Film production in New York, NY
Artsanity (short film)
LOGLINE
While in lockdown in New York City, a photographer slowly falls prey to the prison of his own mind.
Director Statement
“Artsanity” is a short suspense film which sprang from dwelling on the growing uncertainty during early stages of Covid-19 pandemic. I was thinking of how to keep my mind clear and strong and I decided to photograph the metamorphosis of NYC almost every night, starting at midnight, as part of my own artistic salvation. As a New Yorker I’ve always been comfortable with this city and its people, but this time my experience was different. During that time, standing on the empty streets of a silenced city, I sensed that there was an enormous shift and that the change was coming. At the beginning, I felt scared, vulnerable and haunted, being on my own on the lonely, dark streets but then, night after night, the city acquired a magical dimension – I almost adopted the city like an urban orphan, with its own wounds and suppressed pulsation. I was in deep pain and the streets’ quietness started to pull me in. I wanted to talk to these giant, solid buildings to hear their stories. I gradually started to feel at ease. After several weeks of endlessly cruising the city’s desolate streets in the night, I was convinced that I would like to somehow transfer this unique inner experience into a visual form. Those same thoughts were growing on me every night until I shared my experience with my co-writer. “Artsanity” film was born.
CAST:
Jimmy Dalton as Photographer
Arselajda Buraku as Girl
Maureen Fitzgerald – Voice
Matt Surges – Voice
CREW:
Written, Directed, Cinematography and Editing Aleksandar Kostic
Co- writer Joe Leone
Production & Costume Designer Marija Plavsic Kostic
Sound Design and Sound Mix Albert Leusink
Visual Effects Vladimir Djiri Vasiljevic
Music by Boy Harsher
COLOR BY NICE SHOES
Colorist: Sal Malfitano
Online Editor: Rachael Black
Workflow Supervisor: Lucas Greenwood Andrei
DI Executive Producer: Katie Hinsen
Produced by Kostic Films 2021
CAPIO (feature film)
Directed, Cinematography, Written & Produced by Aleksandar Kostic
LOGLINE
An amateur astronomer discovers a strange new star in the sky that leads him into the heart of a dark conspiracy to control humanity by exploiting its addiction to technology.
SYNOPSIS
Currently in post-production. “Capio” is both a science-fiction drama and social commentary, about a mysterious entity which manipulates with people and their hunger for new technology to enslave a city that is more than willing to submit. This feature film examines the impact of the unprecedented infiltration of AI technology into our daily lives and the extent to which it may be undermining our capacity to perceive and interact with the world and the people around us. It is the stark human isolation, induced by technology and its destructive consequences, that drive the main current of the feature film “Capio”.
Produced by Kostic Films 2021
[button link=”https://capiomovie.com/” color=”silver”]CAPIO WEBSITE[/button]
ALLURE (feature film)
BUY FILM 
Produced & Cinematography by Aleksandar Kostic
Directed & Produced by Vladan Nikolic
As a passionate filmmaker I love exploring and communicating with people through my cinematography.
Allure is a process-driven film, where filmmakers and performers (actors and non-actors) work together through a series of improvisations, character building, and discussions to flesh out the story and protagonists. The camera follows the characters. All dialogue is improvised, as the scene is worked through.
Inspired by true stories, ALLURE focuses on five women in NYC, who have come from different countries and settings. Each one struggles to overcome her personal conflict, set against the backdrop of world economical insecurity. These separate, but intersecting multi-ethnic storylines touch and inform each other, and create a larger narrative, about gender, emigration, power and class.
REVIEW:
“…Aleksandar Kostic, who turns New York City into a dreamy melting pot of conflict and yearning.”
“…Aleksandar Kostic’s roving camerawork and grainy, black-and-white cinematography, though the camera’s agile movements often prove more kinetic and engaging…”
“…boasting striking black-and-white, widescreen cinematography by Aleksandar Kostic.”
“…women’s experiences have been strikingly captured by cinematographer Aleksandar Kostic in silvery black-and-white CinemaScope”
PARALLEL DREAMS (short film)
Directed, Cinematography, Written & Produced by Aleksandar Kostic
4K, 7min, 2015
“All that we see or seem but a dream within a dream” – Edgar Allan Poe
An artist Joseph Cornell immerses himself in the music of Debussy as he makes his art, watching his creation slowly come alive. At the same time, a dream is visiting Cornell, influencing his thoughts and decisions, and guiding him on how to complete his artwork. The experience leaves the viewer uncertain and unnerved about where the real world begins and ends. It’s almost as if there is a parallel universe mirroring our life on Earth — and it is the dream that spans over like a bridge connecting those universes.
“Sometimes when I wake up I don’t know if I am awake or I am still dreaming. My dreams appear so realistic that they leave me uncertain of where I exited them to enter the real world”- Aleksandar Kostic.
This film “Parallel Dreams” was made in between the original “Parallel Dreams” performances,and is made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and donations from Materials for the Arts.
FESTIVALS:
– Screening KEW GARDENS FESTIVAL OF CINEMA, QUEENS, NEW YORK (2017).
– Screening QUEENS WORLD FILM FESTIVAL, in REDSTONE THEATRE at MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE, QUEENS, NEW YORK (2017).
– AWARD at BaNeFF STOCKHOLM SWEDEN, CATEGORY FOR EXPERIMENTAL FILM. (2016)
– Best Experimental Film Award at Chandler International Film Festival in Arizona. (2016)
*WATCH ABOUT PARALLEL DREAMS PERFORMANCE
PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY (experimental film)
Directed, Cinematography, Written & Produced by Aleksandar Kostic
This 30-minute video documents the live experience of “Persistence of Memory”.
HD, 30min, 2012
Experimental film “Persistence of Memory” with Joan La Barbara’s original music premiered in Berlin, Germany on the opening night of MaerzMusic festival 17. march 2012 “Cage and Vonsequences”, celebrating the 100th anniversary of John Cage’s birth, as part of the live performance by Joan La Barbara and Ne(x)tworks.
Joan La Barbara introduced me to the chance procedures idea, inspired by the collaboration process of composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham, to create an event in which the film and music would be produced separately and played and projected simultaneously for the first time on opening night in Berlin.
The only rules that Joan and I set before collaborating on this project were that the film and music should each have a duration of 30 minutes, and that I would not even hear Joan’s music nor Joan would see my film until the until the opening night.
To create this film I used natural materials, water, colors, deferent type of liquids, sand, trees, clouds, stars, lighting, walking and driving through NYC and improvised lenses. I wanted to create a film that will come from the real world that I experience.
Music Composed by Joan La Barbara, composer and publisher member ASCAP©2012 Joan La Barbara
Music Performed by Ne(x)tworks:
Joan La Barbara (voice)
Stephen Gosling (piano)
Shelley Burgon (harp & laptop)
Yves Dharamraj (cello)
Miguel Frasconi (glass, flute & laptop)
Ariana Kim (violin)
Christopher McIntyre (trombone)
Sound Direction:
Martin Supper
Assistant Sound Direction:
Thoma Koch
FESTIVALS:
– World premiere opening night of MaerzMusik festival, 2012, “Cage and Consequences”, Berlin, Germany
JOURNEY (short film)
Directed, Cinematography, Written & Produced by Aleksandar Kostic
HD, 5 min, 2012
The ghost of Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch returns to Greenwich House, the community settlement she founded over a century earlier and roams through the musical landscape that now thrives there.
FESTIVALS:
– Screened at Big Apple Film Festival New York, 2012
A TOMB FOR BORIS DAVIDOVICH (short film)
Directed, Cinematography, Written & Produced by Aleksandar Kostic
2011, Narated by Miki Manojlovic, HD, 3min
Danilo Kis (February 22, 1935-October 15, 1989) was a Yugoslavian author and poet whose work was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. This short film is inspired by Kis story, “A Tomb for Boris Davidovich”.
FESTIVALS:
– Screened at Festival Krokodil, Belgrade, Serbia 2011
THE WORLD OF VIJA VETRA (documentary film)
Directed, Cinematography, Written & Produced by Aleksandar Kostic
Video, 48 min, 2008
This documentary tells the fascinating story of Vija Vetra, a world-renowned Latvian dancer, choreographer and teacher. At the age of 84, Vetra remains a vital and creative force, and her tale offers inspiration for both artists and lovers of the arts. In a career spanning seven decades, she has mastered diverse styles ranging from ballet to traditional Indian dance, and her talent has won her acclaim as a ‘spirit in human form’ and ‘the bridge between East and West.’ Her life is a celebration of the power and beauty of the art of dance but is also a powerful story of struggle, loneliness and sacrifice.
FESTIVALS
– 2010 Silver ACE Award in Las Vegas Film Festival
– 2010 Included in library of Documentary Edge Resource Center Auckland, NZ
– Screened at Asheville Film Festival NC 2009
– Screened at Harvard Independent Film Group, NY 2008
– Screened at Docufest Atlanta GA 2008
– NYC premier Two Boots Pioneer Theatre 2008
– Screened at Flickering @ Cornerstone Festival 2008