Aglaja Filipović
You Know What I Have Nightmares About, Aglaja Filipovic (2019)
Aglaja Filipović is a Serbian filmmaker. She’s currently finishing her undergraduate studies at the Academy Of Arts in Belgrade, where she’s been chosen as the student of the generation. Her first short film Puzzles screened at seven festival across Croatia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey and the USA. Her short documentary Landslide screened at 11 festivals across the world (Bulgaria, Croatia, UK, Ukraine, Germany, USA, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Greece).
Her latest film You Know What I have Nightmares About had its premiere at 39th VGIK Student Film Festival in Moscow, Russia. So far, it has won Best Film at over four festivals.
Aglaja Filipović participated in an exclusive interview with Filmatique as part of Talents 2021.
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FILMATIQUE: You Know What I Have Nightmares About is an intimate portrait of two girls experiencing tragedy at the same time. As one is preparing for a dramatic role, the other is going through an emotional breakdown. What was your inspiration to make this film?
AGLAJA FILIPOVIC: I started writing from the point of my own worst fears–not being able to notice that people around me are silently struggling. That’s something that I’m most afraid of. Unfortunately, in this period that we are living today, depression has become something that most of us have encountered, and is considered common, especially with youth. I looked at myself, and people around me, and noticed that most of the time we decide to shut down and not share our feelings, and try to cope with things alone–which I think is a big mistake. Another aspect of the story was created from my admiration towards the actors and their profession. I wanted to try and include their perspective in this story. No matter what the situation is, they always get on stage, perform, and share pieces of themselves with us.
FLMTQ: The existence of a big city as a background to the plot was very symbolic. It felt like it was slowly swallowing the girls, causing very different effects on them. Could you cite some of your references to create this story?
AF: I was born and raised in Belgrade, so I am always trying to somehow include that aspect in my films–the relationship between an individual and the city–because I feel like it’s really important, in the way it shapes you as a person. For the references, it’s impossible not to mention Frances Ha by Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, which is one of my favorite films. Even though the theme is very different, I always returned to Frances Ha for visual style and the dynamics in relationships.
You Know What I Have Nightmares About, Aglaja Filipovic (2019)
FLMTQ: How was the preparation process of the actresses to play Hannah and Sunny?
AF: The first film I shot during my studies, I shot it with Jovana (Hannah) and Goca (Sunny). That experience was really special. While I was writing this script I knew I wanted them to portray these characters. We really have great friendship and I think it was especially important for this project because it was built on a lot of trust. We talked about each character and about their backgrounds and we did not rehearse any scenes before filming. which made shooting even more special because we let it all come to life on set.
FLMTQ: The ending was very poetic, and yet, not much was said. You could easily understand through the gazes and gestures what was happening. What do you expect the audience to take away from the last scene and the movie itself?
AF: I wanted to challenge myself and try to leave some things unsaid for the audience to experience the ending in their own way. After the first screening of this film I had people approach me and say that they'd found themselves, some in Hannah and others in Sunny, and that the film made them think about their relationships with their loved ones. It meant the world to me to hear words like that. I really hope this short film makes people open up. A lot of the time we take people around us for granted. Check on the people around you and tell them you love them.
You Know What I Have Nightmares About, Aglaja Filipovic (2019)