Following the Cannes premiere of César Díaz’s Camera d’Or-winning Mexico 86 starring Bérénice Bejo in Locarno’s Piazza Grande, French company Tripode Productions has joined forces to co-produce the upcoming feature Uptight Ass from writer-director Matija Glašević and co-writer Dušan Zoric. The duo’s last collaboration, Have You Seen This Woman?, premiered at Venice Critics’ Week in 2022.
The film, which will be screened at the Cinelink Co-Production Market at the Sarajevo Film Festival, tells the story of a selfish and emotionally closed middle-aged teacher who, faced with his father's illness, is forced to embark on his own quest to reclaim the love and vulnerability he has buried deep within.
“Uptight Ass” was produced by Čarna Vučinić for Naked, the Belgrade-based production company she co-founded with Gluščević and Zorić, in collaboration with Guillaume Dreyfus of Tripode and Tena Gojić of Croatia’s Dinaridi Film.
In a director's note, Glušević described the film as a deeply personal story and an exploration of the mixed emotions that underpin his relationship with his family. “I am haunted by a sense of anxiety whenever I visit my hometown,” he wrote. “Despite the growing need to prove my love to my parents, I find myself withdrawing and angry with them. Even after my father's illness, I fail to express my feelings properly.”
“Through ‘Uptight Ass,’ I seek to explore individual masculinity and identity through family relationships, the father-son relationship, and the role of the ‘head of household’ who controls everything in the family,” he continued. [the teacher] Savo is expected to take office.
The film continues Glušević’s exploration of the expectations and assumptions embedded in gender roles, both in Serbian society and around the world. “Have You Seen This Woman?” is an unconventional trilogy that follows three different life possibilities for a middle-aged woman trapped in the roles her patriarchal society tries to impose on her.
Talk to diverse Ahead of the film's Venice premiere, Glušević and Zoric said they wanted the film to tell the stories of middle-aged women who are “rarely portrayed in cinema,” or presented as supporting characters “in the service of others,” which they described as “a reflection of the society we live in.”
Vucinic, who produced the film for Belgrade-based Non-Aligned Films, agreed, calling it “something we didn't have in Serbian cinematography before.”
“[Gluščević and Zorić] “They really love to experiment with narrative and form,” she said. “With them, it’s always a step forward. They’re always thinking outside the box and thinking about how a character can be very authentic, but not cliché. They’re really interested in talking about the invisible people in our society.”
Guillaume Dreyfus, who co-founded Tripode Productions with Delphine Schmitt in 2019, praised Glušević as “a very unique voice and a very promising director from Serbia.”
“His feature debut, Have You Seen This Woman? is engaging, intelligent and addresses important issues that go beyond the Balkans,” said Dreyfuss. “His next film, Tense Ass, is political, emotional and provocative, qualities we greatly appreciate, and we look forward to working with him and his producer, Charna Vucinic.”
Have You Seen This Woman? premiered at Venice Critics' Week.
Courtesy of Non-Aligned Films
“Working with Matija on his first film, Have You Seen This Woman?, was excellent on both a professional and personal level, so I am very excited that we are now developing his new project, which is sure to impact cinematography in our region and beyond once again,” added Tina Gojic of Croatian co-producer Dinaridi.
“Mattia is a bold director who is always willing to push boundaries in order to achieve an innovative cinematic language. He has a loyal and trustworthy crew around him, and Sharna is a producer I love working with because she has a keen instinct for films that have the X factor,” she added.
“Uptight Ass” will be “eclectic in form, narrative and visuals, and enriched with camp,” said Gluščević, who wrote the script during the five-year period it took to finance and produce his first film, using “unusual camera angles and positions” and “exaggerated sexualization of masculinity in the portrayal of some of the characters” to enhance the surreal tone. Vucinic described the film as a drama-thriller with elements of surrealism “where you don’t really know the difference — you don’t know if something is real or in the protagonist’s imagination.”
Former film school classmates Vucinic, Glušević and Zoric launched Naked with the aim of developing their own projects and working with filmmakers from across Southeast Europe. “There are so many amazing voices coming from the region,” Vucinic notes.
She praised her company's founders, saying: “They are two very special directors. They have very unique taste. It may sound simplistic, but I have never worked with someone with such a strong vision. They are two people who really think outside the box of the usual conventions and trends of filmmaking.”
The Sarajevo Film Festival takes place from August 16 to 23.
