ZAFRANOVIĆ: GOLDEN RATIO '42 - THE CHILDREN OF KOZARA - CRY AGAINST EVIL

PALE, OCTOBER 15 /SRNA/ – Film director Lordan Zafranović said in a statement to SRNA that the crimes committed during World War II on Kozara and at the Jasenovac concentration camp were a disgrace to humanity, and that his film "Golden Ratio '42" was his cry against that evil and a plea for forgiveness.

Zafranović said that when he witnessed the evil that had taken place there, including in his own name, he simply said: "I did not do that!"

"Then I put everything I had - my authority and my tools at the service of the film, to show, warn and cry out against that evil through cinema. The only thing I can do is seek some form of forgiveness on behalf of my community. I am simply sorry that it happened.

Through the film, I can kneel down and say, 'Please forgive me for what my people did.'

That was my sole aim in making this film," Zafranović said on a podcast produced by the Media System of Republika Srpska, SRNA.

"GOLDEN RATIO '42" IS INTENDED FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

From his first encounter with documents on Jasenovac to "Golden Ratio '42 – The Children of Kozara," Zafranović has devoted almost his entire creative life to one question: How can an ordinary person become a criminal?

Although the film looks back at history, Zafranović said he did not like revisiting the past and that "Golden Ratio ’42" was intended for future generations, so they could understand the universal nature of evil.

"When people ask me what the best moment of my life was, I say: right now. The past is somewhere far behind me, and the future is unknown. I do not know what will happen in ten minutes," Zafranović said.

He noted that his engagement with the subject of evil began after he encountered documents and testimonies about Jasenovac, by which time he was already a trained and established director.

Zafranović believes that film offers possibilities unavailable to other art forms, allowing it to portray the transformation of a human being and the complex relationship between good and evil in real space and time.

"For me, film offers unlimited possibilities. It leads me toward a light I cannot reach. That journey toward the light is a magnificent one," Zafranović said.

THE PINNACLE OF A CIVILIZATION OF EVIL

Zafranović said that "The Children of Kozara" explores human imperfection inherited by humanity.

"We have all inherited it in our genetic code. How does this evil develop, and how devastating is it for all humanity? The civilization to which we belong, spanning five or six thousand years, is a civilization of evil. Killing, conquest, plunder, tragedies - it is horrific. The history of humanity is the history of evil, and we are its representatives in the present day," the director said.

Zafranović said humanity was at a turning point and that the present era represented the culmination of historical horror.

"It seems to me that the time should now come when evil finally falls, when good triumphs and we begin to cooperate, talk, reach agreements and create new things," Zafranović said, warning that humanity faced self-destruction if no turning point came.

"GOLDEN RATIO '42" IS NOT PROPAGANDA

Responding to criticism that "Golden Ratio '42" was a political or propaganda project, Zafranović said he had faced no pressure whatsoever during filming.

"Not a single person came to me or tried to influence me. No censor came, no one told me anything should be cut, not a single frame. No one came into the editing room. I have made the freest film of my career," the director stressed.

Zafranović said no film was made without state funding, but categorically rejected claims that his work was propaganda.

I HAVE NO DOUBT "GOLDEN RATIO '42" WILL SUCCEED AND BREAK THROUGH EVERY WALL

Zafranović said he had no doubts about the film's success and was convinced it would break through every wall, even though doors in Europe had been closed to the production.

"There are enormous walls and fences. Not even a fly can get through. There is no way in for this film. We tried to get it into Cannes and Berlin. In Berlin, they will not even watch it because they think Serbia is a little Russia - an embargo. People here are afraid, the French will not accept it, and the Czechs refused as well," Zafranović said.

He said he would turn toward the East, where he expected the film to have greater success.

"The film will get through. It will break through those walls. I know that - this is not the first time for me!" Zafranović said.

"Golden Ratio ’42 - The Children of Kozara" runs for four hours. Zafranović acknowledged that its length posed a major challenge for cinema distribution and audiences, but maintained that he could not shorten it without compromising its integrity.

He compared attempts to cut the film to removing parts of the human body.

"You can manage without one arm, so you remove an arm. You can manage without one eye, or one leg, and then you see you have created a disabled person. Let the arms remain, let both eyes remain; otherwise, the film would be mutilated," Zafranović said.

I WILL CONTINUE EXPLORING NEW THINGS

Speaking about his future plans, the director revealed that he intended to use artificial intelligence to bring to the screen a comic book from his childhood, "The Tsar's Shield-Bearer," by Sergei Solovyov.

Zafranović also revealed that he had received the name Lordan by chance and had been born prematurely.

He said he was born on February 11, 1944, in Maslinica on the island of Šolta, on the day German troops occupied the islands.

"I was born prematurely. Some Partisans came in and killed someone, and then a priest from another village arrived to give the dead man absolution and bury him," Zafranović recounted.

Fearing that her baby would not survive the night, his mother asked the priest to baptize him so that he would not die unbaptized.

"The priest reluctantly agreed because he knew my father was with the Partisans", Zafranović remembered, explaining that the priest gave him his name that night after Our Lady of Lourdes, whose feast day, according to the church calendar, fell on that February date.