In his first feature, Wind, Talk to Me [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], director Stefan Djordjevic reunites with his family to celebrate his grandmother’s birthday for the first time after his mother’s recent passing. This homecoming, driven by his urge to complete a film about his mum and an attempt to make amends by rescuing a stray dog, will ignite an introspective journey for Stefan. Inspired by the helmer’s real-life experiences and starring his actual family members on a mission to complete a lake house and a film, the pic promises to be an intimate cinematic exploration of the timeless mother-son relationship. The movie will celebrate its world premiere in the Tiger Competition of this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam, running from 30 January-9 February.

Djordjevic comments: “Not long ago, my mother passed away. Having been diagnosed with cancer 20 years ago, she decided against conventional treatments, and she survived. But the cancer came back in 2017. She once again chose to heal herself through nature and bought a campsite by a lake near our hometown of Bor, where she spent her days immersing herself in nature. I began photographing and, ultimately, also filming her. After she passed away, something beautiful emerged from the pain – our family came together in a way we hadn’t before. I began reflecting on how to approach the material I had filmed with my mother. I knew it was powerful, as her spirit radiated so strongly through every frame. But I also realised I didn’t want to create a conventional documentary about her, nor did I want to make a film about the past and present. My goal was to create a sense of timelessness. I want the audience to feel, as we did, that my mother is still present – her spirit living through us and within us.”

Wind, Talk to Me was produced by Dragana Jovovic. Other producers are Stefan Ivancic and Ognjen Glavonic for Non-Aligned Films (Serbia) along with Djordjevic himself for his own firm Katunga (Serbia), in co-production with Vanja Jambrovic for Restart (Croatia), Jozko Rutar for SPOK Films (Slovenia) and Miha Cernec for Staragara (Slovenia). The project received backing from Film Center Serbia, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA programme, the Slovenian Film Centre, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, visions sud est and Viba Film.

Its world sales are being handled by Greece’s Heretic.

Check out our exclusive poster below: