~ Milica Puric ~ 

Mano Divina, composer and musician from Philadephia – photographed on his birthday by Dan Webb

He is delicately moving his right and left hands in the air right above the strange device that produces beautiful, angelic music similar to the sound of a violin. Without touching any object, Mano Divina Giannone, a composer, and musician from Philadelphia, plays thermin, a little-known electronic instrument controlled by the musician without any physical contact. 

This rare instrument was named after Russian inventor Leon Theremin, who patented the device in 1928, and Mano Divina Giannone is one of the most famous performers and promoters of it in America. Besides him, there are not many musicians who play it. 

Born in Pennsylvania with Italian parents, Mano Divina Giannone has been surrounded by music his entire life. He played several instruments and in his teenage year started playing in various musical groups and performing around the world. That’s how he first heard the theremin played by French electronic composer and musician Jean-Michel Jarre. That performance impressed him. 

“Nothing was real. I thought that was a magic trick,” Mano said. “And by the end of that song, I realized not only it was real, but he was making music by his hands in the air not touching anything. My impression was the same as the impression of people who come to see me at the concerts: First, they don’t think it’s real, then they watch closely and finally they realize I am really playing with my hands in the air!”

Right before he discovered the theremin, Mano used to play nine instruments. After he heard the theremin for the first time (in the early ’90s) he wanted to learn more, but the trouble was that, in the beginning, nobody knew the name of that wondrous device. He asked everyone — musicians, friends, everyone around him, but no one knew… One day he finally met a man who told him that it was a theremin. Mano immediately contacted Robert Moog, the American inventor of synthesizer, and bought theremin from him. That was in 1995-96.

Mano Divina (right) and ‘The Divine Hand Ensemble’ at the concert

In that time just a few people knew about this instrument. It is a little bit more popular today, so people can get lessons, but in the past, when Mano started playing, nobody knew the name of it, not to mentioned how to play it. “So I had to figure out how to play. I didn’t learn from any teacher!” Luckily for him, he was schooled in music and had a lot of training in other instruments.

Soon, he started performing in European churches. He was in France and Italy playing beautiful compositions like “Ave Maria.” The audience loved it, although they needed a little time to comprehend what is happening on the stage. “At first people couldn’t understand anything because most of them have never seen an instrument played without a touch. It takes a moment or two to understand what is happening and what I am doing. It seems that they try to understand whether what they see matches the sound they hear — something between opera singing and young boys singing.  After a while, they become fascinated by performance. They say they are mesmerized watching me play, and they say they are moved to tears by the music they hear. And indeed, the theremin is an instrument unlike any other — you play in the air so there is nothing to see. You need to use muscle memory and lose visual one. You only can rely on your ears, and that’s why this is a very difficult instrument to play and master. That’s why there are just a few people who play it. I even had to stop playing all other instruments in order to focus on theremin,” he said.

Mary Bryson is playing the harp at ‘The Divine Hand Ensemble’ concert 

After spending many years in Europe, Mano decided to come back to his hometown Philadelphia and continue playing the theremin. He formed his musical group, The Divine Hand Ensemble, and on Halloween night 2009 they had their concert debut at Sellersville Theater in Philadelphia. That day remained their anniversary, and they always have an important concert for Halloween.

Mano and his Divine Hand Ensemble perform classical compositions, chamber music, opera arias, sacred choral music and even some spooky themes (because the theremin was used in some science fiction movies) and some rock interpretation. They practice and rehearse a lot. They performed for Pope Francis last year while he was visiting Philadelphia and he was delighted. 

Mano said their concerts are different from other classical concerts. “We talk to our audience, we encourage people to get involved, ask questions, we don’t just play and disappear. We don’t like a stuffy glass wall between audience and ourselves.”

‘The Divine Hand Ensemble’ even has a performance at a cemetery once a year.

“When I started playing sacred music in Italy I stumbled across funeral music,” Mano said. “That is the music written for the dead to help them to cross into the afterlife, and that’s why that is very beautiful and at the same time weird music. I never heard anything like it,” he explained, adding that the proof that Americans love that type of music is the fact that the YouTube video of the ensemble playing at the cemetery gained 700,000 views.

Once a year ‘The Divine Hand Ensemble’ has a concert at Laurel Hill Cemetery. On this place, they perform funerary music for people who love this type of music

“Audiences love that music, and some of them even ask us to perform those compositions on our concerts,” Mano said. “However, that music is a little heavy, depressing, so we decide to perform it once a year at Laurel Hill Cemetery for people who love that. We perform beautiful music and we are united in our mission to touch people with our hypnotizing performances. I really hope I will continue to illuminate and entertain them for the rest of my life.”

You can find more about Mano Divina Giannone and his ‘The Divine Hand Ensemble’ on their website http://divinehand.net/index.php and their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/divinehandensemble/?pnref=lhc

~ Milica Puric ~©

~ Milica Puric ~ 

Vuk Rsumovic, director of the movie “No One’s Child’

“I could not believe that in 20th century, in the middle of ’80s in the forests of Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Yugoslavia, among wild animals and wolves, hunters have found a wild boy who was later brought to Belgrade for socialization. That story haunted me from the moment I heard about it and I became obsessed with it. I knew I had to make a movie about this boy,” said Vuk Rsumovic, screenwriter and movie director about his first movie, “No One’s Child.”

His cinematic debut won the primary Audience Award at the famous Venice Film Festival in 2015 in the selection of International Week of Film Critics. The award was given based on the votes of all who watched the Venice Film Festival, and it opened the door to Rsumovic’s film.  After the festival, “No One’s Child” got 35 more important film awards.

The official poster for the movie “No One’s Child” 

“Venice awards have a special weight because the Venice Festival is a prestigious festival,” Vuk said. “It paved the way for my film. When you win a prize at the Venice Film Festival, everyone becomes interested in your film — festival organizers, audience, critics. That award shows that the film is worth watching. After that festival, we received many awards from critics and audiences, and each of them has its own beauty, but if I have to choose which one I like the most (after the Venice award), that would be the Best Director award I got in Russia at the International Film Festival Zerkalo (The Mirror), named after famous movie director Andrei Tarkovsky,” Vuk explained.

The beginning of the movie – Denis Muric in leading role of a wild boy

“No One’s Child” is based on the fascinating true story of a wild boy (played by Denis Muric) who was found by local hunters in the mountains of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the middle of the 1980s. The boy grew up among wild animals and wolves and didn’t know to talk, eat and walk as a human, only as an animal. He acted like a little wild beast. He was sent to Belgrade, at that time the capital of Yugoslavia, to the institution for abandoned children for social and civilized adaptation. Contrary to predictions, the boy, who randomly was named Haris, began to grow rapidly and make friends.

At the beginning wild boy was unable to speak or even walk on two legs

“I heard about this story from my wife seven or eight years ago,” Mano said. “She is a theater director, and at that time she had a nongovernment organization that used to work with a group of juvenile delinquents at the orphanage Vasa Stajic in Belgrade. There she met one of the teachers who told her this story as an anecdote from his professional life. Then she told the story to me and I became fascinated by it. From the very beginning, I knew that I have to make the movie about it. I could not believe that in Europe in the late 20th century, hunters found a boy who grew up with the wolves. Then I started exploring. First I met the teacher from the orphanage, Dragan Rolovic, who has worked with a wild boy. He told me everything he knew about him. Then I started coming more and more often to the orphanage in order to familiarize myself with the institution where abandoned children live.”

The sad scene from the orphanage: Haris (left) and his best friend Zika (Pavle Cemerikic)

Vuk Rsumovic said with a smile that a long time ago some directors warned their colleagues that they must not make their first movie with children and animals. “And I had both of them in my first movie. But I was very careful. I wouldn’t give to Denis Muric, who played a wild boy, the script in advance, only when he came on the set. I did not want him to practice anything at home because I would have more trouble to teach him differently from what he had learned, and that would kill spontaneity. And it paid off. He is an extraordinary actor. I found him on the set director Goran Radovanovic movie “Enclave,” where he also played a significant role. Previously I tried to find my leading actor all around. I have visited many schools, but when I saw him I knew immediately I had found my actor! His role is very challenging: In the beginning, he is like a little animal, he behaves like a little beast, but at the end of the film he is a socialized young man. Denis was excellent in all of this, at all stages of filming,” the director said.

The scene from the movie – the wild boy needed to learn everything, even how to put his shoes on. Actors Denis Muric (left) and his ‘movie teacher’ actor Milos Timotijevic

Talking about the difficulties in the process of making a movie, Vuk Rsumovic explained this creative process took a very long time. He said he spent a lot of time researching.

“A long time ago a famous French movie director, François Truffaut, made the movie ‘Wild Child,’ and that is a similar story to this one,” Vuk Rsumovic said. “It was based on a doctor’s study, and that work is considered the first research about child psychiatry. It’s about the boy found in the wilderness of France, and that doctor began to work with him. Truffaut said that this is a topic that a man can deal with his entire life. And I really understood it by dealing with it and researching. However, since I was working on a film, at some point I had to stop researching and say, ‘It’s enough! I know what I know and what I do not know I will somehow make up,’” Rsumovic said.

Talented boy Denis Muric was phenomenal in the role of a wild boy Haris

“It’s generally hard to make a movie, not just in Serbia, but anywhere in the world,” the director said. “I realized this when I was at a fantastic writing program in the Netherlands in 2009. There were gathered authors, directors, writers from 20 countries — Great Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, Romania, the Philippines. And look, now it is the end of 2015 and I think that I am the only one of them who made a film for the last six years, although most of them live in countries where the economy is strong and in which many are involved in the film. It’s hard to make a movie, but luckily, now technology makes it possible for us to make a movie with less money, and with a great dose of enthusiasm.”

 Soldiers took Haris with themselves, gave him a rifle, and he went to war. Nobody knows what happened to him later

Vuk’s film ends with the boy’s returning to the Bosnia because of bureaucratic reasons. The war in Yugoslavia just began and Haris accidentally met a group of soldiers. They took him with themselves, gave him a rifle, and he went to war. Nobody knows what happened to him later. In reality, the boy also disappeared in the middle of the war. He didn’t belong to any side and went back to his one and only family — a family of wolves. “It turned out that wolves have been more harmless and better than the people,” said this movie director whose name in Serbian means “wolf.”

~ Milica Puric ~

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

SERBIAN TRANSLATION – SRPSKA VERZIJA

Beogradski reditelj Vuk Ršumović, autor filma ‘Ničije dete’

Mir medju vukovima

~ Milica Puric ~ 

Vuk Ršumović se poklanja publici na FIlmskom festivalu srpskih filmova u Čikagu, 2015. godine (in front of audience at Serbian Film Festival in Chicago 2015)

“Nisam mogao da verujem da je sredinom 80-ih godina prošlog veka u šumama Bosne i Hercegovine, medju vukovima, pronađen napušteni, divlji dečak koji je kasnije doveden u Beograd na socijalizaciju. Od trenutka kada sam čuo ovu priču postao sam opsednut njom i znao sam da moram da snimim film o tome”, kaze Vuk Ršumović o svom filmskom prvencu.

Njegovo kinemtografsko ostvarenje osvojilo je 2014. godine glavnu Nagradu publike na čuvenom Venecijanskom festivalu. Ta nagrada se dodeljuje za najbolji film prikazan u selekciji ‘Nedelje međunarodne filmske kritike’ (International Film Critics’ Week) i dodeljuje se na osnovu glasova svih koji su gledali film na festivalu u Veneciji. Ona je otvorila vrata Ršumovićevom flmu, a posle nje film je dobio jos 35 važnih filmskih nagrada.

Denis Murić u ulozi divljeg dečaka  (The wild boy – Denis Muric)

“Nagrade sa ovog Festivala u Veneciji imaju posebnu težinu zato sto je reč o prestižnom Festivalu. Kad dobijete nagradu u Veneciji za vaš film se svi zainteresuju, pre svega festivalski organizatori i programi, a onda i svi ostali. Ta nagrada pokazuje da film vredi. Tako je naš film posle ovog Festivala dobio mnoge nagrade i od kritike i od publike i svaka od njih ima svoju lepotu. Ipak, izdvojio bih i onu koju sam dobio za režiju u Rusiji na Medjunarodnom filmskom festivalu ‘Zerkalo’ posvećenom čuvenom ruskom reditelju Andreju Tarkovskom. Ona mi je draga jer se radi o Festivalu koji prikazuje filmove koji nastavljaju put Andreja Tarkovskog”.

Scena iz filma: Denis Murić (levo), Pavle Čemerikić i Isidora Janković (Kids from the movie:  Denis Muric, Pavle Cemerikic i Isidora Jankovic)

Film “Ničije dete” baziran je na fascinantnoj istinitoj priči o divljem dečaku (u filmu ga igra Denis Murić) koga su sredinom 80-ih godina prošlog veka pronašli lovci među vukovima u šumi u planinama Bosne i Hercegovine. Dečak nije znao da govori, išao je na četiri noge i ponašao se kao mala divlja zver. Poslat je u Beograd u dom za nezbrinutu decu da se socializuje. Suprotno predviđanjima, dečak, koji nasumično dobija ime Haris, počinje ubrzano da se razvija i sklapa prijateljstva…

“Za ovu priču je, pre sedam-osam godina, najpre čula moja supruga”, kaže Vuk. “Ona je pozorišni reditelj i u to vreme imala je nevladinu organizaciju koja se bavila korišćenjem pozorišnih tehnika sa decom i radila je sa grupom maloletnih delikvenata u Domu za nezbrinutu decu ’Vasa Stajić’ u Beogradu. Tada je upoznala vaspitača koji joj je ispričao ovu priču kao anegdotu iz svog profesionalnog života. Ona je onda ispričala priču meni i ja sam se strasno zainteresovao. Od samog početka znao sam da nešto moram da napravim od toga. BIlo mi je fascinantno i nisam mogao da verujem da su u Evropi, krajem 20. veka, lovci pronašli dečaka koji je odrastao sa vukovima. Onda sam počeo da istražujem. Najpre sam upoznao tog vaspitača Dragana Rolovića, koji je radio sa divljim dečakom, i on mi je ispričao sve što je znao o njemu. Počeo sam da dolazim u Dom za nezbrinutu decu i da se upoznajem sa tom sredinom”.

 

Odmah po dolasku u sirotiste divlji decak bio je predmet izrugivanja, ali je, svojom dobrodusnom prirodom, brzo pridobio decu

Vuk Ršumović, kaže kroz osmeh da su neki reditelji, rekli još davno da prvi film ne treba raditi sa decom i životinjama, a on je u filmu imao i jedne i druge. “Ipak, bio sam veoma oprezan. Denisu Muriću, koji igra divljeg dečaka, nisam dao scenario unapred, nego tek kad bi došao na snimanje. Nisam želeo da sam vežba kod kuće, jer bih posle imao više posla da ga odučim od onog što je smislio, a to bi ubilo spontanost. I to je pomoglo. On je izuzetan glumac. Našao sam ga snimanju filma ‘Enklava’ Gorana Radovanovića u kome, takodje, igra zapaženu ulogu. Prethodno sam obišao mnoge škole, ali kad sam njega video znao sam da sam pronašao glumca za moj film. Njegova uloga je zahtevna, jer je u početku sličan životinji: najpre se ponaša kao mala zver, a na kraju filma je socijalizovan mlad čovek. Ipak, bio je odličan u svemu tome, u svim etapama snimanja filma”.

Decak Haris nabasao je na vojnike koji su mu dali pusku. NIko ne zna da li je preziveo rat

Film se završava tako što dečak mora da se iz birokratskih razloga vrati u Bosnu i Hercegovinu. Tamo počnije rat, a u Dom za nezbrinutu decu stiže pismo od lokalnih bosanskih vlasti u kome se zahteva Harisov brzi povratak. Po povratku u Bosnu, Haris nema gde da ode. Dok besciljno luta, nailazi na grupu vojnika koja ga vodi sa sobom. Dobija pušku i odlazi u borbu… U stvarnosti mu se, u jeku nesrećnog rata, gubi svaki trag. U filmu, na njegovom samom kraju, reditelj daje svom junaku simboličnu mogucnost da se, pošto već ne pripada nijednoj zaraćenoj strani, vrati svojoj jedinoj pravoj porodici – porodici vukova. Tako se njegov boravak medju ljudima završava besmislenim ratom, pucnjavom i mrznjom, a dečak se vraća prirodi i divljim zverima koje su, ispostavice se, pitomije i bezazlenije od ljudi.

Vuk Ršumović sa prijateljima na Filmskom festivalu u Čikagu (Vuk Rsumovic with his friends at Serbian Film Festival in Chicao) 

Pored Denisa Murića u filmu igraju deca Pavle Čemerikić, Isidora Janković i glumci Miloš Timotijević, Tihomir Stanić, Borka Tomović, Goran Šušljik, Zinaida Dedakin, Branka Šelić, Mihailo Laptošević, Draginja Voganjac, Marija Opsenica, Ljuba Todorović i Bora Nenić. Film je realizovan u produkciji Miroslava Mogorovića iz kuće ‘Art & Popcorn’ iz Beograda. Direktor fotografije je Damjan Radovanović kome je ovo takođe prvi igrani film.

Biografija Vuka Ršumovića

Vuk Ršumović je rođen 1975. godine u Beogradu. Završio je dramaturgiju na Fakultetu dramskih umetnosti u Beogradu. Ima veliko iskustvo u radu na televiziji i napisao je više scenarija za kratke filmove, serije, animirane i dokumentarne filmove. ‘Ničije dete’ je njegov prvi igrani film.  Vuk Kaze da je rad na ovom filmu trajao jako dugo – čak osam godina. “Fransoa Trifo je uradio film ‘Divlje dete’ i to je slična priča ovoj . Nastao je na osnovu studije jednog doktora i to se smatra prvom studijom o dečjoj psihijatriji. Taj dečak je nadjen u divljini Francuske, a taj doktor je počeo da radi sa njim. Trifo je rekao da je ovo tema kojom čovek moze da se bavi ceo život. I zaista to sam i ja shvatio baveći se njom, istražujući je. Medjutim, posto sam radio igrani film u nekom trenutku sam morao da podvučem crtu i da kazem – sad je dosta, ono što znam znam, ono što ne znam to ću nekako da domaštam,” kaze Vuk Ršumović.

~ Milica Puric ~ 

~ Milica Puric ~

Erwin Overes and Dobrila Pintar – a moment of relaxing during their exhibition of ‘Eurydice’ (2014)

~ Milica Puric ~ 

Whenever creative people unite their imaginations, visions, and talents, the results are amazing. That’s exactly what artist Dobrila Pintar and Erwin Overes have done several times in the past, creating impressive glass sculptures.

Their first work was “Eurydice”, fascinating and enchanting glass sculpture that these two artists presented to the audience in October 2014 at Erwin Overes’ Studio Oh! in Chicago’s vibrant South Loop area. The audience was delighted by the beauty of the sculpture that was inspired by the romance of Orpheus and Eurydice, one of the saddest love stories from Greek mythology.

Dobrila Pintar and Erwin Overes caught the tragic, dramatic moment when Eurydice is disappearing and going back to the underworld 

According to the myth, Orpheus was a legendary poet who had a mesmerizing ability to charm with his beautiful music all living creatures, even trees, and stones. One day, he saw Eurydice, the most beautiful of all nymphs, and instantly fell in love with her. She fell in love with him and after a while, they decided to get married. Unfortunately, instead of experiencing joy and happiness, on the day of their wedding, a snake bit Eurydice and she died. Overwhelmed by sadness and grief, Orpheus started playing mournful songs that all the nymphs and gods began crying. They advised him to go to the underworld and bring Eurydice back from the dead. With his enchanting music, he was performing on his golden lyre, he softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, the gods of the Underworld. They agreed to allow Eurydice to go back with him, but under one condition: Orpheus should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. However, Orpheus couldn’t resist the temptation, and he turned to look at the love of her life he was desperately missing for a long time. At that moment, she vanished for the second time, but now forever.

Through their sculpture, Dobrila and Erwin caught that  dramatic moment when Eurydice disappears in front of Orpheus’s eyes and returns to the underworld. Their sculpture, made of wood and glass, two seemingly incompatible materials, shows all the intensity and emotions of her second death. She is disappearing, her body is dissolving, although she still wearing the most beautiful glass dress.

“This is a very romantic but sad story where the tragedy happened just at the moment everyone expected love,” Erwin Overes said.

Dobrila Pintar and Erwin Overes presented their second joint artwork, ‘Black Swan’ in October 2015 at ‘Studio Oh!’

During the work on Eurydice, Erwin Overes worked with the wood and Dobrila Pintar with the glass. In her studio at Bridgeport Art Center Gallery in Chicago, she made the glass items for the dress, combining more than 2,000 tiny pieces of glass flowers, leaves and buds.

After “Eurydice,” Dobrila and Erwin made other fascinating glass sculptures – “Black Swan” (2015), “Haru” (2015), “Hana” (2015),  “Whatever…” (2016) and all of them got exceptional feedback from the audience.

Their second sculpture, “Black Swan,” was presented at Studio Oh! the next year, in 2015. The motive of  Black Swan comes from the ballet “Swan Lake” and it is again a tragic love theme. The story says that Prince Siegfried learned on the day of his 18th birthday that he must choose his wife and get married. Surprised by this sudden order and thinking what to do, the Prince walked into the forest, and there, on the lake, saw a flock of beautiful swans that quietly sailed on the lake. The most beautiful swan had the crown on its head. When the night came the swan took the crown off and turned into the most beautiful woman Prince had ever seen in his life. Her name was Odette, the queen of the swans. She told him that evil wizard Von Rothbart, put the spell on her and her girlfriends and turned them into the birds. This curse can only be broken by the love of a young man for the most beautiful girl among them. Until that happens, they will sail along the lake that their parents, filled with sorrow, have filled with their tears.

Enchanted by Odette’s beauty, Prince Siegfried, fell in love with her, but wizard Von Rothbart, tricked him and the Prince, not knowing, declared his love to magician’s daughter Odile. Realizing that he was deceived, he ran to Odette asking her for forgiveness. Since the evil wizard still demanded from Prince to marry her, Odette and he committed suicide by throwing themselves into the lake. This act of love and sacrifice broke Rothbart’s power, and he was destroyed.

Dobrila Pintar said that she wanted to give feathers the same authenticity they have in reality. That’s why she added to every feather threads of silver glass to make them look as lifelike as possible.

And another fascinating glass artwork –  ‘Hana’ (blossom) – the geisha’s head

“Erwin Overes and I work well together, and unlike our previous work on ‘Eurydice,’ where we worked spontaneously, this time we made a plan and precious structure,” Dobrila Pintar said.

After “Eurydice” and “Black Swan,” Dobrila Pintar and Erwin Overes created more extraordinary sculptures – “Haru” (springtime) and “Hana” (blossom). “Haru” is beautiful light blue kimono enriched by small, delicate pink flowers, while “Hana” represents the head of a geisha with the hair made from leather and hair ornaments made of glass.

Their last creation, a captivating sculpture named “Whatever…” is a transgender head with a huge, red hat made of glass. With this sculpture, they showed the fact that people nowadays are more fluid in their sexual identity. These breathtaking red roses and ornaments Dobrila Pintar has made are probably the most beautiful pieces of glass any artist can make.

The last creation of Dobrila Pintar and Erwin Overes is a captivating sculpture named ‘Whatever….’ 

Erwin Overes and Dobrila Pintar are a well-known and respected artist in Chicago’s art circles. Dobrila’s unique jewelry made of colored glass and metal is famous in all America. She received many awards for her work, but one of the most important was The Artist of the Month she got in 2012. This recognition has opened the door for her to the famous Art Institute of Chicago and connected her with other artists, galleries, and curators.

With Lisa Stefaniak, Erwin Overes is the owner of the gallery ’Studio Oh! in Chicago. In their gallery, they produce and display their own original art, but they also give the opportunity to professional and emerging artists to exhibit. The gallery’s main focus is modern and contemporary art. Located in the Chicago Arts District of Pilsen, ‘Studio Oh!’ partakes in the monthly 2nd Fridays Gallery Night where over 30+ creative spaces showcase an exciting display of art and artists from Chicago and beyond. You can see their sculptures at Erwin Overes’ Studio Oh! in Chicago.

~ Milica Puric ~