On Tuesday, August 20, the guests of Grand Coffee with…of the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival were the cast members of the film GYM by the Bosnian-Herzegovinian director Srđan Vuletić. Director Srđan Vuletić, actors Dino Sarija, Edin Avdagić, Dina Mušanović and screenwriter Mirela Trepanić Grbešić spoke about the film.
At the beginning of the conversation, Vuletić pointed out that the audience´s reaction to the film was very good. He emphasized that GYM is darker than his previous films, no matter the elements of humour.
“I was worried whether this film was for a large audience, but it turned out to work even better with a larger crowd. From previous test screenings, we saw the scenes that people really liked. Also, people reacted positively to another aspect—the cast and crew are very young, and the cast is entirely from Bosnia and Herzegovina, consisting of students from the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. There is no one who does not understand the context of the story,” said Vuletić.
He also spoke about the financial issues encountered during the filming of this film:
“The film GYM can serve as a great analysis of what not to do in production. I believed that this was good material, I worked on the script for years. The budget for this film ended up being around 400,000 euros, which is the amount of money used abroad for festival entertainment. We wouldn’t have been able to complete this film without the help of co-producers. But funding is not always crucial; at one point, we actually had more money than we needed.”
GYM focuses on violence against women. Screenwriter Mirela Trepanić Grbešić noted that she wrote this story in 2008 as a student, and it was created out of instinct:
“I come from Gračanica, and there I heard a story like this. I was struck by the idea of someone taking it upon themselves to decide someone else’s fate. I sent Srđan a synopsis, and that’s how the film began. Last year, around this time, we had a day of mourning and suspension of all screenings. I think this is an important topic, and we need to talk about it. Men should be protectors, not perpetrators of violence. I wrote this story in 2008 as a student, and I wasn’t focused on femicide or conducting research; I just followed my instinct, the story, and the characters. I didn’t want them to be just villains, but to understand why they are the way they are. The film will live at many festivals, but our society needs a film like this to understand its message,” said Trepanić Grbešić.
Actor Edin Avdagić emphasied that it was simple cooperating with the complete cast because everyone has known each other for a long time, while his colleague Dino Sarija spoke about creating the character he portrays:
“What was most important to me was that my character not be a typical villain, not be cool. A colleague once told me that he would have done it much more subtly, which to me is synonymous with boring, lacking in risk,” concluded Sarija.
Actress Dina Mušanović emphasized that she was pleased that the audience understood the message the team wanted to convey and what director Vuletić aimed to present.
“I am glad that the film shows that we change perspectives. I am also pleased that Srđan addresses these red flags through his films; we see a lot but do nothing,” said Mušanović.
The film GYM had its world premiere at the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival as a part of the Open Air programme.
