A small town in Serbia. Nikola, day laborer and father of two, is ordered to give up his children to social services after poverty and hunger drive his wife to commit a desperate act. Until he can provide adequate conditions for their upbringing, the children will be placed in foster care. Despite Nikola's best efforts and several appeals, the head of the social services centre refuses to return his children and his situation seems hopeless. But when Nikola discovers the local administration may be corrupt, he decides to travel across Serbia on foot and take his case directly to the national ministry in Belgrade. Against all odds and driven by love and despair, this father refuses to give up on justice and his right to raise his children.
Nikola is at the core of this film, we’re with him all the time, with no distance whatsoever, profoundly committed to his transformation and everything taking place within him.
“Father” is a film about a loser, a cast out and humiliated man who, through his journey, walking from his village in the south of Serbia to the capital, from one end of the country to the other, out of protest, dignity and his wish to make a point to himself and others, out of desperation – becomes a hero.
Nikola, just like Harry Dean Stanton in ‘Paris Texas’, walks across Serbia, carrying with him his troubles, but also his struggle and his hope. Like a modern day Messiah, our lone hero is wandering in search of his goal and justice, towards the only thing he’s got left – his love for his children.
His journey is an essential one, a matter of the meaning of his life, but is also mythic, fairytalelike.
“Father” is a road movie, a fairytalelike transition western. The hero of the film is a hero of the times, and, just like in a western, no system, no time, no injustice can deprive the hero of his right to dignity, love, struggle and, more than anything, hope.
The hero’s relation with the spaces he passes by is an extremely important aspect of this film, the sight of run down factories, one such factory being the reason for his journey too, sights of a devastated country, deserted fields, unfinished roads. Opposing this is nature, not ruined yet, beautiful, inspiring, strong, becoming a part of the hero’s internal world as his journey progresses, his support, his guardian and his sanctuary.
Gospodar jevremova 35/9
11000 Beograd
Srbija / Serbia
Tel.: +381 11303 4441 / 303 4486 / 328 6980 / 328 3691
Fax: +381 11 328 3691
jelena@bascelik.net
VERTIGO, Zavod za kulturne dejavnosti
Kersnikova 4
SI - 1000 Ljubljana
Slovenija
Produkcijska pisarna
VERTIGO, zavod za kulturne dejavnosti
Metelkova 6
SI - 1000 Ljubljana
Slovenija
Tel.: +386 1 439 7080
Fax: +386 1 430 3530
e-mail:info@vertigo.si
Kochstrasse 130
04277 Leipzig
Nemčija / Germany
Tel.: +49 341 303 7224
Fax: +49 341 3553 2053
alexander.ris@mediopolis-online.de
1 rue Alfred de Vigny
75008 Paris
ckolar@noos.fr
Varšavska 3
10000 Zagreb
Hrvaška / Croatia
Tel.: +385 1 4872 888
Fax: +385 1 4827 717
info@propelerfilm.com
Obala Maka Dizdara 3
71000 Sarajevo
Bosna in Hercegovina
8, rue Marceau Cedex 09
92785 Issy-les-Moulineaux
tel: +33 1 55 00 77 77
fax: +33 1 55 00 77 00
