{"id":125306,"date":"2025-11-10T07:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T07:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/125306\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T07:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T07:23:08","slug":"the-leaves-hang-trembling-finds-hope-in-one-serbian-teachers-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/125306\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Leaves Hang Trembling’ Finds Hope in One Serbian Teacher’s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSerbian filmmaker Stefan\u00a0Djordjevi\u0107 is prepping his sophomore feature, \u201cThe Leaves Hang Trembling,\u201d a hybrid docufiction that explores the impact of a teacher\u2019s life and work on the people around her. The project took home the top prize last week at the Crossroads Co-Production Forum in the Thessaloniki Film Festival<\/a>\u2019s industry section, Agora.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs with\u00a0Djordjevi\u0107\u2019s feature debut, \u201cWind, Talk to Me,\u201d which premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival this year before winning the top prize at Sarajevo, \u201cThe Leaves Hang Trembling\u201d is a cinematic ode to the director\u2019s late mother,\u00a0who he describes as \u201cthe most important person in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDjordjevi\u0107\u2019s\u00a0first film\u00a0\u2014 a deeply personal attempt to reckon with his mother\u2019s death \u2014 earned a rapturous review from\u00a0Variety\u2019s Guy Lodge, who praised<\/a> the \u201cmarvelous\u201d docufiction for how it worked through grief \u201cwith wit, grace and imagination\u2026weav[ing] fact, fiction and memory into a heart-bursting tribute to [the director\u2019s] late mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Leaves Hang Trembling\u201d is a companion piece to that film, broadening its scope beyond the four walls of the\u00a0Djordjevi\u0107 family home.\u00a0\u201c\u2018Wind, Talk to Me\u2019 was about how [my mother] inspired my family,\u201d the director told\u00a0Variety. \u201cBut with \u2018The Leaves Hang Trembling,\u2019 we can also see how she touched others as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film documents the life of\u00a0Djordjevi\u0107\u2019s mother,\u00a0Negrica Neca \u0110or\u0111evi\u0107, who in 2002 was hired by a local elementary school, where she worked for more than a decade as a beloved teacher, community leader and president of the teachers\u2019 union. Fourteen years later, she was summarily dismissed without cause, \u201cleaving her devastated emotionally,\u201d and with the sense that \u201cher faith in community and loyalty [had been] betrayed,\u201d according to the director.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her darkest moment, however, Neca\u2019s students rallied behind her and rose up in her defense, rekindling her hope and her faith in her community. Using direct quotes from her diaries and letters, as well as contemporaneous audio recordings of the events as they unfolded, \u201cThe Leaves Hang Trembling\u201d will tell the story of an inspirational woman \u201cwho gave so much of her energy, and also dedication and caring and love\u201d to her family, her students and her community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDjordjevi\u0107\u00a0said the film \u201cexplores what it means to care beyond rules, to connect with others in ways that endure,\u201d while also urging audiences \u201cto feel the courage and compassion of the teacher, to witness the quiet strength of everyday care, and to leave believing in the transformative power of human connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Leaves Hang Trembling\u201d is being produced against the backdrop of a broad, student-led protest movement that for the past year has galvanized the Serbian public against President Aleksandar\u00a0Vu\u010di\u0107. It began last November, after the collapse of a railway station canopy in the city of Novi Sad that killed 16 people, sparking outrage over the endemic corruption and the culture of impunity that many Serbians blamed for the disaster.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt this week\u2019s industry award ceremony in Thessaloniki, where \u201cThe Leaves Hang Trembling\u201d won the top prize<\/a> in the Crossroads Co-Production Forum, producer Dragana\u00a0Jovovi\u0107, of Belgrade-based Non-Aligned Films, who\u2019s producing the film in co-production with Vanja Jambrovi\u0107 of Restart, dedicated the win to\u00a0Dijana Hrka, the mother of a 27-year-old man, Stefan, who was killed in the Novi Sad tragedy. Earlier this month, Hrka launched a hunger strike in front of Serbia\u2019s National Assembly, demanding a \u201creal investigation\u201d into the events at Novi Sad and calling for \u201cthe liberation of all arrested students during the protest,\u201d according to\u00a0Jovovi\u0107.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Djordjevi\u0107 said he wants to make a \u201cuniversal film,\u201d he also recognizes that the events of \u201cThe Leaves Hang Trembling\u201d and the current political crisis in Serbia are connected. Since last year, many Serbian teachers and university professors have been summarily dismissed for supporting the student protests; in many cases, noted Djordjevi\u0107, the students have rallied in their teachers\u2019 defense.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s why the director sees \u201cThe Leaves Hang Trembling\u201d as not only a testament to his late mother and the lives she touched, but as a part of his country\u2019s \u201ccollective memory\u201d \u2014 a history that continues to be written in real time.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe events depicted in the film \u201cdidn\u2019t just happen nine years ago,\u201d\u00a0Djordjevi\u0107\u00a0said. \u201cIt\u2019s still happening, and on a bigger level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Thessaloniki Film Festival runs Oct. 30 \u2013 Nov. 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serbian filmmaker Stefan\u00a0Djordjevi\u0107 is prepping his sophomore feature, \u201cThe Leaves Hang Trembling,\u201d a hybrid docufiction that explores the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46,79140,71554],"class_list":["post-125306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-stefan-djordjevic","tag-thessaloniki-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}