As every year, the Telemach Youth Film Festival Sarajevo in 2025 brings an interview with a director in focus. The Festival is pleased to welcome Danilo Stanimirović back to Sarajevo. This year, in addition to the film Cats, which will be presented in the competition program for short films – OFF Shorts – Danilo is also introducing his new project, Brazil, to the film industry. In anticipation of the Festival and Danilo’s return, we bring you a brief interview.
This will be your third participation at Telemach OFF within the competition program – can you tell us what the Youth Film Festival Sarajevo means to you and what memories connect you to the city and the Festival?
I have only beautiful memories connected to Sarajevo, which is probably why I love coming back. I remember arriving at my first Telemach OFF directly from Germany, where I was on an Erasmus exchange, and I met many people from Sarajevo who have remained lifelong friends. On the last day of the festival, we went rafting on the Neretva with them, which almost made me miss the awards ceremony. I honestly didn’t expect to win my first-ever film festival award that evening.
After Bambiland in 2020 and 5/3/0 in 2023, both part of OFF, this year you’re coming with Cats as part of OFF Shorts. Where did the idea for the film come from, and what inspired the style – it’s something we’re not used to seeing from you, or at least haven’t until now?
When I look at all my films so far, I realize they have nothing in common – except the author. Maybe I’m still finding myself, so I don’t have one consistent style that I repeat in each film. Or maybe with every new film, I just want to try something completely different.
Cats is a family drama about a Serbian immigrant family in Zurich. It follows a boy named Miša who, through a slightly bizarre relationship with an abandoned kitten, learns what attention and empathy mean – things his parents, who are going through a divorce, don’t have time to teach him.
The film’s visual style was created in collaboration with Aleksa Borković, the cinematographer who is also a friend of OFF and my longtime collaborator. We worked together on previous films shown in Sarajevo.
Since Bambiland, when we first met you, through to Cats, which we’ll be watching this year – have you started to look at the film world differently, and do you think anything has changed? Is film appreciated as much as it should be?
Film as an art form is definitely valued less and less. Like everything else in a neoliberal capitalist system – people, and what they create (including art and film), are only valued based on how they contribute to the market and economic relations. (“Is it worth buying a ticket for this film?” or “Is it profitable to finance this film?”) These are, unfortunately, the two key questions that the film industry currently depends on.
I try to value the audience more and more – those who give their attention to a film beyond just the time spent in the cinema for which they bought a ticket. People who enjoy engaging with the filmmakers, asking questions, and constantly participating in discussions. Valuing a quality film audience today, in my opinion, means valuing Film itself.
This year your project Brazil was also selected for the OFF Co-production Market. What stage is Brazil currently in, and when do you expect to start shooting? The same project was directly selected by OFF for the Figari Festival in Sardinia – how important are markets for short films, from your perspective?
Brazil is a dramedy with elements of a musical. The title comes from the famous song by Baby Doll that represented Yugoslavia at Eurovision in 1991. That was the last performance of the SFRY at Eurovision, just before the breakup began. Although the song came in last place, it’s still a big hit throughout the former Yugoslavia.
I felt the need to make a fun film after two heavy dramas (Cats and 5/3/0). We’ve already filmed it, and I hope we’ll finish post-production by the end of this year.
Do you believe film can truly change the world? How valued and important is art today, really?
I believe film has already changed the world. Right now, unfortunately, it seems the world is influencing film more than the other way around. I hope that things will soon shift again. Still, the world is currently burdened with much scarier things, and if it doesn’t change soon – there may be no world, and no film.
