1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?

I was born in the former Yugoslavia. When civil war broke out, my family and I fled to Canada as refugees. We settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. At an early age I was interested in arthouse films from all around the world. I was particularly fond of ex-Yugoslav filmmakers and their work. After attending the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2007, I decided that I wanted to be a filmmaker – that festival really opened up my eyes to the film world and I really wanted to be a part of it.

2) What was the initial idea for this project and how did it evolve from there?

I recently made my first feature film with a frequent collaborator of mine – Fabian Velasco (Imitations, The Champ). The film is called “tapeworm” and is about a bunch of different people living their mundane lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. One of the characters is played by Alex Ateah. Alex plays a comedian who is very similar to the character in ‘wasting time at the end of the world’. When covid happened I thought it would be interesting to sort of revisit that character as they do a stand up act virtually. I guess I kinda wanted to point out how strange virtual comedy sets are. The performer is just so disconnected from the audience, and it just feels sad in a way. Also if you wanna watch “tapeworm” its on Amazon Prime in the states, UK and Canada – give it a watch and make sure to leave a review on letterboxed!!

3) What was the biggest challenge in making this series? And the easiest part?!

The biggest challenge was figuring out how we wanted to tell this story – I wrestled with the idea of cutting some parts out of it, but ultimately chose to keep everything we shot in the final cut. The easiest part was working with the cinematographer on the project - Jesse De Rocquingy – he was just so great to work with and very helpful in every way. Also a big kudos goes out to Tom Groom who did the sound for the project and of course Alex Ateah who was awesome as always.  

4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?

I just recently watched Eric Peterson’s new short film “Big Things” – it was really great! Eric is a filmmaker here in Winnipeg, Manitoba that I am a huge fan of. He shot the film on 16mm which just looks amazing! The film has not had an official release yet, so watch out for Eric Peterson’s “Big Things” coming to a film fest near you in 2021!  (Also Jesse, who shot “wasting time at the end of the world” shot Eric’s film as well, so it looks amazing!)

5) What’s next for you?

I am currently making a film about my grandparents who live in Serbia and Bosnia. Its kind of a non-fiction narrative film that looks very much like “wasting time at the end of the world”. I shot a bunch of footage of my grandparents living their lives in Serbia and Bosnia and then shot a bunch of stuff of my parents living here in Winnipeg, Manitoba to create a sort of comparison view of my parents and their parents – and how they live similar lives even though they are a million miles away from each other. Its sort of like a cinema verite documentary but its shot in set ups like a narrative film. I am also working on a new short film with my frequent collaborator Fabian Velasco (Imitations, The Champ, Tapeworm). We are set to shoot the film in September so I am excited about that. It’s a film about two paranoid farmers that talk to horses. It will be very zany and funny.

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