N eil Young sometimes watches as many as 60 lms per day, and that’s not too much for him. He doesn’t di- vide them into short and long works, nor is he inter- ested in the genre, although he has always loved hor- ror the most. He authors lm reviews for The Hollywood Reporter, adores festivals and is a member of FIPRESCI, so it should come as no surprise that he has been a member of the jury of the Euro- pean Film Festival in Palić for years. He’s returning to our country again this year, and we asked him, for a start, why he likes horror and John Carpenter in particular? - To be honest, the genre chose me! As a child I was allowed to stay up late on days when I didn’t have school the next day, and it so happened that in the UK in the 1970s and early 1980s horror lms were shown on Friday and Saturday nights. Also, there was the fascination of knowing about new lms that were in cinemas which I was barred from seeing because I was too young. Carpen- ter has been among my favourites since those days -- I probably saw Halloween when I was about 11 -- and I love the way he brings such technical virtuosity, humour and skill to his chosen genres.
TOP 5 NAJBOLJIH FILMOVA IKADA?
– American Graffiti (George Lucas), The Gratina - ted Brains of Pupilija Ferkeverk (Karpo Godina), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Michael Po- well and Emeric Pressburger), Punch-Drunk Lo - ve (Paul Thomas Anderson) i jedan beogradski – Gerdy the Wicked Witch Ljubomira Šimunića.
Independent lms don’t have much of a chance when everyone is writing about Game of Thrones or Avengers, but it is up to festival selectors and critics to seek them out and bring them some attention Nezavisni filmovi nemaju mnogo šanse kada svi pišu o „Igri prestola“ ili „Osvetnicima“, ali na selektorima festivala i kritičarima je da ih potraže i dovedu u centar pažnje
Are you, like me after watching many scary lms, afraid of dark streets, cellars, TVs, video tapes, fog, hotels, small children, clowns, woods? - I started watching horror lms when I was about four years old and by ten years later I’d seen pretty much everything. As a result of this, I’ve never been bothered by“spooky”things or gory imagery. You still watch lms on your small TV from 1995... - I’m old-school; also my parents were born in industrial Sun- derland in the 1930s and their attitude was“use it until it breaks or wears out”. And, yes, I still have my Sony telly from 1995, on which I like to watch DVDs. I suppose even DVDs are old-school now.... Do you like American blockbusters, superheroes, Disney’s version of Star Wars etc.? - I take each lm on its own merits, but to be honest the “cor- porate mentality” behind many of the big-budget productions seems designed to eliminate genuine air and directorial person- ality. Every now and again a lovely uke occurs, like the maverick Taika Waititi getting the leeway to make Thor: Ragnarok, a kind of crazy comedy that often felt like a spoof of the whole genre. 3D, 4D, 16D... Are you happy with all these “D’s” and do you like to be ushed with rain drops in a cinema hall? - 3D is actually pretty good for horror lms, in the right hands. Joe Dante’s The Hole and the 2010 Piranha remake spring to mind. But the idea of being doused with vapour and “scent” while your chair rocks? Nah, that’s fairground-ride stu . Is there still any place for small, independent productions, arthouse and indie cinema? - Very much so, though of course, in terms of promotion and exposure, independent lms are really struggling to make an im- pact when everybody’s writing about Game of Thrones or The Avengers. These days there are worthwhile lms being made all
TOP 5 FILMS OF ALL TIME? - American Gra ti (George Lucas), The Grat- inated Brains of Pupilija Ferkeverk (Kar- po Godina), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburg- er), Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Ander- son) and - the Belgrade one - Gerdy the Wicked Witch by Ljubomir Šimunić.
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