art.1 is powering up a new generation of filmmakers in the Balkans region in the Youth Artivist for Change project. These filmmakers were awarded the Impact Your Doc Grant for storytelling centered on human rights and LGBTQI+ rights.
Milica Spasojevic, 22, Belgrade
22-year-old filmmaker Milica Spasojevic spoke to art.1 about her film project ‘Animus’.
“ ‘Animus’ is a coming-of-age movie with a twist. I wanted to combine different genres into one, and in this case, the result is a comedy with a lot of drama, intertwined with a series of action sequences.
It follows a straight 19-year-old girl over the course of a single night. After facing some romantic problems with her boyfriend, she meets an older drag queen that inspires her and gives her the push she needs to finally get out of the relationship.
I explore why it’s important for everyone to celebrate their masculine and feminine energy equally, and how embracing both – and feeling everything that comes from doing so – can give you the wisdom to make better decisions.”
How can cinema contribute to a wider understanding of LGBTIQ+ people in Serbia?
My film features a man in drag. In Serbia, drag culture is still a novelty. People don’t know or understand the difference between being transgender and cross-dressing or drag. I wanted to show little snippets of the different shapes that LGBTIQ+ culture can have.
In this respect, I believe that art in general, and films in specific, play a key role for mankind. It’s a medium through which artists and thinkers can share ideas on diversity and education, spreading new points of view to increasingly wide audiences.
