Meet the director: 78days

For those that may not know you; Can you introduce yourself?

My name is Emilija Gašić and I am a writer, director and cinematographer. My feature film debut 78 Days is screening at Kosmorama’s New Directors section.

Your movie 78 days tackles the relationship between three sisters during war. What inspired this story, and your characters? Is there a basis in reality?

The story is definitely inspired by my own family tapes, that I have looked at over the years. I also have two older sisters and I know that relationship dynamic really well. There aren’t many coming of age films where I come from and I really wanted to see three sisters on a big screen. At the same time there were hardly any films set during the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 seen through the eyes of my generation - us who were children at the time. When I found some additional family home videos that actually take place during the bombing, I decided to connect these ideas together into what is now 78 Days. Although the film is inspired by my memories, it isn’t entirely autobiographical. In the early days of screenwriting I conducted a research and created a small questionnaire I posted on social networks. It was all about this time period and I wanted to see how people form my generation remembered it. I recieved around 200 responses which for me were incredibly valuable in writing the screenplay.

What inspired you to become a director (and a screen writer?) Is there any defining moment in your life?

I was always drawn to movies from a very young age and one of the first things I learned was how to play VHS casettes, how to rewind Godfather, part II in order to watch Disney’s Cinderella. We had a lot of tapes that I would watch and rewatch. Around that time my sister read to me J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and I remember there was a lot of excitement to see the film when it finally came out a few years later. Although I didn’t see it in the cinema I still remember how it almost felt like Peter Jackson opened up my head and put on the screen what I had imagined when reading the book. I was around 10 years old and film directing became a dream profession.

Speaking of directors; who is your biggest inspiration when it comes to directing?

This is a tough question as it changes overtime. I am a big fan of independent films because of authenticity. So I usually find myself gravitating towards such filmmakers. I really like the work of Sean Baker especially in The Florida Project, I also enjoy the work of Nana Ekvtimshvilli and Simon Gross (In Bloom, My Happy Family). I like seeing life captured on film and not knowing where the film is going to take me. It might be a cliche but I like John Cassavetes’ work. On the other hand I also like mixing genres and have big respect to what David Lynch was doing.

In terms of equality, do you feel the movie and film industry are going in the right direction? Why/Why not?

I think that things are definitely better than what they were when I was starting out. I remember hearing from people that film directing is a ‘male profession’ a lot when I was saying what I would like to study. Even though we’ve come a long way since then, there is always room for improvement. I have had the priveliege to shoot in different places especially as a cinematographer and have had different experiences in New York, France or Serbia. Different places develop in different ways and some need more time than others.

Do you have any advice for other aspiring filmmakers?

Filmmaking can be really hard and many times in can feel like you will never get to make a feature film, but I strongly believe that if you are open to learn, if you are direct in your communication with others and have determination, you will make it!