Feature film · Belgrade, 1991–1992 · in production
In the last months of Yugoslavia, a once-famous actor works as a clown at children's birthday parties. His closest friend keeps traces of what the state erases, and her husband hides far too much. Their world falls apart faster than the country disappears.
Aaron is making this film with his own savings and the time he has. We've shot 2 of 10 days — the next two need €5,214.
About the film
“Klovn” (“The Clown”) is an intimate tragicomedy about people who don't yet know they are living through the last months of a country. They try to hold on to their roles, their compromises, their old loves and the carefully built versions of their own lives.
This is not a classic love triangle. It is a story about a woman, her husband and a man from his past. About a love that could never be spoken. About envy of someone else's courage. About the moment a private life falls apart as fast as the state.
Belgrade, 1991–1992: flats, archives, kafanas, television, radio, state rhetoric — and a man in a clown's nose who, in the end, seems more honest than the whole system around him.
Played by Đorđe Kuzmanović
Once a star of the Belgrade stage, now a clown at children's birthday parties. Every morning, to the national anthem, he tries to hang himself, and every morning Nadežda takes him down from the noose. Charming, caustic and mercilessly funny, he performs even at his lowest, as if life can only be endured by turning it into a show.
Played by Aleksandra Batinić
She came from Kordun alone, with one skirt and one sweater, and couldn't afford to give up. Today she is an archivist and the wife of a senior official: she wears the loudest blouses in town and knows exactly what to say to whom.
Played by Aaron Levi
Nadežda's husband, “Colleague Krstić”. A model civil servant who straightens crooked notice boards in passing yet never answers a single question from his wife. Cold, silent and unbearably correct: a man who is easy to hate. But in this film, silence always costs more than it seems.
Director's note
“Our psyche longs for stability, but stability doesn't exist. The only stability we can hold on to is our sense of self. It is much harder to hold on to than a piece of paper that says who you are.”
— Aaron Levi
Stills
Work-in-progress stills, before final colour grading and post-production.
Behind the camera
Where the money goes
The director takes no fee. Every euro goes to the crew, the equipment and food on set.
Goal: the next two days
Shooting schedule
The costumes are sewn, the sets are built and the actors have rehearsed. All that's missing is money for the shooting days.
How to help
After Alta Bank was shut down, the director was left without a bank account, so donations go to his best friend. We'll publish here what every dinar was spent on.
What your gift does
The account belongs to Anton Vlasov, Aaron's friend. Aaron's own account at Alta Bank was permanently frozen after the bank went bankrupt.
kryzhanovskyanton@gmail.com
Aaron Levi's personal PayPal. For friends outside Serbia.
Copy the address, then paste it into PayPal under “Send”.
Old TVs and radios, newspapers, posters, dishes, telephones, small things from the flats of that time. If they're sitting in your attic or basement, the film needs them.
Message us on WhatsAppIf you can't help with money, send this page to someone. That helps enormously too.
Official payment details are published only on klovnfilm.com. If someone sends you different ones, please let us know.
Reports
After every shoot we publish here how much was raised and what it was spent on. First report: after the late-November shoot.
Director
Director, screenwriter and human rights activist. An emigrant from Russia who left because of political persecution. He came to Belgrade three years ago and ran a video production company here. On “Klovn” he is the writer and director, and he plays Jeremija.
A year and a half ago he learned he has stage four cancer. He stopped working for clients and put all his savings into the films he had always wanted to make.
His short anti-war film “No Sides” was shot in Belgrade, in Serbian, with Serbian actors.
Watch “No Sides” on YouTube
Press
Nova.rs — U Srbiji je snimljen novi strani film „No Sides“ Novaya Gazeta Europe — interview (in Russian) Wikipedia (in Russian)Credits