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FUTURE FRAMES 2018

Neven Samardžić • Director

“Who do we change for? Ourselves or others?”

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- Ahead of its screening in Karlovy Vary's Future Frames, Neven Samardžić spoke to us about his short film Clean and his portrayal of a drug addict who turns his life around

Neven Samardžić • Director

The latest film by Sarajevo-born director Neven Samardžić is an intense character study of a former addict who is desperate to convince those around him that he has changed his ways. Successfully sidestepping the clichés that so often characterise films about drug addiction, Clean – a product of the Sarajevo Academy of Performing Arts – has already proved popular with audiences, walking away with the ‘Heart of Sarajevo’ for Best Student Film at the 2017 Sarajevo film festival. The film is selected for European Film Promotion’s Future Frames initiative at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

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Cineuropa: What was it about the subject matter that inspired you to make Clean?
Neven Samardžić:
  I wanted to put myself in the shoes of a character who genuinely wants to change, who wants to get “clean”, which is a very hard thing to do and which no one really believes is possible these days. How does the change come? Is it genuine? How do other people deal with it? Do they really believe that junkies can ever stop being junkies? And finally, who do we change for? Ourselves or others? These were the key questions that I wanted to explore when creating this character and the story that surrounds him.

The story of the recovering drug addict is one that has been covered in cinema many times before, but Clean seems to offer a rather different take on this popular theme.
I can’t say I thought about the originality of the theme, or of my particular take on it. I was trying to make a movie that would show the main character and his surroundings in as thoughtful and honest a way as possible. What I did know was that I wanted to avoid the clichés that are typical of movies like this – scenes depicting the horrors of withdrawal and the actual physical taking of drugs.

Tell us about the development of the film. Did you carry out a lot of research?
I did do some research, and the most important part of it was talking to drug addicts themselves. There were only a few of them, and one in particular who helped a lot. The main story arc – of a guy who wants to get clean and go back to living with his mother in her home – came from a story told to me by a recovering drug addict, whose mother changed the locks on her flat and wouldn’t let him in, despite him being some months into the rehabilitation process without any sign of relapse.

How did you go about securing Nerman Mahmutović in the lead role?
Nerman really was very, very committed. We talked a lot, I would share my thoughts and any insights I had on the character, and he would share his. We also rehearsed a lot with a small camera; he would act out a variety of (imaginary) situations taken from the life of the character, but not those already covered in the script. There was a lot of improvising. It was a nice little adventure, I enjoyed it very much, and I think he did too.

The film veers from the naturalism of a documentary to moments of magical realism. Can you tell us a bit about the shooting process and how long it took to make the movie?
The shooting lasted about five days and it took place in a suburb of Sarajevo called Dobrinja. The editing process was quite long because it’s not a typical short film, especially in terms of its length. Besides all that, one of the most important things for me was to find the right location for each scene, and that turned out to be a very long process for my DOP, Amel Đikoli, and myself.

You’ll be taking the film to Future Frames at Karlovy Vary. What are you most looking forward to about the festival?
I’m very happy to be a part of such a well-known festival. The Future Frames programme looks set to be a very exciting one, and I’m hoping it will help me make the move into professional film-making. This is an opportunity for me to present myself and my work in the best way I can.

What projects are you currently working on?
I’m working on a short film that is quite different to this one, and I’m also writing a script for a feature-length movie.

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