Goran Radovanovic: With Fidel Whatever Happens
The Serbian director held an inspiring and entertaining masterclass after the screening of his film at the Astra Film Festival in Sibiu in Romania. Radovanovic was one of the tutors at the DocStories Black Sea workshop session that includes filmmakers from Azerbadjan, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.
The film, shot in 8 days, has a fine tone tied to a dramaturgical, authored construction of scenes, that the director lets develop in a pace that suits the rythm of life in the countryside in Cuba. An old man with his motorcycle that has problems in starting and in climbing the streets. Three big men on bicycles, filmed from behind. A young man going by bus to a far away village, he is a dentist. A couple in their house taking care of a public phone where private conversations can be heard. And a megaphone to be used on the first of May celebration day – ”with Fidel whatever happens”. Glimpses of life in Cuba put together in a poetic language.
I need reality to recreate, the director said, inviting the audience to understand his working method. I have staged everything, I was working with actors and I paid them. But the man with the motorbike is a man with a motorbike, the dentist is a dentist and so on so forth. This is my manipulation. But I am not lying at any moment. I am a director, not a social worker, but I never invent, I take from reality when I make documentaries.
The film that ends with a beautifully performed version of ”Lagrimas Negras”, also presents a woman in white who approaches the camera to sing Russian songs, and to serve as one, who chapters the filmic narration.
Serbia, 2011, 47 mins.
