Statistics say that during his professional career, every train driver unintentionally kills 15 to 20 people. The victims are those who wanted to commit suicide, the careless ones, drunken ones, or just absentminded ones. The fact that a train can’t stop for at least 700 meters automatically relieves the train drivers of any responsibility.
The characters of Train Driver’s Diary are murderers; however, it’s all part of the job. This film, selected as the Serbian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, follows the lives of hardened train driver Ilija and his adopted son Sima as they struggle to come to terms with the morbid nature of their lives. The result is a dark, funny, and beautiful reflection on what it means to live and die.
Director and screenwriter Milos Radovic speaks with Winter Film Awards’ Allison Jiang about what he learned, his influences, and Serbian trains from hell. See the film’s NYC Premiere on Saturday, February 25 as part of the Winter Film Awards 6th Annual Indie Film Festival.
Q: In one sentence, what is this film about?
HOW TO CONQUER SO MANY DEATHS – that’s what my film is about. Our poet said – it’s better to die than to wait for something bad to happen.
Q: It was clear from this film that you were familiar with the world of train drivers and the unique lives they lead. How did life experience influence you?
My grandfather was a well known train driver in Belgrade. His nickname was “The Champion”. As a kid, I didn’t know how did he get that nickname and why. I was not happy when I found out how many lives he took, unintentionally.
Q: Did you work with real trains while shooting? How difficult were those scenes to shoot?
Serbian trains come from hell. During shooting a train driver told me – don’t touch the locomotive if you don’t really need to. Electricity will kill you. That man was wearing rubber gloves every day. I was thinking – If I die, I’ll die like Tesla! Let’s caress the machine!
Q: I think the real beauty in this film comes from the way it depicts death, even daring to say that death can be love. What do you think about this?
I am glad that you discovered a secret magic of this film. Death can be love – nicely said, thank you! I can not add anything to this!
Q: What did you learn from making this film?
I’ve learned that you can mix genres freely because if you mix them more, it will look more like life.
Allison Jiang
Allison Jiang hopes to one day work with words for a living, own a big dog, and set a world record for watching television. She currently goes to school at Johns Hopkins University, where she is not studying to become a doctor.
About Winter Film Awards Indie Film Festival
Winter Film Awards Is New York City. Like the city itself, we showcase the eclectic diversity and excitement of the independent arts world. Winter Film Awards is proudly one of the Top 10 Best Reviewed Festivals on FilmFreeway.
The rapidly growing Winter Film Awards Indie Film Festival, now in its sixth year, is a dynamic and exciting event in the heart of the City. Winter Film Awards showcases films from emerging filmmakers from around the world in all genres with a special emphasis on highlighting the work of women and minority filmmakers. The Festival runs February 23-March 4 2017 in New York City.
Among the 88 Official Selections to be screened at Cinema Village in the heart of Greenwich Village (22 East 12th Street, New York, NY 10003), is a diverse mixture of 11 Animated films, 8 Documentaries, 11 Feature narratives, 10 Horror films, 12 Music Videos, 24 Narrative shorts and 7 Web series, including 12 student films and 33 first-time filmmakers. Filmmakers come from 30 countries; 42% of the films were created by women, 45% were created by people of color. Visit www.WinterFilmAwards.com for schedules, tickets and details!
About Winter Film Awards
Winter Film Awards is an all-volunteer, minority- and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2011 in New York City by a group of filmmakers and enthusiasts. The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
