In a political sense, the term “Third World” is quite well known, albeit fairly offensive. But in a more philosophical way, it could signal the space in between, or even the union of the known and the unknown, the earthly and the mystical, the tangible and the spiritual. Those are the things one has to bear in mind when considering the former Yugoslav rock/new wave band Haustor and their seminal second album, Treći svijet, meaning “Third World” in Croatian. In this case, where there was a union of two creative energies – one belonging to singer, guitarist and lyricist Darko Rundek, and the other to bassist and music composer Srđan Sacher – that “third world” is the space between them, the space they created together.

This serves as the starting point for Arsen Oremović’s documentary Third World, which has premiered in the documentary competition of the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival. Judging by the interest of the festival audience, the sold-out screenings, and the band’s enormous and enduring popularity across the generations in the West Balkans region, it is destined to become at least a minor regional hit.

However, Oremović has prepared something unexpected – something that is not a typical “rockumentary”, a music-fuelled biopic or a “making of” story about an album. The filmmaker warns us about this in the opening title card, stating that, above all, Third World is about two artists bringing their creative energies together and forging a new entity. And, for the most part, the documentary is focused on this aspect, but some conventions still have to be adhered to.

Roughly speaking, the doc could be divided into three parts: one about the “origin stories” of Rundek, Sacher and the band; another about the record that, at the time, was misunderstood both by critics and by the public alike; and a third part that deals with the hidden meanings that led to their subsequent recognition. All three acts are often interrupted by digressions, most often dealing with the band’s brief reunion in 2022 when the line-up from Treći svijet got together to “remake” a couple of songs. Through this, Oremović tries, and largely manages, to capture the creative energies of the band members, and the vibe in both the relatively distant and the more recent past, as well as to define the change of context over time, as since then, the concepts of “world music” and “genre fusion” have gained popularity.

The filmmaker uses standard tools to achieve this – interviews with the band members, occasionally observing them at work, and an abundance of archival material from both official and private sources. The thing is that he does so in his own way. In the interviews, the spaces that Rundek, Sacher and the rest occupy are just as important as their facial expressions and gestures, which cinematographer Marinko Marinkić captures with confidence. Oremović, serving as his own editor, blends archival material with experimental vignettes, creating a hypnotising atmosphere completely in sync with the band’s style of an impressionistic approach to both lyrics and music.

The trouble is that the creativity of Rundek, Sacher and the rest of the band members, as well as the mystical vibe of the Treći svijet album, cannot be completely comprehended and communicated by cinematic means only. However, with Third World, Arsen Oremović tries very hard to do so and succeeds to a certain extent. The movie will certainly speak to existing Haustor fans, but the question is whether it will attract audiences who know little about the group.

Third World is a Croatian production staged by Interfilm and Dan Mark.