The first film introduced at the Main competition of the 52nd Karlovy Vary Film Festival was the feature debut film of Bosnian director Alen Drjević: Men Don´t Cry. The intimate drama follows the fate of several Yugoslav war veterans from various sides of the conflict. „I believe it is necessary to discuss the war in Yugoslavia, but we needed time in order to manage to do so. This topic is still a bit off limits in our countries. First and foremost we must ask true questions to ourselves,“ the director commented on the topic of his film at the press conference.
Although the film shows how difficult it is for former enemies to reconcile, the film coproduction among the states of former Yugoslavia works normally; Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia took part in the making of the film Men Don’t Cry, along with Germany, an important partner of East European films according to producer Jasmila Žbanić. „I remember that shortly after the war film-makers from various Balkan countries were invited to Germany to an event where we were supposed to unite and make peace. But at that time we were already friends,“ noted Žbanić and added that the relationship between people does not always correspond with the grim media image of the region.
Similar reconciliation workshops, such as the one in the film, truly take place in the Balkans. Drjević was particularly inspired by a workshop which took place in the same Bosnian mountain hotel where the film was shot. „Originally I wanted to make a document. But then I realised that the theme contains a cathartic situation ideal for a feature film,“ stated the director.
More information about the film can be found here.
