09/10/2023 - Remaining faithful to the poetics of Goran Paskaljević, the Serbian-Canadian filmmaker tells a story about a man fighting the system to retain custody of his sick granddaughter

Last week, shooting started for Cat’s Cry on location in the Serbian town of Požarevac and its surroundings. The project is being directed by Serbian-Canadian filmmaker Sanja Živković, whose modestly budgeted debut feature, Easy Land (2019), premiered at Toronto, toured festivals like Vancouver, Palm Springs and Göteborg, and received favourable reviews.

The script for the film was written by late, multi-award-winning Serbian filmmaker Goran Paskaljević (1947-2020) and Đorđe Sibinović, and it is based on a true story about a working-class man and his wife fighting a court battle for custody of their granddaughter, who suffers from the titular severe medical condition. The film deals with the topics of parental responsibility, survival and universal, unconditional love. One of the producers, Goran’s son Vladimir Paskaljević, who is also a filmmaker by trade himself, described the script as one of his father’s best works and the story as a typical Goran Paskaljević story in which an ordinary man becomes a hero by taking action against the whole, inhumane system.

Bosnian-Canadian actor Jasmin Geljo (internationally recognised for his roles in films like 2005’s Assault on Precinct 13, 2006’s The Sentinel and 2004’s Cube Zero) plays the lead role in the movie. The rest of the cast consists of, among others, Andrijana Đorđević, Sanja Mikitišin, Sergej Trifunović, Denis Murić, Marija Škaričić and Srđan Miletić. In terms of the crew, Milica Drakulić handles the cinematography, Radojka Vrabac the editing, Mara Milošević is tasked with the make-up, Nevena Marković with production design and Senka Radivojević with costume design.

Cat’s Cry is a Serbian-Canadian-Croatian co-production. The main production company is Nova Film, and it is being made in co-production with YN Films from Canada and Artizana from Croatia. Co-production and executive production are handled by Cinnamon Films. Vladimir and Petar Paskaljević, Ivica Vidanović, Munire Armstrong and Irena Škorić are listed as the producers and co-producers, while Nevena Savić and Jelica Rosandić serve as executive producers. The film has also received financial support from the Film Center Serbia, Telefilm Canada and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.