With her feature debut Fantasy, Slovenian filmmaker Kukla transitions from short-form and music video work to long-form narrative with a project that extends thematically and stylistically from her earlier short Sisters.
Developed over several years and written during residencies, commercial work, and pregnancy, Fantasy combines a collaborative rehearsal-driven process with a visual language informed by Kukla’s background in audiovisual media.
Set against a post-Yugoslav backdrop, the film follows a group of young women navigating identity, gender roles, and regional history.
Spoken in five languages and drawing on mixed cultural backgrounds, Fantasy uses a gradual shift in tone and palette to mark personal and narrative transformations. The director’s method includes open-form scripting, active actor input, and a visual strategy designed to support emotional and thematic developments.
In the discussion with Screen Anarchy, Kukla and cast members Sarah Al Saleh, Alina Juhart, and Mina Milovanović talk the film’s multi-year development, the impact of its rehearsal methodology, and its engagement with topics such as gender expression, regional identity, and the role of music and sound in story construction.
Screen Anarchy: What were some of the inspirations behind the script, particularly as you were approaching its creation?
Kukla: Right, so I guess it started with the music video phase, which sparked some memories for me. I began writing a script for a short film Sisters, but I didn’t show it to most of the actors. I just guided them through the scenes. Mia Skrbinac was the only one who knew the script, and that’s because I wrote the role specifically for her. She was the only professional actress involved.
When we were creating the short film, it was such an intense process, and it really defined all of us in a way. I thought, “Okay, now I’m ready for the feature film.” Initially, I only wanted to make the feature film, but I just didn’t have the experience. I was so afraid of working with a long form. So, I began writing the script for Fantasy, and it took years.
I worked on it in between music videos and commercials. I'd write whenever I could, at airports, hotel lobbies, wherever I had a free moment. I finally finished it at the Cinéfondation residence in Cannes, and then I got pregnant. Still, I kept working on it, right up until the shooting started.
For me, the script is always an open form. That’s just how I work. I want the actors to collaborate, regardless of whether they’re seasoned professionals or first-time actors. I really try to offer them space so they can contribute. They should express the lines in their own words. I’m looking for that natural expression.
As the actresses mentioned, we had many different rehearsals, but the key thing was bonding. That’s when I knew we were ready for the scenes. I always feel like a first-time director before every project, and I’ve been active in this field for ten years.
But I still have the same amount of fear and excitement before every project. It’s like this every time. So, this was a very collaborative process, and in the end, of course, the film is born again in the editing room. But it was intense and not always easy.
You could have tackled the topic through a more traditional Eastern or Central European social realist lens, but you chose a more magical realist approach. Why did you decide to go with that style?
Kukla: Well, it's very natural for me. It's just how I see and process the world. It’s how I express myself. I’ve always had a bold visual language, but I always want it to serve the story. I’m not a formalist. I’m very visual, but I believe the form should support the content and the story. It feels organic to me.
For example, with Sisters, we used wide lenses, even for close-ups, because we wanted to emphasize the empty space. But with Fantasy, we got closer to the characters. We used a special lens, this old Canon lens, to get that dreamy feel.
It was important to capture that fantasy feeling we all have when we close our eyes and think about an ideal life. It’s also how I see the lens when we fall in love or explore new parts of ourselves. Everything was very thought out, the symbols, the details, the composition. Everything has a purpose.
The film's color palette and lighting remind me of your music video background. Do you see that as part of your signature style?
Kukla: I don’t shy away from my music video background. I know some filmmakers have this prejudice against music videos, but I see it as an equally valid art form, a legitimate branch of film art. I really enjoy the hybridity that happens when you bring that background into filmmaking.
As for the color palette, I like social realism, but after working in our region for a while, I was a bit tired of it. I didn’t do it intentionally to bring freshness to the genre. It just came out naturally.
The evolution of the story really needed this approach. The visual style evolves with the narrative. To me, the main visual question was how to transition from gray to lilac. Those two colors represent something in my brain, that’s how I process them. So, for me, it’s all about getting the characters out of that grey concrete world and into something more colorful and fantastic.
Alina Juhart
That shift from gray to lilac is a strong visual motif in your film.
Kukla: Yes, and I wanted to play with the angles too, how close we get to the characters and where we place the camera. Take Jasna’s mother, Adina, she’s always shot from the same angle. That was intentional. It’s her throne, her position, and it’s a memory that keeps repeating. It’s a visual symbol for her character’s place in the story.
But also, the sound in your film is quite prominent. Could you share what the idea behind the music was?
Kukla: That comes from my background, actually. I started doing music when I was around six or seven, and film came a bit later, when I was 11. So, music came before film for me. The thing with sound is, I treat it very meticulously because it affects us deeply. Sound enters our bodies before sight, it hits us emotionally right away. I’m very aware of that.
I use music not just as a background or to lift the emotions, but sometimes as an additional character. At times, it’s a disruption of a state or even a form of political or social commentary. For example, in Fantasy, when she lip-syncs to this song called Gotova, it’s a cover of a huge Balkan song. The lyrics talk about a woman writing her testament because the man doesn’t love her anymore. It really encapsulates the state of mind in the Balkans, so I thought it was important to include that.
I worked with composer Relja Ćupić because I didn’t want to do the music myself. I really wanted someone else to bring their own freshness and uniqueness. He blended contemporary sound with the Balkan melos I needed.
And with sound designer Julij Zornik, he’s a legend in our region, we paid such close attention to the details of the sound. It was crucial for me that everything felt organic, that it wasn't gimmicky. It’s not something you always hear, but something you feel.
You mentioned turbo folk before. Could you clarify?
Kukla: We do use turbo folk songs, which is a genre from the former Yugoslavia. It’s quite connected to the political state of the region.
So, in a positive or negative sense?
Kukla: Well, it depends on your perspective. They’re not protest songs at all, actually. I think they were more like a sedative for the nation. But they’re an interesting phenomenon because people really connect to them, even though they might be ashamed to admit it.
At one point, Serbia was completely immersed in turbo folk, and the entire Balkans followed. What I find fascinating about it is the lyrics, they’re often about a woman as a victim or a martyr of unrequited love. This really spoke to me as a strong reflection on the position of women in the Balkans.
It’s also interesting because while the lyrics portray women as victims, the women in the videos are often portrayed as hypersexualized. That contradiction, that complex representation, is something that intrigued me. And that’s why I incorporated some of those songs.
When briefly discussed the male and female aspect in terms of Carl Gustav Jung´s animus and anima before the interview, you mentioned you wanted to add something. Could you elaborate on that?
Kukla: Yes, I was intrigued when you brought up Jung, because my best friend, he’s a psychologist and astrologer, he’s really into Jungian theory. He watched the film and said something really interesting. He said that when you’re born a man, you just are a man, but when you're born a woman, you have to become a woman. The animus is just the animus, but the anima has to become the anima. I loved that idea, and it really resonated with me.
For all the women in the film, they are, in a way, becoming women, regardless of how they were born. Sina, for example, has this strong desire to be a boy because of her father’s expectations. I was really playing with that notion, showing that many of us struggle with our identity. It’s a process of transformation, of becoming. That’s the Jungian thought I wanted to explore in the film.
You mentioned Yugoslavia, how does the history and the politics of Yugoslavia relate to the story of FANTASY?
Kukla: It’s deeply connected to the present. The characters are from mixed families, one is Bosnian, one is Serbian, one is Albanian. For example, Mihrije is Albanian. So, we have five languages in the film. It’s a reflection of the region's fractured history and its ongoing consequences. For someone outside the region, it might seem complex, but to me, it’s all connected.
Characters in the film speak in five languages?
Kukla: Yeah, five languages. So, I know that to someone who's foreign, the difference might not be that noticeable, but to us, it’s very clear. They’re constantly mixing languages in the film. I wanted to portray that feeling, especially as they grow up in this kind of... square, where there's still a strong tradition. That’s why the setting is so important, and also, they go to Macedonia, which was part of the former Yugoslavia. In a way, time feels stuck there, especially in that town.
For me, this reflects my own experience as a second-generation immigrant. My parents are Macedonian, but I grew up in Slovenia. It’s a strange feeling because I’ve inherited this nostalgia for a country I’ve never lived in, neither Yugoslavia nor Macedonia.
When I go there, I’m a stranger, but I also don’t fit in in Slovenia. And the actresses felt this too. They all come from mixed backgrounds, and we really wanted to reflect that experience. It’s confusing at times, but it also gives us freedom because we don’t hold on to any rigid nationalistic identity.
You mentioned you got pregnant before finishing the script. Did this change anything about the way you approached the film?
Kukla: A lot. It was very direct. When I was pregnant, I was still working on the film, and then my son was born just a few months before we started prepping. By the time he was one, we were already shooting. So, I had him with me on set all the time. My husband is the director of photography Lazar Bogdanović, so it was really an intense family project. Our son even appears in the film as an extra in one scene.
I have to be honest, at first, I felt guilty about getting pregnant during such an intense period of preparation. I had this feeling like, “Oh no, I’ve messed everything up.” But then I realized that it happened for a reason. It gave me the chance to experience firsthand what it’s like to be a mother in today’s world, and that broadened my perspective on femininity, womanhood, and the position of women in society.
I saw how, in the film industry, people congratulate you when you're pregnant, but then after you give birth, many of them just disappear. It’s like we’re seen as burdens once we have children, even though we bring life into the world.
But you know, it also empowered me. I had people at film festivals make inappropriate comments about my pregnancy, but I didn’t let it bring me down. Of course, my son is my priority, but Fantasy is my child too. It’s a shared project for everyone involved.
It was a valuable experience, and I feel that no one can make me a victim unless I let them. Of course, aside from extreme circumstances like war, but I’m not delusional about that. In the end, the experience was empowering, and I believe it made me stronger.
What drove you to the script? If you saw the script before, that was like the determination to join the project or because of the previous collaboration and, you know, how you got on board? And what were your initial thoughts about the script?
Mia Skrbinac: I read one of the drafts of the script about two years before we started shooting, I think. It was because of the shaving scene, Kukla, our diractress, wanted to open a discussion about that moment early on. By that time, we had already filmed Sisters, met our characters, and built their backgrounds. I tried to read the script through Jasna’s eyes. It felt right, and in the end, I felt released.
My first thoughts were, “There’s something real in this fantasy world. A lot of it. People should know this story.”I already knew some of the answers the characters were asking themselves, some of those I asked myself and I felt a connection. So for me, there was no real choice, it was clear.I believe that’s part of the duty that comes with the pleasure of our job: to contribute if you can, and if you’re asked to. It felt like this piece of art could heal. All of us involved, and many who will see the film.
Sarah Al Saleh: I think, yeah, it was it was the whole process that began with the short movie Sisters in 2019 and yes, it was like an extension, it was like this big process of how much… six, seven years that for me it was my first role in the short movie, like ever played as an actress. And it was with we three sisters. Didn't know the script, I mean, Mia did, but us two didn’t, so everything was very organic.
And we just, you know, at the moment I met Kukla, I believed in her vision, like, really. And I just let myself, you know, in with all my identity as Sarah also and in fantasy it was like just an extension of this, but also a stronger influence and process because fantasy was involved and it really changed our identity in the movie and also, like, for me, if I can say for myself also out of the movie, for myself it really shaped me.
Alina Juhart: I think Fantasy, for me, honestly, when I was first approached by the people, like, I didn’t believe they can contact you for something serious, but I just didn’t expect it. I was back with that at that time a part of a music show because I’m a singer and it was when it got real was actually when I met Kukla, because we were talking and she said, “You are actually saying some sentences from the script.”
And still, I wasn’t sure I’m gonna do it, because, you know, you don’t know what it’s about, and for me especially, it’s like if I don’t feel it, I really have to feel everything. And if it doesn’t feel right, like, you can give me an Oscar, but if it’s not me, I don’t need that.
Sarah Al Saleh
You mean like the script, or the people involved, the crew?
Alina Juhart: Everything. But first, like, the first experience was with Kukla and I was like, I mean, love with this woman. Like, we went home because we are actually neighbors in Belgrade. And we went home together, and it was like this beautiful experience, and then I got the script. And I was crying so much, I had to read it again, like, immediately, because I had to call myself and it was the sign that I just have to do it.
Then I met Sarah for the first time, and there was the chemistry there and then I met the girls, and it was like, you know, I was just telling…We were just talking yesterday because yesterday morning we were all in my hotel room at the end, getting ready together because it's ou, we have chemistry on film, but also there is chemistry behind the scenes, like real chemistry. And with Kukla, like the process of everything was hard.
Why was it hard?
Alina Juhart: Because it was healing, you know? You go to the parts of yourself where you have to be vulnerable, it’s raw, it’s all kinds of emotions. But, you know, if anything fantasy has taught me, that’s that there is beauty in the pain and pain in the beauty, you know?
So it’s, I think, it goes for all of us because, like, being naked for me, especially for every woman, for every man, but for me it’s another level that I wasn’t even aware of while I was reading the script, that I’m gonna have to do. And so you're just basically going step-by-step revealing all those layers, and it’s important. It’s taught me a lot about myself, about the girls, about life in general.
Sounds like a therapy.
Sarah Al Saleh: Exactly. And for myself also, I didn’t expect to have this process in real life parallel to the role. And then I found out in between the process, wow, this role is actually very similar to me. And then you have to manage to separate them.
But because I was acting for the first time, I couldn’t do this. And I also, like Alina said, I just put myself in, I was naked totally with my emotions, with everything, and then I was wow. And when I saw the film the first time, I finally realized that I healed a part of me throughout the six years of making these two film and the whole process.
Sarah Al Saleh: I was crying three times in between the movie and after the movie. I want to call my mom because the thing is that, yes, I found out yesterday that a part of me grew, you know, my identity shaped within this movie, as Sarah, you know, and I finally let go. Like with the role, I let go a lot of things that I accomplished in my growth. I think we all had this intense process finding our, also our voice and our identity and our confidence out of the movie because, yeah.
Alina Juhart: But it was honestly because of the process that took our providers for us because it was like a lot of the, a big part of our preparations wasn’t written in the script. It was us watching the film together, a movie together, or listening to a song or doing these exercises where we got to know each other on a personal level.
You know, it wasn’t like we were just a vessel, reading the script, being so… There was one exercise where we played each other’s roles. Like, how would Mina… Mine was Mithre, I think. So, you know, it’s interesting because you have to think of the other person’s emotions. So, it’s really nice to get to know each other in that way, and that’s why I think we bonded so much, and that’s where the chemistry is from.
But did those exercises have an impact on the script or on the lines?
Sarah Al Saleh: For sure, for sure. Every exercise you gave us, it totally made sense. So, we understood each other more, like all the roles inside the film and also how each one of us would react to certain things. We have different characters and different approaches and different emotions, like reactions to emotions.
Does that mean that you changed the dialogue of your character after you were role-playing?
Sarah Al Saleh: Sure.
Alina Juhart: And also it was very smart because the things that were happening to us privately during the process, they would sometimes reflect what we needed to translate into our roles.
Synchronicity, right?
Alina Juhart and Sarah Al Saleh: Exactly!
Sarah Al Saleh: So this was crazy, too. Like, this was happening, that's why I said like I grew out as Sarah because I healed some parts of me as Sarah that I saw in Mithrie, you know, that I was also lacking in real life.
Mina Milovanović
What did you think about the script when you read it the last time?
Mina Milovanović: Okay, so for the first film, what brought me to the project was definitely the money. I was 17 and broke, and the shoot was four days and the pay was great. So, and then for the second time, what brought me back was the connections I made. Honestly, it was the connections I made.
Alina Juhart: The thing is that us four, we are so different, like personally, but there’s just, we have to respect every one of us because we are so in ourselves, you know? Like, Mina is Mina and we love her for that. Sarah is beautiful in her world, and Mia is mom, she is Yasna.
The thing is that these girls knew each other before me. Like, they filmed together, they knew each other for five years, I think. Then I got in the middle, which wasn’t hard. But it was interesting, you know, like four people. I mean, we had conversations with the two of us, me and Kukla, but with them, it was interesting because I had to become a part of the group which was already formed, which isn’t always the easiest thing, but it was naturally.
Sarah Al Saleh: It was organic.
Alina Juhart: It was organic. Everything was organic, like the connections with every single one of them and the conversations we had apart from filming were interesting. Mina is looking at me because I’m always provocative for Mina.
Me and Sarah are in real life like we are on the screen but without the kissing mostly. And with Mina, there is this connection that I had instantly. I genuinely know that I’ll be seeing these girls doing some big stuff in the future and I’m going to be the proudest, and I’m not even going to talk about Kukla.
Mina Milovanović: And Alina is going to get us there because she’s an amazing manager. She’s everything. Like, anything you need, she’ll just make it happen, right?
Sarah Al Saleh: She will make it happen.
You all mentioned your characters and the individual personalities and how it helped you to grow, but there is like this topic regarding the Balkan Patriarchy. I would maybe be curious how you relate to this bigger topic?
Mina Milovanović: I do not think that my character doesn't contribute as much in terms of pushing against the patriarchy, because even in the beginning, when she meets Fantasy, she's kind of standoffish towards this. She's not really into the whole thing, and I think it even shows more towards the end of the film where she kind of wants to be more feminine, to appeal to the boy she wants to impress.
So, I would say, honestly, it doesn't push back on the patriarchy in the film as much as people would expect scenes with her character to, but definitely I would say she embodies how a lot of girls act, where they want to kind of appeal to the male gaze, right? Or what a woman should be.
But there is a motif in the film regarding tomboyishness. How did you perceive it when you learned about it being such a prominent aspect of the film?
Mina Milovanović: Honestly, it didn’t do anything to me personally because even in real life, I am a bit more tomboyish. And I know a lot of girls that are tomboyish. And I think it's way more accepted even in real life than in the film.
But in the film, I think it went a bit, it was shown off as extreme, I guess. Because even, you know, like, they don't appeal to, like, any gender role. Or just completely opposite. If we, as individuals, we have masculine traits, we have feminine traits.
In the film in general, I think it was shown nicely because it went to both extremes, which I really, really liked because it was super fair. I think it showed the extreme part of someone being completely against their gender role and someone super committed to the, like, patriarchy gender role, right?
Mia Skrbinac: I completely agree with Mina on everything. For me, tomboyish is also a kind of comfort zone. But I’d add one more aspect to it—one more person: our costume designer, Damir Raković - Ponorelii. His way of choosing clothes really helped with embodying those extremes. We spent hours in fittings, which would usually exhaust me, but not in this case. He was carefully observing our posture and micro changes in the body. When he saw the right one, that was it. We couldn’t even tell the difference between two grey t-shirts, but he could. Later, whenever I put on Jasna’s clothes, my body would automatically go into her pose, her comfort zone. It was amazing. That kind of methodical approach is so rare in our region.
Sarah Al Saleh: With Mithrie, I think it's very interesting, there’s two things: traditional expectations from her and also the search for her identity, because she doesn't know freedom like in this way. I mean, she’s being raised in a family that expects her to be married and she's always doing stuff that her parents are telling her.
I don't think she actually knows freedom or knows what she wants. So, she's in search of identity and along with this, on her path, it comes to gender and sexuality search. And when I meet Fantasy, I mean, this is my interpretation, but I think I fell in love with her because she, I saw a person that knew exactly what she wants, and she has this strong identity. And I didn’t know what I want and who I am, and so I think I fell in love with this state of being that I saw in her.
I am a tomboy and I have the respect for these two other sisters, so Mithrie is very labile. Having these rules that we created, and I’m just like following them. But then it’s like, oh, maybe I don’t want this, maybe I want something else. I see this person that knows exactly what she wants. And I’m just I don’t think, I think sexuality just comes with that, like this search of what I want or...
Alina Juhart: I think for Fantasy, it’s like the thing that Mina mentioned, actually. I think that Kukla’s way of presenting the reactions of the girls to Fantasy were exactly what me and Alina have had those in life, and I think it presents it so well because for an audience member, I’m sure everyone at the beginning, like, except maybe people from the LGBTQIA+ community, except for them, Fantasy and Alina, we are both at shock at the beginning, but then we just fell in love with us.
But it really is like that, because I feel like it’s important for them to have this reaction, because the audience connects with it, and then by them opening up to me and Mithrie falling in love, Mina falling in love with Alina, Mina with Fantasy. (laughs) I’m just being provocative a bit. I think it’s important to have this contrast.
At the end of the day, lwhen you meet a person that really lives her full potential for me. ... I’m from Slovenia, which is like semi-acceptable, and I moved to Belgrade, which is a patriarchy at its works. But you know, throw me to the wolves and I’m gonna be the leader of the pack.
I never felt more like a woman than I feel in Belgrade because, because the polarity of the patriarchy gives you is the thing that makes you stand out even more and to form yourself like truly and your character. Both personally and in the film, you can build it because it makes you stronger and it makes you realize even more like.
Me in New York, I would be like basic, you know. But in Belgrade, I can really stand out in the sense of just really being myself and really questioning myself every single day, who and what am I and wanting to become the best version of myself because I feel like every step that I make is watched and I really have to want to be the best version of myself in order to present it in the right way.
Images courtesy of Locarno Film Festival