15/01/2024 - Production company Wolfgang & Dolly has also launched a crowdfunding campaign to help the film on its way

After spending five years at the development and principal-photography stage, the feature-length debut by Franko Dujmić, a visual artist, animator and filmmaker already behind a couple of shorts, went into the post-production phase in December last year. Funk YU is described as a docufiction work, a hero’s journey and a road movie in search of a lesser-known part of Yugoslav music history marked by funky tones.

Writer-director Dujmić is also the protagonist of the film. His search begins with him taking an interest in a particular single on vinyl that was a hit back in the day, but which is a rarity nowadays. His contact with a record collector named Jerko and a couple of Zagreb-based DJs sees him embark on a quest that involves road trips to different cities in the former Yugoslavia, such as Podgorica, Belgrade, Ljubljana, Skopje and Rijeka, where he meets more DJs, collectors, rock-music and pop-culture historians, antique “diggers” and YouTube repository operators that feed his obsession more and more. The aim of the film is not to re-tell the factual story of a piece of music history, but rather to “present a touching tale about community as well as an educational and informative film about vinyl records, collecting LPs, preserving musical heritage, and the social impact and changes in the region, among other topics”, as stated by the production team.

Crew-wise, the picture was lensed by Frane Pamić, who recently made his feature-length debut as a cinematographer on Lukas Nola’s Escort [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and will be edited by Danijel Brlas, with this marking his debut in the feature-length format. The movie is being produced by Tamara Babun and Matija Drniković for their company Wolfgang & Dolly, Mladen Ivanović is the co-producer through Videa Production, while Lada Bonacci and Aleksandar Arsovski have been dealing with the music rights clearance, which represents a sizeable part of a film like this. Funk YU was also supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Film Centre of Montenegro, RE-ACT Development Fund, and the cultural funds of the Croatian cities of Zagreb, Rijeka and Dubrovnik.

Although crowdfunding campaigns for such projects “by and for” certain communities have become common practice, launching one is still a novelty in the Croatian audiovisual sector. The campaign initiated by Wolfgang & Dolly has the goal of covering part of the funds necessary to complete the film. “We need this small contribution to complete our epic journey,” said the director, adding: “The whole process of shooting the film proved that the entire scene around funk music, vinyl and parties is very much alive and kicking in the whole region, from Ljubljana to Skopje.” Specifically, the funds will be aimed at obtaining the remaining music rights, recording the voice-overs, doing the animation and graphic design, as well as completing the more usual tasks like finishing off the editing, the sound mix and the colour grading. The campaign at Ulule is active until 25 January and can be accessed by clicking here.