Croatian singer and songwriter J. R. August released a video for the song ‘I’m Afraid the Bird Will Die’, a track from his album Murky Waters (The EP Collection).
More precisely, it’s a captivating short film, written and directed by Stefan Đorđević. Đorđević is a talented young filmmaker whose earlier work won awards at film festivals in Sarajevo, Zagreb, Locarno and Belgrade.
Set to the haunting melancholic song, the film shows members of an isolated women’s commune getting a little girl ready for a coming-of-age ceremony. She is promised to marry a boy from a male commune after the ritual. Confused by expectations set for her, the girl runs away with another boy she likes.
Watch the film here:
‘I imagined this film as a visual experience, so I wanted to play up the atmosphere typically associated with communes. There is mud, and darkness, and poetry borne of colours of a childhood ended abruptly. But childhood doesn’t end when someone says it’s over. It only ends once imagination is gone’, said the filmmaker.
J. R. August (real name Nikola Vranic) is a Croatian singer, songwriter and producer known for sold-out concert halls, raving reviews and international praise he’s been receiving in recent years. He was quite pleased that the cinematic project was brought to life after a long wait.
‘I’m extremely pleased that fate brought me to Stefan, as I believe he’s one of the most talented filmmakers in our region. From the very beginning, the project has been framed as something that isn’t ‘cheap’ and mustn’t appear as such, and seeing that fortune favours the bold, we finally made it in the end’, said the musician.
J. R. August and Đorđević first made plans to shoot the short film in 2016, but it was only last year that the filmmaker and his outstanding crew finished the project. The film was produced by the French company Eddy Production and co-produced by Servia Films from Serbia.
The National Center for Film and Moving Images (CNC) in France saw the potential of the artistic project and granted funds to both production companies to help bring the film to life.
The film was shot in Serbia over the course of three days, in a karst area between the Lazarus canyon and Dubašnica river. It stars young actors Jana Nikčević and Đorđe Davidović.
The video premiered on Vimeo last week and had its YouTube premiere on February 7th, 2022.
