As part of the Fest Focus programme selection at the 51st FEST, the Belgrade audience has the
opportunity to see the world premiere of the documentary ‘A Fleeting Dream’ (YU grupa - Trenutak sna) directed by Darko Lungulov.
Director Darko Lungulov, brothers Žika and Dragi Jelić, director, drummer Saša Žule Radojević, as well as cinematographer Đorđe Arambašić presented the film to the accredited journalists of FEST, while guitarist Petar Jelić joined the presentation with a video from Sweden. FEST is still an institution, just as the YU grupa is our significant cultural institution. FEST was founded in 1971, and YU Grupa in 1970’, said Lungulov and added: ‘I grew up with FEST, first as a viewer, and then as a filmmaker. It was a very important festival
where we got to know the world and films and waited out in the cold until 2-3 in the morning to buy tickets for some films. It was just like the slogan says, a passion for film,
I am glad that we have the opportunity to meet the Jelić brothers and YU grupa on a good occasion, that is, at FEST, which is the ideal platform for that. This is an opportunity for all of us to meet and unite with the three brothers, their children and grandchildren. This film is a good opportunity to get closer to the ideal that this band and its story represents. I hope for an emotional meeting with the audience";, the director admitted.
According to him, the idea for a documentary about YU grupa came in a similar way, and then grew into an intention when Nikola Čuturilo told him that he was glad to perform with his
colleagues Zoran Kostić Cane, Dušan Kojić Koja and Radomir Mihailović Točka at a concert celebrating the 45th anniversary of this band. He said that it should be recorded properly and that was in a way the beginning of the work on the film.
‘The original idea was to film only that concert, and then I just looked at that material and saw that it was a deeper story about family, music, us, about a country and everything we were going through. I continued to follow them at concerts, and then after a year I received the support of the Film Center Serbia. But I never dreamed that I would follow them for seven years’, said Lungulov.
Brothers Žika and Dragi Jelić stated that the collaboration with Lungulov had been ‘patient and nervous’.
‘Then he started putting some lavaliers on us, spending time with us in our van, at our concerts, after our concerts, in the hotel... and then it was: "Well, I am going to Zagreb with you.” “Are you in Prague? Well, great, I am going with you too." And it was like that year after year. He became an associate member of the band. Now we expect some new projects related to YU grupa from him’, said Žika Jelić.
‘Darko mostly made arrangements with Petar, so before leaving, we only saw the film crew waiting for us’, Dragi Jelić added.
Petar Jelić, the son of Rade Jelić, who used to be a member of the band, sent a video message in which he thanked the director for all the wonderful moments recorded during seven and a half years and for ‘immortalizing a time, a country and the people who are now sitting among you, who started a wonderful thing, a new thing that turned out to be the expression of a whole generation, and it is called rock and roll’. The youngest Jelić from the band promised to come to Belgrade for the premiere of the film together with his uncles.
As heard in the meeting with the journalists, the documentary ‘A Fleeting Dream’ is a surprisingly intimate look at what it means to be together in a band, to stay together, to fight and
succeed and to be a part of history. The film, which was filmed for seven years, is a rock and roll saga that includes 80 years of life, over 60 years of playing rock and roll, 52 years of the existence of YU grupa and the history of a country. The film uses archival material, as well as previously unpublished super 8 films from the Jelić family's personal archive.
According to Lungulov, the film ‘A Fleeting Dream’ was named after the song of the same name from the band's first album, which the director discovered while working on the film and which he used to listen to ten times a day on repeat as a young man from another time, because the titleis metaphorical. The original music for the film was composed by the guitarist Petar Jelić, and the film
‘A Fleeting Dream’ is screened on 2 March at MTS Hall, as well as on 3 March and 4 March at theCineplexx Ušće cinema.
