On Wednesday, Rakov Jarak hosted the first panel in Cinehill’s rich program of discursive events. On the occasion of the extraordinary commercial success of The Wedding – Igor Šeregi’s unromantic tragicomedy, that became the most-watched Croatian film in history – our selector, novelist, and film critic Jurica Pavičić sat down with leading figures in regional cinema.
The panel’s diverse speakers included Croatian director Vinko Brešan – the author of what is now the second most-watched Croatian film, How the War Started on My Island and other political satires; Serbian producer Snežana van Houwelingen, whose credits include the acclaimed series Operation Sabre and Mom and Dad Are Playing War; Croatian director Igor Šeregi, who is already working on a sequel to his hit; Croatian producer Rea Rajčić, the producer behind the award-winning Celebration and this year’s Pula Film Festival laureate Honey Bunny; Sanja Jovanović, executive director of the Film Centre of Montenegro; Slovenian producer Aleš Pavlin – known for smash hits such as Dragan Bjelogrlić’s Guardians of the Formula, Hana Jušić’s God Will Not Help, and the recent drama Whites Wash at Ninety by Marko Naberšnik; as well as film critic Miroljub Vučković and HAVC director Chris Marcich.
Although the aim of the panel was to establish whether it is possible to sketch out a formula for a film guaranteed to win a wide audience, the participants used the similarities and differences between their respective works to discuss the subtle yet decisive characteristics of the regional film industry and its audiences.
Since the panel was inspired by the success of the The Wedding – which had a special screening on the first day of the festival – Šeregi explained his decision to set the wedding between the daughter of a corrupt Slavonian businessman and the son of a blasé Serbian minister on the Kvarner coast as a nod to Brešan’s proven formula of situating politically charged comedies near the sea.
While sharing the impression that Adriatic comedies that blend dark humour with Croatian-Serbian relations are likely to find favour with domestic and regional audiences, Rea Rajčić added that titles such as Igor Jelinović’s Honey Bunny – which has gained significant visibility thanks to its Pula victory and Dalmatian humour – are poorly served by being marketed in the same way as larger, more ambitious productions.
Van Houwelingen explained the Serbian audience’s appetite for her work through the genre adaptation of Operation Sabre, the HBO mini-series about the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, framed through the tropes of the thriller and crime drama; while Pavlin confirmed the readiness of both Slovenian and Serbian audiences for titles such as Bjelogrlić’s international smash hit Guardians of the Formula.
The conversation also addressed the growing recognition of actresses and actors on a film’s commercial success in the wake of the streaming series boom, and Marcic, speaking from the perspective of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, affirmed the necessity of striking a balance between formal or thematic ambitions and the proven preferences of cinema audiences.
