Marko Marić

Aleksandar Zograf, a renowned cartoonist discovers an unusual comic book from World War II. The comic’s hero is Kaktus Kid – a small cactus trapped in his pot. Intrigued, Zograf investigates into the life of Kaktus Kid’s creator – little known artist Veljko Kockar. He soon discovers that Kockar was arrested just after the liberation of Belgrade in 1944. He was charged for being a Gestapo agent and executed. Zograf’s investigation reveals a far more complex story: Kockar’s identity and artistic works were stolen, he possibly has an affair with the girlfriend of a guerilla soldier and he drew anti-communist propaganda for the Nazis. As he explores the story and pieces together the scraps of evidence 70 years after it happened Zograf is faced with his own personal and artistic dilemmas: why do these little drawings have such power to give consolation but also lead to violence?

Founded in 1962 in Aleksandrovac, central Serbia, the record label Diskos played a crucial role in shaping the country's popular folk music scene. Despite the label of "trash" or "lowbrow culture" imposed by republican cultural committees and the wider public, Diskos's music releases were sold in gold and diamond-certified circulation numbers, achieving great popularity among audiences.

A dreamy journey through time, a story about growing up and maturing. A story about the survival of subtle aesthetics on the edge of a big, murky wave in which greed and recklessness, immorality and unaesthetic, dirty money and the taste of bitterness roll in.