ZAFRANOVIĆ: PREMIERE OF "THE GOLDEN RATIO 42" FILM EXPECTED NEXT YEAR

PALE, OCTOBER 16 /SRNA/ – Renowned director Lordan Zafranović stated for SRNA in Pale that the premiere of his film "The Golden Ratio 42", which depicts the suffering of children in Ustasha-run camps in the NDH, is expected next year, adding that he would like the first screening to take place in Republika Srpska, where most of the film was shot.

Zafranović said he would strive to have the film shown at one of the major festivals and to have it evaluated by Europe. He explained that "The Golden Ratio 42” is a film he worked on for a long time with great dedication, noting that after his documentary on Jasenovac and the film "The Fall of the Century"—which forced him to emigrate from Croatia in 1991—he sees this work as the crown of his career. For me, this is a sacred film, whose story begins between a land full of corpses and the sky. Those are the two extremes. I had to go through a kind of catharsis to make it. It is a film about evil—about the evil within man, and about how that evil grows from the individual to the masses," Zafranović said, adding that the film serves as his warning that evil must never be repeated. He expects mixed reactions in the region—both attacks and praise—but without deeper analysis. "Many will view the film ideologically rather than artistically, and politicians will use it for their daily self-promotion, which is superficial," he noted. Zafranović explained that the film was developed through several historical periods. "The idea was born in the 1980s during socialism. The screenplay was written by Arsen Diklić, but at the time we couldn’t secure funding. Then came the wars of the 1990s and the shift to capitalism, where history became a story about money," he said. He added that film is an expensive art form requiring teamwork, unlike painting or literature. "A film must have brilliance, it must be professional, because it’s made for a wide audience—the whole world. The viewer has to feel satisfaction, and the film must have a soul," said Zafranović, who today gave a lecture to students in Pale about his new film. The film runs four hours, which, as the director noted, is not commercial—but necessary, because "today, everything is losing value, and money has become the only standard." Zafranović emphasized that "The Golden Ratio 42" was not made for profit, but as a testimony to a horrific time that could repeat itself. According to him, 175 actors participated in the project, which was funded by several grants. He also mentioned pressures to cut the film down to two and a half hours. "I won’t allow that. If it does happen, I’ll remove my name and show only the author’s version to those who truly care," he said, adding that although the film deals with evil, there is light in it as well. This is captured in one line from the film: "I was the happiest here because you were in Jasenovac." Zafranović explained that the relationship between the two young people in the film—full of hope despite horror—shows that love can survive even in the darkest circumstances and that it remains the spark of light above all suffering. Before Zafranović’s lecture, presentations were given by Sanja Savić Milosavljević and Predrag Velinović to students of film faculties and academies from Banja Luka, Belgrade, Cetinje, and Saint Petersburg, as well as students from the Department of Theatre Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy in Pale. The lectures are part of the "Film Campus – Student Program" organized by Republika Srpska Cinematheque.