‘Just trying to fit in’

An interview with film producer Uroš Tomić

By ASJA KRSMANOVIC

“We chose the title Kiselo dete (acid child) for the name of our production company,” says Uroš Tomić. He is one of the producers of Tilva Roš, the debut film of director Nikola Ležaić.

“Kiselo dete is the title of a novel written by one of our friends. Kiselo dete is rude, uninterested in things that happen around him, but is also a hard worker and somehow trying to fit in. Just like us. Also, the strange coincidence is that Nikola, Mina and I come from three of the most polluted cites in Serbia. Nikola is from Bor, where the movie was shot, Mina is from Kula and I am from Pancevo.” Their partnership started on the academy in Belgrade, where Nikola Ležaić, Mina Đukić and Uroš Tomić studied directing. After they finished, they started working together professionally. The deal is: when one of them is shooting a movie, the other two are the producers.

Tilva Roš is a great success. The film has been screened on 20 film festivals, has won 11 awards, 5 of which for best feature movie. Nikola’s movie Tilva Roš is their first project because it was the easiest one to be produced, Tomić explains. Since Nikola is from Bor, they got to use all the locations for free. All the actors were amateurs, and the team got funding from both the state and city of Belgrade.

Tilva Roš – the original name of the copper mine where the film was shot – is a generation movie. It tells the story about growing up as a part of the youth skateboarding subculture in small, dying city. A group of teenagers spend their last summer vacation in small place called Bor – once it held the largest copper mine of the region, now its just a big hole – before life separates their ways. Some of them deceide to go to college; others stay to search for a job.

But that summer, the longest summer of their lives, they spent by making their own Jackass-style videos and hanging out on their skateboards. The film is mostly based on real characters that more or less act as themselves. Also, the ‘Jackass-videos’ used in the film are shot by two main actors: Marko Todorović and Stefan Đorđević.

The movie had its regional premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where it won the awards for Best Movie, and Marko Todorović recieved honours for Best Actor.  The world premiere was in Lokarno, and after screening in Priština at Skena Up the film will be shown at festivals in Rotterdam and Goetheburg. Lastly, Tilva Roš will be distributed for the American market.