An unlikely pair trace the California coast in a white convertible in Along the Roadside, a comedic charmer that has the unmistakable shape of a traditional road movie, though subtle themes of identity and acceptance give it more dimension and roundness than less-thoughtful entries in the sub-genre. Filmmaker Zoran Lisinac, who nearly a decade ago emigrated to the US from Serbia, wrote and directed the film as an homage to the diversity of California, and while some of the cultural commentary and symbolism is a bit on-the-nose by American standards, the film is largely considered taboo in Lisinac’s home country. Regardless of where you live, the film’s sincerity shines through.

Our main characters come from different worlds, or at least different sides of the world. Varnie (Iman Crosson, better known as YouTube personality Alphacat), is a young, cavalier venture capitalist from Oakland who plans to flee the Bay Area to Southern California upon learning his girlfriend is pregnant with his child. On his way out of the city, Varnie has a run-in (or near run-in, to be exact) with a jubilant young tourist from Germany, Nena (Angelina Häntsch), who he nearly clips with his BMW while she’s crossing the street. Appreciative of Nena saving his ass from a meddlesome meter maid, Varnie offers to give her a ride to Southern California, where she plans to see her favorite band, Blonde Priest, at a giant outdoor music festival.

Nena’s enthusiasm and penchant for seeing the best in others a pleasant contrast to the more closed-off Varnie. Häntsch, an accomplished theater actor in Germany, is irresistible; you’ll want to be her best friend the minute you see her smile, nod, and say “Blonde Priest” in her tickled accent. Crosson’s performance isn’t as effortless (at times he appears to be putting on a tough-guy act), but he reacts to Häntsch well, and the character finds its stride in the final act. The symbolism of Varnie being black and Nena being colorblind is too blunt and probably unneeded; the actors make a stronger statement with the way they lock eyes and move around each other.

The plot is laid out in classic road movie form: Nena and Varnie have a variety of conversations, we see driving montages, and a handful of pit-stops are made in which they encounter some colorful side characters. Michael Madsen is a standout (as always) as a sketchy, desert-dwelling mechanic wearing an outdated white suit. He does his usual Michael Madsen-ing, squinting like a creep as he delivers lines in the strangest way possible, and it’s not a bad thing at all. Popular Serbian actor Lazar Ristovski makes a cameo as an unexpected guardian angel, and another successful YouTuber, Danny Grozdich, is the funniest presence in the movie, playing a method actor who resorts to hilariously unnecessary levels of violence to protect Nena and Varnie.

Lisinac touches on several themes in the script. Varnie’s decision to run away from his responsibilities as a future father weigh heavier as the film goes on, and Nena’s optimistic, trusting view of humanity gets tested thoroughly. But the film’s most poignant statement comes at the very end, when we see what becomes of the relationship between the two lost souls. It’s an ending with a lot of guts, a legitimately crushing moment that leaves us with a feeling of melancholy and reflection that lingers nicely.

The film’s relaxed, strummy music, by Cole Bonner, sometimes mirrors the characters’ introspection too directly, but otherwise is a good sonic through-line for the story. Variety is one of Along the Roadside‘s key visual strengths, with each location looking distinct and well presented. (If you’ve ever driven from the Bay Area to LA on Interstate 5, you know it isn’t exactly the most scenic of drives, but Lisinac and his team do a great job of gussying up the mostly deserted stretch.) All in all, the film looks and sounds great, especially for its indie budget.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Along the Roadside is how solid the performances are across the board, considering the lead actors and many of the supporters are virtually first-time screen actors. For Lisinac to get the young talents to work so well with veterans like Madsen and Ristovski, while also juggling the multiple underlying themes, is impressive and proves him to be a new filmmaker with promise and skill. More than just a culture-clash comedy, Along the Roadside feels made with care and compassion, and as a bonus has a few surprises up its sleeve.

At the 2013 Mill Valley Film Festival, I talked to Zoran Lisinac, a first-time indie filmmaker who had just premiered his film, Along the Roadside. It’s a road movie with heart and humor about a young man from the Bay Area (Iman Crosson) and a colorblind German tourist (Angelina Häntsch) who, through unlikely circumstances, end up traveling together from Oakland to Southern California. Their destination is a giant music festival, but the journey that takes them there transforms them in ways neither saw coming. The film also stars Michael Madsen who plays a strange trailer park mafioso mechanic of some sort, because…Michael Madsen.

Since the last time I met with Zoran, the movie’s played at 14 festivals, and last year he signed a distribution deal for both domestic and foreign release. I caught up with Zoran to talk about the long road the movie’s taken to get to this point, what lessons he learned since we last spoke, his new film, Uploading, whether the film has had an impact in his home country of Serbia, and much more.

As a bonus, I also talked to one of the actors from the film, Danny Grozdich, a YouTube star who plays Mitts, a loose cannon method actor the duo meet on the road. At Mill Valley, I met him and wrote in a piece that he was a “charming, goofy fellow.”

Along the Roadside is available now on metakwon.com, VOD, and in select Best Buy and Barnes & Nobles stores.

It’s been about a year-and-a-half since I’ve talked to you about Along the Roadside.
Yeah, man. It’s been quite a ride. It premiered at Mill Valley in 2013 when I saw you, and since then it’s played at, like, 14 more festivals. We signed a distribution deal back in April 2014 for domestic distribution and for foreign distribution last May. We signed with Osiris Entertainment, and they’re taking the movie to Cannes this May, which is pretty cool. What we didn’t know going in was how long it takes for a fucking film to be delivered! We asked if the movie could come out last summer, and they were like, “Ehhhh….depends how fast you can deliver it.” Deliver it? What do you guys need? Then the marathon started. We needed to export the movie in a certain way, they needed seven different tracks, subtitles…and that’s just part of it. There were legal things, fights about the art, lots of stuff. The whole process took a while, and then they needed to find us a slot. It’s been a long stretch, so we’re happy it’s finally out, at least in the US.

Has it screened in Serbia?
It showed at a festival there. It was the very first screening we had publicly, back in 2013. They flew five of us there, including Michael Madsen. It was pretty scary. We had no idea how the people would react. Luckily it was great and they liked it. But after that festival, after every other public screening I would go back and shrink the film, make it shorter. I think I took out about one minute after every screening, so I ended up taking out 15 minutes of film by the end of the festival run. It’s a school for the future. Right now I’m scouting for our new film, called Uploading. It stars Timothy DelaGhetto, who’s really big on YouTube.

Right! You told me about it last time we talked. The one with all the YouTube stars.
That’s right. We’re actually in preproduction now. But my point was, now I know to screen this new film to as many people as possible! [laughs] We’re going to approach distributors before we even premiere it. Hopefully this one won’t take a year-and-a-half to come out!

The last time we spoke you talked about how you wished Serbia were a more progressive country, more open to different cultures. Has there been any conversation going on about your film? Has it helped make any change?
I’m happy that the film recently just showed there on TV in February. It was on national television. Younger kids really loved it and connected with it, whereas some of the older people thought we pushed the envelope a little too far for them. I’m happy that the youth of Serbia are more open-minded and embraced the film. I give the Internet props for that.

I don’t like all these hate crimes that have been happening in the US in the last couple months. It’s really fucking sad. I don’t know how to politicize this film. I don’t know who looks at it that way, but it actually tackles that [issue]. It’s partially a comedy, so I don’t know if people take it that seriously. I remember at Mill Valley we opened a day before 12 Years a Slave, and we were put in a similar category of films that tackled racism. 12 Years a Slave deals with it head-on, but Along the Roadside kinda pokes at it. [laughs]

Tell me more about how Uploading is shaping up.
It tells the story of a guy who becomes a vlogger after all the doors in Hollywood close on him as an actor. He falls back on YouTube and over time builds an audience. It’s kind of a coming-of-age story, but in a modern-day society where it’s that period of waiting for something to happen, to materialize. That’s why it’s called Uploading. It’s that in-between time. It’s really about relationships in modern-day society and how these invisible fans are just as real, or sometimes even more real, than real-life connections. YouTubers’ work affects people all over the world, and I think it’s really special.

It’s a new kind of relationship that didn’t exist ten years ago, you know? You can actually have a meaningful relationship with people across the world through the Internet. It explores that relationship, but also how messy it gets when real life relationships become neglected. The [main character] is broke, so he finds a job being rented as a friend on a company called FriendForRent.com. He rents himself to this socially inept game developer who has money, but doesn’t have real-life friends.

I had not seen Along the Roadside when we last met, but now I have and I enjoyed it. The lead actress, Angelina Häntsch, is very charming.
She’s a theater actress in Germany. There are a couple of people in Germany who auditioned for that part, and one of the people was this huge star. She won Best Actress at Berlin a couple of years ago. She auditioned and didn’t get the part. She didn’t feel right for the character, although she’s a great actress. Instead, we gave it to Angelina because she fit the bill. I’m really happy with what we got as a director. As a producer, my brother will forever scratch his head saying, “Man, if we had that famous actress the movie probably would have killed in Germany!” [laughs] There are compromises you have to make.

What did you think of the guy who plays Mitts?

Danny? I met him while back at Mill Valley and I wrote a piece and called him goofy!
[laughs]

He was so funny when I met him that I called him a “goofy fellow” in my piece, but after watching the film…Okay, I never laugh out loud when I’m by myself for some reason, but he made me laugh in the film. He’s hilarious.
He was hard to control, though. We’re friends, so it’s cool, but let me put it this way: he definitely worked around the lines. His energy comes across, and it works. Whenever we show the film, the scene when he whacks a guy for no fucking reason with a bottle—an innocent bystander—he gets a huge laugh. That’s how I know people aren’t asleep! The funny thing about him is, he graduated from law school and just said, “This isn’t for me,” and became a YouTube vlogger. To this day, his mom isn’t talking to him. [laughs]

After my chat with Zoran, I gave Danny Grozdich, the “goofy fellow” himself, a call to see what he thought of his director’s comments. He’s in the picture below, which I took when I met the guys at Mill Valley in 2013. Guess which one’s him.

I just had a great conversation with Zoran, and I have to say I’m a fan of yours after watching your performance in the movie.
Very cool! It’s better than the alternative, you know? “We’ve got nothing to talk about because you suck!”

We met over a year ago in Mill Valley, and I remember thinking you were a wacky guy, so I wrote a piece saying that you were goofy. I just watched the film recently for the first time, and I never laugh out loud when I’m alone, but you made me laugh pretty fucking hard.
That’s great! You’re feeding an ego that’s already too big. Making the movie was literally the greatest thing that’s ever come my way. I do a thing on the Internet called The Gradual Report, and I basically point a camera at my face and be funny. I have 970 videos online right now. I’ve been going at that since 2007, and I’ve got 147 million views across those videos. I started out as a stand-up comedian and…well, now that’s not true. I started out as a lawyer.

Zoran just told me that. That’s crazy.
Yeah. For a solid week a pushed that ball up the hill, and then I was like, “This can’t be life.” YouTube was invented in 2007, and I started putting stuff on YouTube because I thought I was better than everyone. One thing led to another, and here I am.

How did you hook up with Zoran?
Zoran and I are both Serbian. It’s a really small country, and when you run into someone from there, it’s like running into someone from your own neighborhood. It’s not a deep connection or anything, but it’s like, “Crazy! We’re from that same tiny spot in the world.” Zoran was looking for locations for the scene with Michael Madsen with this guy, Mitch. My mom lives in Palm Springs, so Mitch thought she might know of a place. My mom was like, “My son’s an actor!” Zoran looked at my YouTube stuff, and he said, “You were born to play Mitts.” I think Zoran told me it was the third biggest role in the script at first, and then he told me it was the fifth biggest. Then the sixth. Whatever, man! I come out okay. I’ll be fine.

I love when you smash that bottle over that poor guy’s head for no reason.
That was Zoran’s idea. The guy was an extra, and they told him he’d get a line. He was like, “My moment!” Then they told him he was going to get a bottle smashed over his head. It was made of sugar, so he thought it wouldn’t hurt at all. But apparently it does hurt! They told me the bottles were 50 bucks a piece, and we had two of them. “Don’t hold back, make sure it breaks,” they told me. So I just destroy this bottle on this guy’s head, and he hits the floor! He was really pissed. “You hit me too hard!” It wasn’t supposed to hurt, but he was really mad at me.

The movie got into a film festival in L.A., and the guy came to it. And they cut his line! The one line he had! I see him and say hi, and he just looks at me and doesn’t say a word. Just turns around and walks away. I told Zoran, “That guy’s still pissed at me!” and he said, “Yeah. We cut his line, too, so that probably didn’t help.”

In Along the Roadside, the debut feature by Zoran Lisinac, a young man from the Bay Area (Iman Crosson) and a colorblind German tourist (Angelina Häntsch) accompany each other on a road trip to a big music festival in Southern California, learning about themselves and each other as their vastly different cultural backgrounds clash.

The film made its North American premiere at this year’s Mill Valley Film Festival, where we spoke with Zoran and his brother, Vladimir (who produced the film), about writing the screenplay at a hotel desk, moving to California from Serbia, the beauty of diversity, the advantages of casting Youtube stars in the film, how they plan to explore Youtube culture further, and more.

Along the Roadside screens this Saturday, November 23rd, at the Roxie in San Francisco as a part of the San Francisco Film Society’s ‘Cinema by the Bay’ series.

What inspired you to make Along the Roadside?
Zoran: We both grew up in Serbia during the wars and economic collapse, so coming here was a journey on it’s own. Once we got to California, I was completely fascinated by the diversity that I found here and the tolerance that is probably unrivaled in the world in terms of people who look, sound, think, and act different. Somehow, everybody seems to coexist and live in harmony. To me, that was a big internal motivator to come up with a story that exposes California, racisms ugly face, and kind of sends a message. We come from the Eastern Bloc, where there’s some serious growing up to do. That was one of the motifs.

So, you built the story around that idea.
Zoran: Yeah. The main character is a black guy from Oakland, and we pair him up with a colorblind German tourist. Her being colorblind is a metaphor; she’s the only pure character in the film. All these other characters that they encounter along the way kind of bite at each other, but that’s just one aspect of the story.

How long have you lived in California?
Zoran: 8 1/2 years. I didn’t speak much English when I came here, though.

You learn quick!
Vladimir: We learned to write in English, which is a whole different challenge! First, you need to learn to speak it, then you need to learn to write it. Then, you need to learn to write well, which is a whole new ballgame. I admire Zoran. He excelled fast and put in the time. Screenwriting is a process that takes work, dedication, and experience. It takes a routine, and I think he found it.

Zoran: I found it in a hotel. I wrote the script at the front desk of a hotel, while working. I had all this down time; on the busiest days, you’d put in about two hours of accumulative work. The guys next to you is on Facebook, the other guy is gambling online, so it’s like, “Fuck it.” I downloaded Final Draft and started banging away. The managers were super supportive and I didn’t have to hide anything.

How does it feel to have your film playing at the Mill Valley Film Festival?
Zoran: I love it, and I’m very honored. It legitimizes our effort, and it feels great to be in the company of these other films.

Vladimir: We’re extremely proud, because the film is very personal. We wanted to shed light on the place that we call home, Serbia. Like Zoran said earlier, it has a little growing up to do in terms of being progressive and liberal, accepting different cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, genders, you name it. This is one place on our planet that has growing up to do, but we’re very familir with it and wanted to show our film with a Serbian star in it and how he understood where we’re coming from and came to America to work on the film for free. He really wanted to help us, understood our point of view, and understood the screenplay. He wanted to help spread the message in Serbia. I think his actions speak volumes. It all started with Zoran’s idea.

Zoran: That’s just one side of the whole story. Judging from what we’ve said, you’d think we’d made a fucking documentary! It’s just one of the layers. This is a story about two people from different parts of the world who cross paths on a journey of self-discovery to a big music festival in California. It takes place over the course of 48 hours, and it takes on issues, like taking life on it’s own terms. A lot of people seem to not do that, therefore, they escape it. They run away from it. I deals with that aspect of character internal conflict.

Living in the Bay Area all my life, it’s surprising to me how little this community is represented in cinema. No one shoots in Oakland. Hell, a lot of people have no idea what Oakland’s like. But, your main character is from Oakland.
Vladimir: Another underlying theme is fatherhood and what it really takes to want fatherhood. It speaks to the staggering number of single mothers, particularly in Oakland. That’s why we put our main guy there. He’s at a crossroads; he’s always wanted a certain lifestyle, and when this big news is broken in his face–that his girlfriend is pregnant–he completely flips and doesn’t know what to do. He wasn’t ready for that. He needs to let go, accept some responsibility, grow up, and want to become a father. It’s a big deal to me. I’m a father, and I understand that. We wanted to shed light on it. African-American culture in the States, especially in the city of Oakland…the statistics show that there are way too many single mothers struggling to bring up their children. Fathers are simply goners. We wanted to say, it doesn’t have to be like that. You can be present. You don’t have to marry the woman, you don’t have to be the greatest dad on the planet, but you need to be there.

Zoran: It comes down to accepting life on its terms, not trying to set your own rules. It’s kind of impossible. That’s summed up in the ending of the film.
This is a great moment for you guys, screening here at the festival. Looking forward, are you excited about your next project? Do you have a lot of ideas swimming around your heads?

Zoran: We stumbled onto this film with this unique (by other people’s account) situation where we cast a number of Youtube stars in the film along with some mainstream stars. It gives us a prominent social media presence. With today’s landscape of indie movies, that means everything. It’s really coveted to have 300,000 views on Youtube without spending money on advertising. It’s interesting. We dipped our toes into this Youtube culture, and in our second film, which we plan on hopefully shooting in January or February, we plan to cannonball into that sphere of digital media. As I like to say, bloggers are carving into digital stone for our descendants to interpret. At this point, they’re expressionists. People don’t know how to pin them. They’re not making short films, per se, and they’re not making features. It’s new. It’s driven by pure passion, and it’s definitely found its response globally. We think it’s precious.

So, your casting of Youtube personalities in this film was strategic, in terms of marketing.
Vladimir: Very much so. There’s only maybe one other film that’s done this, but it’s a horror genre film. It doesn’t have a social side to it, and it’s more for fun. But, it’s done well. What we’re trying to do is be very strategic with it, longterm. With this film and the following two films we have in development, we want to make a big splash with it. We want to shed light on the talent that aren’t mainstream actors in Hollywood. Folks on Youtube are extremely talented, not only at creating content, but at several other things: they’re courageous; they do editing; they do marketing; they do business. They do everything.

Zoran: Most importantly, they build a relationship with their fans.

Vladimir: Exactly.

Zoran: That’s the future.

Vladimir: We like the direction we’re headed, and we’re excited.

For more info, visit www.metakwon.com

After a jam-packed opening night full of excitement and energy, day two of the Mill Valley Film Festival was a day of more narrowed focus. At the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center (long name, but a simple, pristine little theater) in San Rafael, a packed house paid tribute to a beloved auteur known for making bold, inspiring political statements, Greek director Costa Gavras.

Wowing the Crowd With…Politics?

Gavras, has garnered international acclaim over his 45-plus year career, melding perfectly overt political themes with high-intensity, crowd-pleasing action. Putting international issues in the form of a commercial action-thriller, Gavras’ films are both politically critical and pulse-pounding.

1969’s Z, his third film and arguably his most lauded work, follows a judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) as he attempts to uncover the truth about the assassination of a leftist politician. As the judge delves deeper into the murder, the police and government officials involved do everything in their power to cover up their tracks–and cover their asses. The film was one of the highest-grossing films in France and the United States of that year, and also went on to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. “My feeling is not to start telling negative things about [people in power]. It’s important to explain to people that their propositions are not good.”

Following Z, Gavras kept fighting the good fight, making films like Missing, starring Jack Lemmon as a father looking to uncover the truth (sense a theme here?) about the disappearance of his Journalist son, and State of Seige, based on the killing of U.S. Embassy official Dan Mitrione in Uruguay in 1970. Most recently, Gavras stuck his finger in the chest of Catholicism with 2003’s Amen, a film that asserts Pope Pius XII was aware of the horrible acts the Nazis were committing, but did and said nothing to condemn the Holocaust.

A Tribute to the Man

The crowd at the San Rafael Film Center burst into warm applause as Gavras–introduced by veteran actor Peter Coyote, who was introduced by festival executive director Mark Fishkin–made his way to the stage. Mediated by Coyote, Gavras reflected on his illustrious career, exploring the works that made him a legend in the cinema world.

Though his films do often call attention to controversial or scandalous international issues, Gavras makes fair characterizations on both sides of the fence, always aware that people can’t be deduced to simply pawns of government. “I never separate people as left or right,” Gavras said about his filmmaking and personal philosophy. “I believe there are good people everywhere, and there are bad people [on the left] as there are on the right.”

His new film, Capital, which he brought to the festival, takes aim at the dangers of greed and power, following a young investment banker (Gad Elmaleh, Midnight in Paris) as he wades through the treacherous shark tank of international finance, pressured by the amorality of an American financier, Gabriel Byrne. “All of the bankers I’ve seen, their justification is, if we do something more human, the American [banks] will eat us,” Gavras says. “[American] banks are so big, so huge, that they can, really, eat everybody.”

To elaborate on the themes of Capital,Coyote recalled something Italian stylist Nino Cerruti said to him that he’ll never forget. “[Cerruti] said, [the Euro has] to stand. If it doesn’t stand, the only model for capitalism will be the American model, and that will be a disaster.” Gavras confirmed that that notion does live in the movie, but didn’t care to delve into the details before the movie began, wanting the movie to speak for itself. Coyote and Gavras left the stage, the lights dimmed, and the audience of long-time fans were treated to another riveting work by a filmmaker who hasn’t missed a beat in nearly 50 years.

Along the Roadside

Also screening at the film center (in a theater just above the Gavras tribute) was Along the Roadside, a philosophical road trip movie by first time director Zoran Lisinac. It follows a cynical San Franciscan named Varnie (Iman Crosson) and an Australian tourist named Nena (Angela Hantsch), paired together by fate, as they drive to the biggest music festival in California. Lisinac, Producer Vladimir Lisinac, and actor Daniel Grozdich (a charming, goofy fellow, as you can see in the photo above) were on hand to introduce the film.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for all the news from Day 3 of the festival!