The Trap

Colour, 35 mm
Serbia, Germany, Hungary, 2007, 106 min
Section: East of the West - Films in Competition

Synopsis

Director Srdan Golubović, a member of the upcoming generation of Serbian filmmakers, found great inspiration for his film The Trap in the novel of the same name by Nenad Teofilović (2002), a major work of contemporary Serbian prose. The director describes his work as a Balkan version of Crime and Punishment. Taking the criminal story as his chosen genre, he gives his audience an insight into the post-Milošević reality of Serbia. The war may be over, but the value of human life remains unaltered. Moral corrosion has even affected those seeking a normal, dignified existence. Teacher Marija and civil engineer Mladen, a fairly ordinary couple from Belgrade, enjoy an easy-going life in a happy marriage until they find out that their 10-year-old son Nemanja suffers from a serious heart complaint. An operation overseas would solve their problems, but the young couple simply can’t afford it. Yet they have to decide what steps to take, since the boy could die at any time... Srdan Golubović provides an eloquent and formally refined report on the state of today’s Serbia and, after an interval of many years, follows on from the socio-critical “Black Wave” series of Yugoslav films created by such names as Živojin Pavlović, Aleksandar Petrović and Dušan Makavejev.

About the director

Srdan Golubović (b. 1972, Belgrade, Yugoslavia) is a graduate of the Dramatic Arts Faculty (Belgrade), where he now works as an assistant in the department of film and television direction. He already began to make a name for himself as a student, primarily with the short feature Threesome (1994). The joint project All Inclusive (1995), to which he contributed with the third story entitled Hertz Minute (1995), became a cult film for the young generation. With colleagues he established the production company Baš Čelik, where he made his highly successful feature-length debut Absolute Hundred (2001). This psychological drama about a former top athlete, a sports shooter whose soul is broken by the war, was screened and awarded at numerous domestic and international festivals. The Trap was screened in its international premiere in the prestigious Forum at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.