere. So we decided to start over in 3D and we’re very pleased with the results.”
After talking about the filmmaking process, it wouldn’t be fair not to conclude with a comment on the Kafkaesque story. Upon waking up with amnesia, the hero has no idea who he is and why someone wants him dead, after which the film’s true (and symbolic, if you will) story begins: the fight to regain something lost along the way. “In this fight,” explains Certić, “the search for one’s identity through the genre’s underlying structure becomes a way to get to know not only himself but the world that surrounds him as well.” Which brings us back to the initial theme and the very reason behind the title Film Noir. |
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