Matthew Somerville
roles; director, producer, camera, sound and music
Matthew and Sava are now in an 8 year relationship. He has driven from London to Belgrade 3 times in his Toyota Yaris with Dan McCrum and over time have produced a film in partnership with Mira Furlan and the people on the river bank.
Mira Furlan
roles; voice and words
Mira Furlan was a beautiful connection. She played the voice and improvised some of the narrations of Sava. Mira passed away before our final session in 2021 and this film is her last message to the world.
Dan McCrum
roles; camera and story development
Dan has been on every filming trip, researching, reading and informing the films context while making beautiful landscape images.
Janez Komel
Jesenice, Slovenia
Janez used to work at the Steel factory in former Yugoslavia. Today he is retired and looks back at whats was.
Katrina Kesherovic & Katrina Resek
Ljbljana, Slovenia
Katrina (Kukla) invites us into her home to talk about her music and identity before visiting Sava at night with her sister.
Martin Strel
Sava Hills, Slovenia
The man who swam the Amazon swims a home river in Sava, he takes us between Ljubljana down towards the Croatian border.
Davor & Stanko
Mostec, Slovenia
The last ferrymen on Slovnian Sava and their crossing is at risk from another hydropower project.
Ivan & House of Flamingos
Zagreb, Croatia.
House of Flamingos are a queer collective who host parties close to the river in Zagreb.
Vlado
Krapje, Croatia
Vlado is a former soldier who was working for a company before becoming redundant. He now makes souvenirs for love and money.
Mateja
roles; director, producer, camera, sound and music
Mateja paints her riverbank in Slavonski Brod, she wants to bring people back to the river, a dedicated environmentalist and kindred spirit.
Nina & Goran
Bosanski Brod, Bosnia & Herzagovina
Nina and Goran are a young couple in Bosanski Brod, we first met them without children in 2013. They discuss the possibility of leaving to get more opportunities for their children.
Neven Tomic
Samac, Bosnia & Herzagovina
We met Neven in 2013 drinking by the river with his friends. 6 years later and he home visiting after moving to Germany to meet a woman.
Emir
Brčko, Bosnia
Emir is an Imam living and working on the banks of Sava.
Mirko & Baba
Jamena, Serbia
Mirko was a soldier when we met, later leaving, growing his beard and moving to Slovenia. We film him with his grandmother on a visit back to his hometown.
Mr & Mrs Udicki
Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia
Mr & Mrs Udicki live in relation with Sava, as Predrags first love Anica must join them. Predrag reads us a poem he wrote to the river.
Visjna
Belgrade, Serbia
Visjna is an anarchist and Japanese teacher who was living on Tito’s old burnt out boat on the Sava when we met. She closes the film talking about gentrification and the human relationship with the natural world.
Gorjan Atanasov
roles; editor
Gorjan joined the project after a surprise encounter with a friend at Jihlava festival in 2019. He worked tirelessly while studying in London, he spent a year and a half with Matthew cultivating the film through some difficult times.
Robin Schlochtermeier & Musicians
composition and music
Robin and Matthew worked on a musical framework for the film. Throughout the pandemic - musicians from all over the world have improvised and recorded sequences which have been bought together in London to give the film a polyphonic yet considered musical journey. The composition is mixed with music from the Yugoslav landscape spanning ambient, folk, disco.
Branko Avramovski
roles; colourist
Branko worked with colouring Sava in partnership with Hypermarket.cz
Mika Vaajoki
role: Graphic Design
Mika worked on building a cohesive typography and titles for the film.
Rick Blything
roles; sound design
Rick joined the project with a Sound Design workshop through Makedox where he bought the film to light with an array of underwater sounds, cleaning dialogues adding authentic atmos to each scene and giving the river her sense of flow.
Raoul Brand
role: sound mixer
Raoul mixed the sound for the finished film.
Tibor Keser
role: executive producer
Tibor has been involved in the project since 2017. He has guided us through the process of making this film.