04/09/2003 - The light, romantic comedy, Loving Glances marks the return of the Bosnian director, Srdjan Karanovic

There was an extremely troubled production process for Loving Glances, the film presented in competition at Venice. It marks Srdjan Karanovic’s return to filmmaking, after an 11 year gap.
This sparkling romance is set in Belgrade during the recent war. The Bosnian director wrote the screenplay during a long period of voluntary exile in America, and the film took actually took more than 7 years to make. The financing package, set up with European collaboration, had to be rebuilt from scratch more than once, as the fighting between Milosevic’s army and NATO annulled the first funding plan, and then the political turmoil in Macedonia, another country initially involved in the production, led to a further collapse in the financing deal. "In our country it is difficult even to walk and think” said Karanovic in the press conference for the presentation of the film, "so imagine what it’s like to make a film. But I tried to tell a story that was finally different to the film clichés produced in this part of Europe. I wanted to talk about hope and light-heartedness".
And it has certainly worked: his film is funny and light-hearted. It’s the love story between a student who arrives in the capital together with a group of refugees, and a young girl from other side of the ethnic divide. As the story develops, both of these characters are haunted by the appearance of the ghosts from their past, who either give advice or make reprimands, depending on the situation. It is a heart-warming tale and it also shows hope for a better future. “In life, every one of us have ghosts of the people who play or have played an important part in our lives. And we often talk to them on a regular basis, we ask for help and support". The protagonists of this story attempt to start up their lives again, trying to get back to normality, even if it is in a context that is still filled with the horrors of war and politics. "I wanted to show that even in the mud and the 'nonsense' of the reality that surrounds us we can still rediscover hope” added the director. “And hope is love. Because even during the worst periods of history, moments of infinite cruelty and tragedy, humans still fell in love and still had children".
Even though Loving Glances is a light comedy with a touch of the absurd, there is still room for a little sadness and an air of melancholy, which unexpectedly makes the story more original and ring more true. "Our inner being is dominated by a profound feeling of melancholy, for the past or for the present we’re currently living through. But this doesn’t stop us from laughing and joking and enjoying the people who are close to us and the feelings that surround us".

(Translated from Italian)