19 Jul Dežulović at KROKODIL: I wish we had formidable opponents to deal with / Report from the second evening of the KROKODIL Festival
‘My writing is triggered by infinite human stupidity – we are doomed to deal with Tuđman and Milošević, our small provincial fascists, the likes of Vučić and Šešelj’, said Boris Dežulović yesterday, during the second evening of the KROKODIL Festival.
Talking to Mima Simić, he spoke about his work at the Feral Tribune, describing it as a mix of playing in a rock and roll band and doing serious, tireless journalism. As for the present-day media, he said they are mostly rubbish.
‘It’s mostly rubbish, but in that rubbish, you can find a really valuable thing – it’s like rummaging through a bin and finding something good. There are some good journalists. I mostly follow journalists, not the media’, said Dežulović.
On the other hand, cartoonist Predrag ‘Corax’ Koraksić said that he didn’t have enough freedom of expression in his previous jobs, which is why he was forced to change them so often.
And when one door closes, another one, as a rule, opens. This is how Corax became what he is today. One of the best-known cartoonists in Serbia and beyond.
During Milošević’s rule, Corax didn’t have so many problems with him as he did with his ‘pawns’.
‘I was mocking Milošević but I was sued by Dobrica Ćosić. Yet, Milošević’s biggest pet peeve was that I was representing his wife, Mira, as fat when she no longer was’, reminisced Corax.
The author of Sampas, Ilija Đurović, believes that collective work is the key. As he pointed out, it frees him from being responsible and fighting on his own.
‘I’m in complete shock when people assume that I have experience. The fact of the matter is, I have nothing to say about that experience. It took me a long time to accept it, but when I finally did, it was a big relief’, he added.
Đurović said that meeting ‘sampas’ happened completely by accident, like meeting free-range animals that the locals in the north of Montenegro take out to graze in summer and do not check on them until autumn.
Author Jasminka Petrović and director Raša Andrić talked about the film How I Learned to Fly and the book it was based on with film producer Srđa ‘Mjehur’ Anđelić.
Raša said that the responsibility is huge. He was afraid of boring children because kids today have a short attention span.
‘You have to be careful not to say something wrong that’ll stick in your mind and make you think later that you’ve done something stupid. I found it very hard not to swear because I couldn’t direct actors like that’, Raša pointed out.
Jasminka added that the main difference between writing for children and writing for adults is responsibility because when you are addressing an underaged audience you have to do it responsibly.
Author Ana Marija Grbić also took part. She talked about her first book Srneća leđa (Saddle of Venison).
Croatian playwright Tena Štivičić and actress Hana Selimović closed the night. Selimović performed an excerpt from Štivičić’s play, 64, about the intimate life of a modern married couple that falls apart under the pressure of expectations.
The title of the 14th KROKODIL Festival is ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’, in tribute to the American author Joan Didion, who has recently passed.
The report was prepared by KROKODIL journalists for a day Anđela Davić, Ana Živanović, and Sara Nikolić.
The project Journalist for a Day – Journalists against Racism is implemented as part of Reporting Diversity Network 2.0 funded by the European Union.
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