With the signing of the Dogme 95 Manifesto and the "Vow of Chastity" in 1995, Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg started an avant-garde filmmaking movement that has so far spawned 108 movies across the globe. The 73rd entry in the list of Dogme films is Does it Hurt?, the feature length debut by Aneta Lesnikovska, the Macedonian director who currently teaches at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in the Netherlands and works as a creative director at the Digital Film Lab.
After its release in 2007, Does it Hurt? was screened on more than 20 festivals. Two of them were the International Film Festival in Rotterdam in 2008 and the Bermuda Film Festival, whose narrative features' jury, including American actress and author Carrie Fisher and actor Richard Dreyfuss, gave Lesnikovska a Special Mention for innovative filmmaking.
Lesnikovska's debut, which is also the first Balkan Dogme film, was financed with the directors' own, minimal funds. She says that in making this movie the involvement of the local crew and cast was crucial, as was the work of the Dutch cameraman, the equipment from Concordia and the help she got from her family, especially from her mother. Lesnikovska acknowledges that it was hard but definitely worth it.
"It's not easy, you need great will and motivation. You must be prepared to pay out debts for a few years but the work lives on and if it becomes successful, it opens the doors for new projects", says the director.
The cast included some of the most accomplished film and theatre actors and actresses from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. One of them, Dejan Lilik, has a notable quote in the film: "Who says the Danes invented Dogme. We were filming Dogme here long before they heard a 'D' in all of that". That, of course, is not true, since Does it Hurt? was the first local Dogme film, but the quote embodies the combination of stubbornness, talent and resourcefulness of the local people that has always fascinated Lesnikovska: "The Dogme movement is an epitome of that approach. It recognises no authority, its headstrong and it demystifies processes. It challenges you to rely on your own talent…“
After the promotion of the film, Lesnikovska said that it dealt unobtrusively and indirectly with the mastery of manipulation at all levels. She pointed out that the subject of manipulation was taken in a broad context with the focus on the question of how far are you prepared to go in order to get what you want.
The success of Does it Hurt? is a foundation on which Lesnikovska will build her next movie, Loud. She said that her first feature film played an enormous part in her breakthrough on the European film scene. That means she now has an opportunity and - as she puts it - "in a way, a duty" to go a step further in developing a different, authentic film language that is more than just Dogme.
"For me, as well as the auteurs I respect, there is no point in repeating myself or to 'play it safe'. Loud continues on this path. Undoubtedly, the experience gained from the Dogme-method will come in hand in the future".
Lesnikovska has a clear vision of what the film will be about. She puts that vision in one sentence: "It's a story about Philip, his microcosm, his father Alexander and our country".
Besides laying the foundations for her next film, Lesnikovska has been working on her academic specialisation as a script doctor-editor. The Script Development and Editing Lab, run by the British company The Script Factory, started last year and so far completed sessions in Sarajevo, London and Istanbul. The final session will be held in Jerusalem in July 2010 after which all the participants will become qualified script doctors-editors. Lesnikovska was one of the script-doctors of this years Sarajevo City of Film, a project that is a part of the Sarajevo Film Festival.
Caption: Lesnikovska recently visited the Cannes International Film Festival in an attempt to find European co-producers for her new film, Loud
