Cinema: Priča o Subi (Serbia)
The documentary film Priča o Subi (The Story of Suba), directed by Andrej Milinković, tells the story of the life of one of the greatest composers, producers and authors from this region, who created in Yugoslavia but also in Brazil.
Different in everything, and above all in the creativity of his work, Suba spread around him the spirit of art and musicality different from everything that had existed in Yugoslavia until then. The documentary brought to life the legend of one of our greatest artists, and not only from this region. In Brazil, there is the Institute Suba, his compositional and production works are still present in all parts of the planet, a quarter of a century after he tragically lost his life, and how much he actually went ahead of his time under the pseudonym Rex Ilusivii, was emotionally and unconventionally shown in this documentary in which his mother, closest friends, collaborators and the rich archive of the Mitar Subotić – Suba Foundation and Radio Television of Vojvodina tell his story.
The former music editor of Radio Novi Sad, Jovanka Beba Stepanović, listening with a lot of emotion and without a single spoken word to the old tapes on which the radio shows and interviews she did with Suba were recorded, guides the viewers through the entire film, which is a kind of Subotić’s biography where we get to know him from his boyhood days, his first artistic steps in Novi Sad, to prestigious world awards, scholarships, life and work in Paris, which he left for Sao Paulo, where he on November 3rd, 1999, at the age of 38, he lost his life in a fire that broke out in his apartment.
From the first instruments he played, accordions and pianos, through various synthesizers, keyboards, to everything that could produce sound, in the film Priča o Subi (The Story of Suba) and its modern animation and design, we get to know the main character who, as a musician and producer, worked with Ekatarina Velika, Haustor and the most important names of the great Yugoslavia in the 1980s. He was also the author of the music for the radio and television commercials, fashion shows, and theater performances of that era.
Suba’s versatility was not only related to music, especially experimental and electronic music, with which many associate him, but he was also involved in writing, philosophy, studying the music of Indios, Afro-Brazilian rhythms and the infinity of his interests and activities, for which he is known on all continents.
The album Angel’s breath, from 1994, was recorded in Brazil with Milan Mladenović, the guitarist and singer of the band Ekatarina Velika.
The film’s team of authors remind us with this documentary that Suba is still present among us.
