{mosimage}The producer Darko Popov explained for FNE what extremely low budget meant in this case: "It means that you have to postpone the start of the preparations several times. It also means that when the prepreproduction finally starts, you have to postpone the start of principal photography, also several times. And when the filming finally starts, you continue stubbornly, no matter the consequences. Not to mention the post-production process. Luckily, we were always aware that all the problems are just a phase through which the film has to pass."

The film is a co-production between the Macedonia's Pank Film and the Serbia's VitaGraf. Popov says the Macedonian Film Fund (www.filmfund.gov.mk) supported the project with nearly 250,000 euro while the Film Center of Serbia (http://www.fcs.rs) gave almost 80,000 euro. With the currency's devaluation of 8,000 euro, the final budget stood around 322,000 euro.

Punk's Not Dead /Pankot ne e mrtov is a road movie about the revival of a popular punk band from Macedonia, and about the struggle of its former singer, Mirsa, to put on a benefit concert in Debar, a Macedonian city with an Albanian majority population, after 17 years of silence.

Born in 1955, Blaževski graduated in film directing at the Academy of Film, Theatre, Television and Radio in Belgrade in 1978. He directed the features Hi-Fi /Haj-Faj (1987) and The Revolution Boulevard /Bulevar revolucije (1992).

He was also the teacher of the producer Darko Popov at the Faculty of Dramatic Art in Skopje, and he also taught several members of the crew. This explain the fact that "the actors and the creative members of the crew immediately understood his point and the style of this film," Popov said when asked about how they managed to navigate the mixture between fiction and cinema vérité, and between drama and black comedy.

However, "the most challenging part of the film was the start," Popov said. "We knew that the moment we started filming, there was no way back." The most cherished memory of the producer is that everyone from its crew quickly understood his task and the importance of the film.

Blaževski wrote the script. Dimo Popov is the DOP. The cast includes Jordan Simonov, Kamka Tocinovski, Toni Mihajlovski, Kiril Pop-Hristov, Dževdet Jashari, Ratka Radmanović, Vladimir Tuliev and Flora Dostovska.

Punk's Not Dead /Pankot ne e mrtov was screened in Skopje for five weeks, and in another Macedonian cities for ten weeks, with positive feedback. Popov says that they plan to screen it again in Skopje in September, for another three weeks.

Production Information

Pank Film

Vladimir Komarov 33, 2/1

1000 Skopje

Macedonia

Tel: +389 712 558 64

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

VitaGraf

Nehruova 44

Belgrade, Serbia

Phone: +381 11 318 66 38

+381 64 266 48 98

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Credits

Cast: Jordan Simonov

Kamka Tocinovski

Toni Mihajlovski

Kiril Pop-Hristov

Dževdet Jashari

Ratka Radmanović

Vladimir Tuliev

Flora Dostovska