background

The first idea for BURN originated in 1992. I arrived in New York City in the fall of 1991, just about the time when the no smoking law passed. The first job I found was chasing out smokers in a student cafeteria for $5 an hour. Being a chain-smoker myself, that was not an easy task. But it gave me some time to think (reflect, as some call this strenuous activity) and occasionally to write. Only a month earlier I was directing the actor Rade Serbedzija (Before the Rain, The Saint), and preparing for the BITEF theater festival, collaborating with some of Yugoslavia's greatest artists. Now I was back at square one, sitting in the above mentioned cafeteria, sending out demo reels, and poorly formatted scripts-- all the time feverishly following every bit of information about the war and disintegration of Yugoslavia.

Soon I realized that most of the people I know were not in Yugoslavia any more -- they were in Canada, South Africa, Austria, The Netherlands, Malta, and in the US-- many of them were in New York. I started collecting their stories-- funny, strange, sometimes bizarre or completely unbelievable. Somewhere in-between these characters and their stories, the devastating news and pictures about the war, and my own confusion/frustration/anger, the idea for the script for BURN developed.

By 1996 things had changed-- and not. I did a couple of films and got some awards in the US. I was teaching at two Universities, and had two features in development-- my scripts were properly formatted now. The war in Yugoslavia stopped-- or so it seemed. I finally wrote the first draft of BURN. The script received great reviews, but by now I knew how to read the coded messages-- it would take a long time to develop this film.

One winter morning, while I was walking down the street with an ugly hangover claiming half of my head, I thought about making the film on a shoestring budget. That morning I found $1,400 on the street. Was that a sign? Perhaps. I decided to give it a try-- make the film on no budget, as a stylized documentary, using 35mm short ends and digital video, even 16mm and Super 8. I pitched the idea to friends who had some money to spare. They agreed to invest in the film.

I started talking to more friends-- experienced filmmakers and professionals, who I hoped would be interested in such a challenging project. Soon I had a truly outstanding and completely international crew (from Brooklyn to Rio de Janeiro, Cape town to Tokyo). We formed a kind of co-op-- this would not be my film, but our film. The script would serve only as a blueprint-- I was sure we could take it much further with the right cast. Soon we had all the resources we needed. I decided to use non-actors for the Yugoslav parts. The task seemed enormous-- 50 characters and 25 locations, a small crew and almost no money.

We shot the "Christmas tree scene" first. It was a try-out for the film. After a rough edit of the scene, it was clear that this could be done. Soon we started casting for the major parts. We did extensive rehearsals and improvisation sessions. The cast was excellent, and the combination of actors and non-actors worked amazingly well. Everyone started feeling the excitement-- we had something unique in our hands.

A few months later, we were ready to shoot. I knew we could be very fast and efficient-- we had an excellent, small and mobile crew, everything would be shot hand-held (tripod was the forbidden word on the set), with available light and only fillers, when needed. This proved to be correct-- a couple of times we were shooting right next to a bigger production. In five hours of shooting exteriors we would get about 50 minutes of material, while the other production would still be setting up for their first shot. The shoot lasted for two and a half months, shooting mostly on weekends and around people's schedules.

Vladan Nikolic, Writer/Director

New York City, 1999