Austin filmmaker Marko Slavnic and 'All That Remains'

By Carrie Hoover

In last month's Ready, Set, Fund, Debbie Cerda gave a quick shout-out to a local project that's currently funding on Kickstarter. This week, the final countdown is on to contribute to All That Remains, a dramatic feature from Austin writer/director Marko Slavnic. If you aren't familiar with Kickstarter, the entire contribution goal must be met by the set deadline or the project receives none of the pledged funding. As I type, the filmmakers are probably busy handing out high-fives: All That Remains reached its fundraising goal on Monday morning with three days to spare,. However, future audience members can still contribute -- the final deadline is Thursday, May 10, at 12:59 am.

A successful short film director, two of Slavnic's shorts have screened at SXSW (Table 7 and Grey) and the grand prizewinner of the 2010 Nikon Film Festival (Chicken VS Penguin). His Nikon winnings cleared the path for him to shoot a large portion of All That Remains in Europe last fall. Armed with a two-man crew, two actors and no permits, he shot everything guerilla style (but that's a secret), which allowed him access to locations other indie directors can only salivate over. The Kickstarter cash will fund the remainder of principal photography, post-production, marketing and festival fees.

In writing his first feature, Slavnic took inspiration from his personal history. A native of Sarajevo, Bosnia, he arrived in the U.S. at age eight when his father, a professor of English literature, accepted a Fulbright Scholarship. What was intended to be a year's sojourn morphed into a long-term stay when tensions in Bosnia escalated into full-scale war. Unable to safely return home, the Slavnic family remained in the U.S. while Sarajevo, a former Olympic Games host city, withstood the longest siege in the history of modern warfare.

All That Remains centers on Mirza and Tarik (Hugo Vargas-Zesati and Dane Hurlburt, respectively), Bosnian-born brothers who immigrated as children to escape the war and have taken separate paths as adults. Even thousands of miles away from the violence, their family suffers the emotional burden of war. Unable to cope with his father's worsening depression, embittered older brother Mirza breaks away from his family while Tarik remains with their parents. After their father's death, the brothers reunite and return to Bosnia in order to spread his ashes.

With Kickstarter, Marko Slavnic may have gotten more than he bargained for; contributions are coming in, but so are comments from other war survivors who connect to the story on a deeply personal level. Slavnic shares one of the messages, along with a bit of his own story, in the video updates on the campaign website. He even answered a couple of extra questions for me:

Slackerwood: Why did you write this? Why did you decide to revisit that time in your life, and how did your family feel about it?

Marko Slavnic: I wrote this story because I literally felt like it was something I had to get off my chest. It's a story that's very similar to my own and also very similar to many people from my generation. While there have been many films about the war in Bosnia, I don't think I've seen any from this particular perspective. My family and everyone close to me was extremely supportive because they knew how much this meant to me.

Since the subject is so close to you, what were you looking for in casting the lead roles?

Slavnic: Hugo Vargas-Zesati and Dane Hurlburt play the two leads and they are both young, up-and-coming actors currently living in Austin. Because I didn't have access to any Bosnian actors, I knew that I had to find actors who would be able to connect to the material and understand it even though they never lived through it personally. Naturally, this is the job of an actor, but I knew that I had get people who were going to be able to deliver an absolutely authentic performance.

All That Remains seems to touch on themes you've addressed in your short films (moral dilemma, forgiveness, etc.). How does your approach change when you're doing a feature?

Slavnic: I think my work will always have thematic similarities, but my approach to a short versus a feature is completely different. Shorts are usually just one isolated event -- a quick story or joke, sometimes with a punchline at the end. Features, and especially this one, are more about character development and various story beats and arcs. When I'm coming up with a short I usually think, "How can I trick or surprise the audience?" In features it's more, "Why am I telling this story? What do these characters want and how will they change?"

In one of your Kickstarter updates, you shared a letter of support you received from another war survivor; have others come forward with similar stories?

Slavnic: Yes, there have been dozens of people that have written to me about how much this project means to them and how similar it is to their own life. One man even wrote me that his name was Mirza and his brother Tarik, which are the names of the two brothers in the film. It is an absolutely amazing feeling to know that your work is connecting with other people in such a way.
 

Need more motivation? You can see the project updates and even watch scenes from All That Remains on the campaign website. You can also watch Slavnic's award-winning short films on his website (Chicken VS Penguin is guaranteed to brighten your day). If you haven't yet contributed to All That Remains, or even if you have, you have only a few days left. Three, two, one ...