Karlo Gagulić is a student of Film, Television and Multimedia Design at VERN’ University in Zagreb. The idea for A (Non)existent School started out as an ordinary university exam, but the interesting autobiographical elements turned it into much more than that. Karlo felt insecure at the beginning due to the unusual topic of the film, he was scared of negative reactions from the audience, but he started the project anyway. Even though he’s still a freshman, he quickly managed to acquire equipment, great actors and organize film sectors. Despite the epidemiological measures, he secured a safe working environment and had his first public screening at Sarajevo Youth Film Festival. This is his third year at Four River Film Festival, only this year he’s just a guest, not a part of the competition program, and he’s amazed by the organization of the festival, as well as this year’s lemony theme.
Lav Novosel, who successfully finished high school, is one of the main actors of A (Non)existent School. Even though he took a year off after high school to think about life and his further steps, over the last couple of years he worked and acted on smaller projects, so filming a student film was a new experience for him. Besides those small projects, he acts at Zagreb Youth Theatre, so he has more experience in the world of theatre, and filming a bigger and more serious film is a great opportunity for him to see the difference between theatre and film acting and learn all about the process of developing an idea for a film. He is especially fond of the working atmosphere and the entire crew of this film, which worked as one to solve all the problems they had.
Josip Štirinić is another actor that joined yesterday’s screening, and even though he’s been in the film business for a while, this is his first big role. He says he’s extremely grateful for the chance to share the screen with professional actors and he was impressed by the whole experience on a film set.
Mihael Kuzmičić came to FRFF with a double role; the first is in the film by Karlo Gagulić, and the second is the role of a filmmaker, since his film The Writer entered this year’s festival selection. For him, A (Non)existent School was the first experience that was more professional, because so far he has only had the opportunity to act in small, amateur theaters. He got to star in the film the old school way, through an audition, and he points out that this shoot was a creative escape from the real world for him. Highly honored to have worked on the set, he praises the young artists around him who he had the opportunity to get to know better during the two months of filming. He had fun while filming because the film crew consisted of people who, regardless of their differences, got along great. He was amazed, among other things, by the changing theme and the excellent team of the Four River Film Festival, which made sure that the screening of the film went well.
Nina Kukec, who started her film education, as well as her creative work, in the lower grades of primary school, is a producer and, just like Karlo, is studying at VERN’ University. She met Karlo even before university, while she was still trying her hand at acting. She took a big step with him and founded the production company Playbox Production. She mentions how she felt the substantial difference between working before and after the pandemic, especially on the set of this film, where they paid close attention to the epidemiological measures and took care of the safety of the actors and the film crew. This was the first time she had worked with professional actors, which added value to the whole project, but with it came greater responsibility on the set. This is her second Four River Film Festival and she emphasizes that she is fascinated by the outdoor screenings that remind her of old open-air cinemas. She believes that this year’s theme, as well as the ever-present yellow, is an indescribably important part of the festival and its reputation, and that all these elements make it extremely recognizable and unique among similar festivals.
(A.G.)
