TALK #4 – case study

21/08 │MON

13.00 │ Sutjeska Cinema

Mother’s Milk

Speakers: Isaac Knights-Washbourn, director (UK/ New Zeland), Nađa Lapčević, producer and founder of Varda Pictures (Serbia)

“Mother’s Milk” is a tender meditation on motherhood and the chains that bind us together. In the hills of western Serbia, Dragica begins her workday on the farm by milking her cow. It is the journey of the milk into food that reveals her dedication to her family both past and present. Dressed in black, in the wake of her mother’s passing, Dragica battles with the weight of the legacy that has been handed down to her. As she provides for loved ones a cloud of doubt hovers above her, continue in her mother’s footsteps or leave behind that which was bequeathed to her? Observing her ritualistic labor and devotion from sunrise to sunset, we are taken on a journey within the confines of her fences. Mother’s Milk was produced during Interaction: Student Film Camp 2021.

Isaac Knights-Washbourn is an Aotearoa/New Zealand Filmmaker based in Scotland. His film, Money Honey, premiered at the 70th Berlinale. It won the inaugural Wellington UNESCO City of Film Award for Best Film at the NZIFF and the DEGNZ Award for Best Director at Show Me Shorts Film Festival. He was chosen to participate in LiM: Less is More 2022, a feature film development workshop. Awarded an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, Isaac graduated in 2021 with an MA in Screenwriting at the Kino Eyes Masters Program. His short documentary, Mother’s Milk (2022), was shot in Western Serbia and screened at Dok Leipzig, ZagrebDox, and was nominated for the Silver Eye Award at the East Silver Market held at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. 

Nađa Lapčević is an independent producer. She graduated from The Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. Awarded an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, Nađa graduated in 2021 from the Kino Eyes Movie Masters. She is a LiM | Less is More and MIDPOINT Series Launch alumna. In 2021, Nađa founded Varda Pictures, a production company based in Scotland and Serbia, through which she is working on a slate of projects. As a freelancer, she works for established production companies in Scotland.



Moderator: Sead Šabotić, director, selector of the Herceg Novi Film Festival, and lecturer at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje (Montenegro)