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Love Hunter
Love Hunter


In the 1990’s, singer-songwriter Milan Mumin, the lead singer of the hugely influential Serbian rock band, Love Hunters, electrified and gave voice to a generation of Serbians fighting an oppressive regime. Now, after ten years, we find Milan in New York City, driving a taxi (long shifts and loopy fares), cobbling together funds for a recording session of his dream album—to be recorded and released in America. When his bass guitar player suddenly quits, he finds a talented but prickly replacement, and a romantic spark, in a free-spirited guitarist named Kim. Just as rehearsals start picking up steam, Milan's longtime Serbian girlfriend Lela arrives with very different plans for their future—she wants him to come home to Serbia where his reputation will let him be anything he wants—but Milan is determined to make his recording—in America, at any cost.

Genre: rock musical, drama, comedy
Starring: Milan Mumin, Jelena Stupljanin, Eleanor Hutchins
Directed By: Nemanja Bala, Brane Bala
Written By: Nemanja Bala, Brane Bala
Produced By: Nemanja Bala, Bogdan George Apetri,
Brane Bala, Biljana Ilic, Fay Ann Lee

Press

NEW YORK TIMES, November 13 2014

"Love Hunter," About a Serbian Musician in New York

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, November 17 2014

'Love Hunter': Film Review

Screenings

Los Angeles March - 13-19 2:40 & 7:30 PM GET TICKETS
Washington D.D. March - 24 7:30 PM GET TICKETS
Las Vegas March - 25 6:00 PM GET TICKETS

Past Screening

Toronto - March 14 9:00 PM
Miami - February 26 9:00 PM
Washington D.C. - March 5 7:30 PM
San Francisco - March 5 7:00 PM
Chicago - Feb 14, 17, 18 8:30pm, 8:30pm, 8:45pm
New York City - Nov 14th - 20th 1:30, 3:30, 6:00, 7:45 & 9:55

Filmmakers’ statement

We were drawn to Milan’s story because many of his struggles resonated with our own.
Achieving success in either music or film is a rarity, a dream. We all had to make sacrifices along the way to keep our dreams alive - and it came at a cost. This is amplified when you are an immigrant. We left our countries, our families, and this has created a void inside. We have all faced loneliness and felt like outsiders. Art has often been the companion that filled that void. The paradox of an artist is that the basic human need ‘to love’ must be channeled towards his art. But, at one point, every artist faces the dilemma: to love his art or another person? Can there be room for both? Our film explores this struggle, these choices, and their consequences.
Our goal was to create an honest and insightful study of a passionate man, an artist and an immigrant at the crossroads of his life.

Starring

Milan
Mumin

Milan Mumin, a New York City based Serbian musician, composer, singer, songwriter and performance artist, was a founding member of the seminal rock’n’roll band Love Hunters. Milan gained recognition for his work in 1995, when Love Hunters won Band of the Year Award in Serbia. In 1997 he was voted Person of the Year and in 2000. Though best known for his work in rock music, Milan has produced music for films, theatre and multimedia performances. He has released ten albums with Love Hunters. His first U.S. album Asthma Sky was released in 2009, and featured Milan’s American band The Undercover Maniacs.
www.milanmumin.com

Jelena
Stupljanin

Jelena Stupljanin is a NY based actress, born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia. Since 2010, she is a permanent member of the award-winning New York Innovative Theater company ‘Rising Phoenix Repertory’. After graduating from Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, she became a member of one of the leading Serbian theater companies ‘Atelje 212’. She has performed in more than 30 mainstream productions and toured on stages of many European theaters. Jelena became a household name in Serbia with her role in TV series ‘Foxes’, as well as a female lead in a feature film “Cirkus Columbia’ (2010), dir. by the Oscar Winner Danis Tanovic (‘No Man’s Land’ 2002). ‘Cirkus Columbia’ was a Bosnian contender for Oscar nominations 2010 and Jelena won the Best Actress award for it at Alexandria Int. Film Festival. Other film work: ‘A Quintet’, a feature omnibus film that she also worked on as a producer (winner of the Special Jury Award at the Chelsea Film Festival, 2014), ‘Jelena, Katarina, Marija’, ‘The Ambulance’, ‘Fall into Paradise’. She just finished shooting a feature film ‘Humidity’ dir. by Nikola Ljuca.
www.jelenastupljanin.com

Eleanor
Hutchins

Eleanor Hutchins is an actor and writer and graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Eleanor has appeared in over thirty films and television shows including Half Nelson, Margarita Happy Hour and True Story. Recently, she produced and starred in Ilya Chaiken’s web series “The Unlovables”. On stage, she has collaborated with Richard Maxwell at the Whitney Biennial, Sibyl Kempson and The Wooster Group. Her original performance pieces have been produced at various NYC venues including Bleeker Street Theater, Ars Nova and The Performing Garage. Her short film “The Elastic” – which she wrote, starred in and directed – was nominated for several awards, including Best Screenplay at the Huston Comedy Festival. Most recently, she co-wrote a television pilot based on the live hit show “The Elephant Room”, which has been optioned by Fox TV Studios and Plan B Entertainment.

Team

NEMANJA BALA (writer/director/ producer) was born and raised in the former Yugoslavia. At the age of nineteen, he received a tennis scholarship to study in the United States at the University of Hartford, where he majored in film studies and began making short fiction and documentary films. His work has been shown on Serbian National Television and the festival circuit. While at Columbia University’s Graduate Film Division, he concentrated in screenwriting and received his MFA in the Fall of 2006. His screenplays have been finalists at Sundance Writers Lab and Tribeca All-Access program. He often collaborates with his brother Branislav Bala. Nemanja currently lives in New York City and works as a freelance filmmaker.

BRANE BALA (writer/director/ producer) holds an MFA in film directing from Columbia University. His short films have played worldwide. His short Shades of Gray was distributed by Doug Liman’s Hypnotic Releasing, and his commercial spot Magic was a Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker’s Award selection. Most recently, he co-produced two low-budget features: Across Dot Avenue and Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish. The latter was invited for a week-long run at New York’s prestigious Lincoln Center and opened to rave reviews. He has taught various film classes at the University of Hartford, The New School, Art Institute of Austin, and was the chair of the Film Department at Katharine Gibbs School.

BOGDAN GEORGE APETRI (cinematographer/producer) is a Romanian filmmaker based in New York City. He graduated from Columbia University in 2006 with a dual MFA degree in Film Directing and Cinematography. His short films have played at many prominent festivals across the world including Clermont-Ferrand, Rotterdam, Palm Springs, and have garnered numerous awards in the process, culminating in a Student Academy Award nomination. In 2010, Bogdan co-produced 3 Backyards which won a 2010 Directing Award at Sundance. His directorial debut Outbound (co-written with Palme d'Or winner Christian Mungiu) screened at the Toronto, Locarno, Warsaw, and New Directors / New Films film festivals among others, and was distributed by MK2.

BILJANA ILIC (producer) is a New York City based producer with 15 years of experience. Her career began as a production manager for the Serbian Broadcasting Company before moving on to produce commercials, documentaries and plays. She co-founded Theater Playground, an open-air theater that doubles as a children’s playground in her hometown of Belgrade, where it has been running continuously for a whole decade. Prior to receiving her MFA from Columbia University, she graduated from the Art Academy of BK University and received a law degree from Belgrade University. Most recently she won an Outstanding Achievement in Production award for her film Palace Living at Visonfest 2013. She has served as a Chair for Producers Guild of America (PGA) Student Committee in 2011/12.

FAY ANN LEE (producer) began her career as a Broadway actress inMiss Saigon, which led to roles in theaters across the country and internationally. Venturing into on-camera work, she landed recurring and guest starring roles on Law & Order, Third Watch and Criminal Intent - but was quickly confronted with the lack of good roles for Asian actors. Her proactive response was Falling For Grace, a romantic comedy she starred in, wrote and directed. Falling for Grace premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and subsequently opened in select theatres across the country. As a result of Lee’s success in the face of race and gender barriers, she has been asked to share her story with national media, women’s organizations as well as world’s finest learning institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and even as far as Tsinghua University in Beijing.

AMY DEVRA GOSSELS (casting director) has been a casting director for more than 75 film productions. Feature film credits include Something's Gotta Give, Godsend, and a Sundance hit Milk & Honey. Amy has also cast and produced dozens of award-winning short films including Academy Award winnerZen and the Art ofLandscaping. Her TV credits include NBC's Celebrity Apprentice, Comedy Central's Night of Too Many Stars, Discovery ID's The Bad Old Days and the upcoming series American Caravan. She has also cast hundreds of award-winning commercials and media campaigns. Her new feature film projects include Humdingerstarring David Moscow, Jeff Lipsky's Molly's Theory of Relativity andVisitors, the latest feature film collaboration from Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass.

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