Beograd Underground (trailer)

Published May, 2011
by Easterndaze

Some time ago, we have written about a documentary about Belgrade’s creative scene (check the article here). There is another movie about similar subject out there. This time its creators are the Spanish director Luciano Muriel and a local insider Nataša Šarkič who also answered our questions. Its exciting to see two movies with the same subject, but taking entirely different routes (aesthetically as well as socially) towards their goal.

Why did you decide to make a documentary on the Belgrade underground ?

I met Luciano. We were hanging around and I was taking him out to concerts, exhibitions. Always with a camera on hand, shooting all the time. The idea was to make some kind of a video-guide to Belgrade, but it never came to life. Few months later Luciano told me that he checked all the material, and that some of it is really great, so how about doing something more serious with it? He came with another friend, Carlos (2nd camera) and we continued shooting. So the whole thing started in a very unpretentious, or even frivolous way, but during the last two years we were digging deeper and deeper… into the underground 🙂

What does the word underground mean to you ?

There was a lot of talking in the interviews about the term “underground”. Nobody finds it really adequate, because people feel limited if you name him or her an “underground artist”. It’s the same with any other expressions like subcultural, independent, alternative..

I would say that it is art that is independent of the mainstream, of any kind of fashion or trend, which is made without expectation of any material compensation. It is an art that is created just because of the one’s need to create, to express him or herself.

Is there something specific about the Belgrade scene for you ?

What I find most interesting about Serbia’ scene, and what I think is different from the scene in other countries, is the period of the 90’s. People were creating in totally unimaginable circumstances, and still there were much more things going on. Everybody was creating more at that time than now. I think that the years of isolation have made the Serbian subculture very authentic.

In what state is your documentary ?

Right now we are in last phase of editing and translating (it’s going to be in Serbian, English and Spanish) and we are hoping to finish it in one or two months.