On his way to take his daughter to gymnastics, a gambling addict stops at a betting shop, leaving the 9-year-old girl in the car. When he returns, he realizes nothing will ever be the same again.

Interview with Writer/Director Dinko Draganovic

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

As a student I had a part-time job at a betting shop. On a hot Sunday afternoon a regular customer visited us, played his daily soccer bet and took some time to talk and joke with us. When he left the shop two policemen were waiting in front of his sports car. He was not only standing in the no-parking zone, he had also left his 4-year-old daughter alone in the car. When the police asked him, why he has left the kid in the car on such a hot day, he simply replied: “Why? It is my child!”. As he was so focused on the outcome of his bets, he did not understand why the police actually bothered him. It’s his daughter, he can do whatever he wants with her. That was his mindset. I asked myself what is this man’s story? What kind of life does he live? What happened before and after his daily visit at the betting shop? These questions led me to write a story about a gambling addict and his daughter.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

You should watch this film as it tells a unique story about a father daughter relationship in a setting which has not been shown on film yet. Also, Royal Blue captures a lot of current topics like racism, addiction but also family.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

Well, Royal Blue is actually a good mix of personal and universal themes. As I mentioned before, it’s a story about an intimate relationship but it also shows universal themes like racism, addiction and family – in between the lines. For me as a director it was a big challenge showing all of these themes in a very short time of 20 minutes and at the same time trying to make it feel like a homogeneous part of the film.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

I developed the script over a course of 2 years as I was working on other stuff at the same time. Of course you shouldn’t need two years for a short film screenplay but sometimes I didn’t work on it for half of a year. And also I tried to finance the film in the mean time what also took a lot of time as we didn’t get any money at first. After it was clear that the film is going to be made everything went fast. The shooting took 3 days in February 2018 and we finished the like 3 months later. So it was pretty straight forward. When I have a finished and good script I pretty much know exactly what I want to do with it.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

All in all the feedback at the festivals I have been so far was very good and encouraged me as a filmmaker to keep on working.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

Most of the time not really as the questions I got at festivals were straight forward and comprehensible. Only once at a festival in Hungary a Russian filmmaker said that my story would not work in Russia as the police there wouldn’t really care too much about a missing child. But of course not every story can work in every place on earth.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

Especially for a young filmmaker it is important to have our work shown in as many places as possible. And in the end all of us short filmmakers want to do a feature film in the future. So, the more recognition your short film gets, the bigger your chances are to gain some producer’s trust to get a feature produced. But of course – at first your short films has to be very good.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

For a young filmmaker any contact is a good contact.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

I just want to encourage the audience to talk about the topics of my film after they leave the screening. Royal Blue has some statements in it which ideally should spark discussions.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

Maybe: “Who’s to blame – father or daughter or maybe both?”

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

I am working on a feature film project titled “MILF” right now. It’s a social drama about a teenager discovering a sex video of his mother online. Also I am starting to write a screenplay about the story of how I came as a refugee to Austria in the early nineties.

Interview: January 2019

We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela

ROYAL BLUE

On his way to take his daughter to gymnastics, a gambling addict stops at a betting shop, leaving the 9-year-old girl in the car. When he returns, he realizes nothing will ever be the same again.

Length: 20 min

Director: Dinko Draganovic

Producer: Sinisa Vidovic

Writer: Dinko Draganovic

Key cast: Rubina Mia Jungwirth (as Bibi), Ljubisa Lupo Grujcic (as the father)

Looking for: producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists

Facebook: Royal Blau film

Funders: University of Arts Linz, Ministry Culture of Upper Austria, Linz Culture

Made in association with: Forafilm, Digital Cube, University of Arts Linz

Where can I watch it next and in the coming month: International Film Festival ZOOM - ZBLIŻENIA (Polish Premiere in February), Vilnius International Film Festival (Lithuanian Premiere in April)