A Fairy Tale That Could Come to Life with Your Help
There are few fairy tales in the world of film. The work of filmmakers is so difficult that the production of films seldom passes without problems, and out of the countless films produced around the world very few succeed in being remembered by viewers and in winning a prize.
But film directors stubbornly persevere. If they work hard, they become better with every successive film, celebrating art and making our lives more beautiful and richer.
Vojin Vasović, a young director from Kragujevac, central Serbia, is one of those persevering creators. He graduated in film direction at the Acedemy of Art in Belgrade and MA studies at the University of Toronto. His shorts Breathtaking and Back Portrait have been shown at a number of festivals and won several prizes, but Vasović really showed his brilliance in the field of animation. His animated short 5 Minutes Each, done in Serbia with the help of friends, was lauded by film lovers in Madrid, Toronto, Boston, Los Angeles, and even in Hawaii.
After being shown at over 100 festivals and winning 30 awards for the best animation, direction and the score 5 Minutes Each ended its cinematic life as one of the most extolled films from this part of the world. Vasović’s new project – an animated short named There was Twice a King – promises to tread the same path.
There was Twice a King is a fascinating tale of two rulers. One is a warmongering barbarian from the Middle Ages, and the other a more refined offspring of a Baroque period. As they share time on a split screen, the viewer realizes that he or she is drawn into a story of a divided personality and a constant subliminal struggle between gross arrogance and refined culture. The king’s internal conflicts give rise to a series of problems and come to light with the help of droll secondary characters which are there to resolve them. Druids, physicians, queens, dragons – they are all trying to reconcile the two opposed kings into one. After a lengthy struggle and a grand battle, the haughty ruler will realize that he is no better than other people, who also wage war with similar demons. He will not only have to accept the layered nature of his personality, but also the fact that he shares with others the same divided conscience.
At forums help in Poznan and Luxembourg, from the many competing entries, Vasović’s script for There was Twice a King was recognized as one of the 20 best in Europe. Support for the film came from the Film Center of Serbia and the Art Council of Ontario, Canada, which secured one half of the necessary budget. However, in order to complete the film and gather the rest of the necessary funds to help the project, the character designer and art director Nikola Stepković and the rest of the team have launched a Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter is a website enabling creators to collect donor funds for the production, but only if the campaign, in the case of this project, raises a certain amount of money by 27 September. More about There was Twice a King and the manner in which you can support the project can he found HERE.
Source: House of Good News