Ice Cream Sladoled EPK
ICE CREAM. SLADOLED
(Translation: Ice Cream. Ice Cream)
Running Time: 12:42
A Film By: Steve Spremo
Starring: Igor Obradović
Director of Photography: Srđan Srđenović
Edited by: Damián Tetelbaum
Sound Design: Aleksandar Manja
Production Company: River North Pictures
Subtitles: Serbian (white), Spanish (yellow), Broken Serbian or Broken Spanish (orange), English (not subtitled)
Shooting Format: Digital, Aspect Ratio 2.39
World Premiere: Palm Springs International ShortFest (June 2022)
To Date, Ice Cream. Sladoled has been Selected By 29 Film Festivals
SYNOPSIS
LOGLINE
A Day in the Life of a recent immigrant, where no one understands anyone else, and a trip to buy ice cream triggers a series of absurd misadventures.
A Day in the Life of a thirty-something immigrant caught in a rut. He lives in a place where everyone speaks a different language and no one understands anyone else. When his wife asks him to buy ice cream, his day unravels as misunderstandings sink to absurd misadventures. A satirical view about a day where the effects of a new immigrant's mounting hardships and dizzying realities all converge into one big mess.
DIRECTOR
STATEMENT
Ice Cream. Sladoled is a story about an immigrant. It’s also about misunderstandings, confusion, and everything that a nonstop barrage of obstacles brings. Often, this adversity can be mundane. Which is why the story is told through a progression of absurd situations. While the two characters in the story are Serbian and Argentinian, it could have been a host of other ethnic groups. The story isn’t about where someone came from. It’s a satirical look at the mounting hardships encountered by a new immigrant. Where the outcome of his journey for a better life is far different from the plan.
WRITER & DIRECTOR,
Steve Spremo
Steve Spremo was born and raised in Chicago, IL, and is a second-generation immigrant. Ice Cream. Sladoled is his first film and follows a new immigrant on a rough day. He studied film for two years. Then received a business degree.
Steve’s interest in storytelling started with writing. Past writing projects include collaborative and solo written short and feature length screenplays that have placed in various screenwriting competitions, including: The Austin, Cinequest, Nashville, New Hampshire, and Woods Hole Film Festivals, as well as the BlueCat Screenplay Competition and the Page Screenwriting Awards.
His co-written full-length novel, "North Point", received the “Our Verdict: Get It!” recommendation by Kirkus Review
Igor Obradović as Rade
Igor is an actor and director born in Serbia who lives and works in Chicago. He’s a longtime member of the organization Serbian Theater in Chicago, where he’s played some of the most memorable roles from Serbian Theater and has adapted non-Serbian theatrical plays into Serbian. As a director he has always aimed for the highest standards and to deliver performances that will keep the audience coming back. He’s one of the most well known Serbian actors in Chicago. He has been an associate of Serbian Television for many years. Through his artistic work, he wants to present the plays of Serbian writers to the world’s audience. “Ice Cream. Sladoled” is his first performance in a film.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY,
Srđan Srđenović
Srđan was born and raised in Serbia and now lives in California. Both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees are in cinematography. Srđan works as a director of photography and has over 17 years of experience working on both film projects and on television shows.
EDITOR,
Damián Tetelbaum
Born in Buenos Aires in 1987. He studied at the Instituto de Arte Cinematográfico (IDAC), and later specialized at the Universidad del Cine (FUC), where he currently teaches editing.
Since 2011, he edited 10 feature films, 6 documentaries, 4 documentary series for TV and a dozen short films, selected at festivals such as San Sebastian, Berlinale, Torino, Miami, BFI London, Clermont Ferrand, Havana, Munich, Sydney, BAFICI, San Diego, among others. In 2022 he won the “Best Editing” prize for “Paula”, an Argentinian-Italian coproduction.
He is currently developing his first feature film as director with funding from the FFA Filmförderungsanstalt - Berlin and pre-producing a short film to be shot in France with the support of the CNC.
Sound Designer,
Aleksandar Manja
Aleksandar Manja is a sound designer from Belgrade, Serbia, with an MA in Sound Design from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts. His background in film led him into the gaming industry, where he has done extensive work with sound on video games. Often he’ll borrow practices from video games when working with film. He is the president and co-founder of the first Serbian game developers association "Level Up Serbia" and the principal organizer of the only annual Serbian pro-audio conference "Audio Forum" comprising Grammy, Academy and Emmy award-winners as part of its speaker lineups.
Esteban Schemberg, as Miguel
Esteban has appeared in film and television in Argentina, the US and Spain. His credits include:
La Flor (El Pampero Cine-Argentina), El karma de Carmen (SombraCine-Argentina), Villorio del Caudillo (BandBang Films-Spain), Guapas (Pol-ka Producciones-Argentina) and Soy Luna (Disney Channel, Latin America). In theater he has appeared in The Abuelas produced by Teatro Vista (Victory Gardens Theater-Chicago), La Mandrágora (Teatro Payro-Argentina), La luz es un pozo and Tattoo (Abasto Social Club-Argentina) to name just a few.
A Film by: Steve Spremo
Production Company: River North Pictures
Director of Photography: Srđan Srđenović
Editor: Damián Tetelbaum
Sound Designer: Aleksandar Manja
Casting: Tamara Vesna
Anita Tomašević
Assistant Director: Brett Naples
Production Sound: Andrea Wathanaphone
Makeup: Kyla DeVries
Production Assistants: Rachel Houska
David Yun
Colorist: Damián Tetelbaum
Visual Effects: Addison Petrie
Title Design: Lola Avigliano
CREDITS
Rade Igor Obradović
Miguel, the Neighbor Esteban Schemberg
Louie, the Panhandler Brian M. Boller
Paulie, the Police Officer Matthew J. Lipman
Ana, Girl with Ice Cream Andjelina Obradović
Voice of Maja Nevena Tutunović
Woman on Sidewalk Smilja Bašanović
Paletero, Ice Cream Man Francisco Plata
Football Player 1 & Phone Thief Vladimir Mulina
Football Player 2 and Mugger Branimir Savić
Football Player 3 Brett Naples
Mom in Park Alexandra Mulina
Backup Police Officer Steven Spremo
CAST
Musical Track: "KURZSCHLUSS"
Written by: Milovan Mića Petrović
Arrangement by: Dejan Petrović,
Dragoljub Marković,
& Bojan Vulović
Performed by: Dejan Petrović Big Band
Courtesy of: Multimedia Music
Musical Track: "BUCIUMEANA"
Written by: Béla Bartók
Arranged & Recorded by: Paul Cooper-James
Media Provided By: Pond 5
MUSIC
PRODUCTION NOTES
I discovered the work of Director of Photography Srđan Srđenović who had just moved to Chicago and was already planning his move to California, where he lives now. The timing was perfect. I was considering shooting a short screenplay I had written. When Srđan reviewed it, he suggested that the moody interior lighting setups may be too complex for a first film and suggested considering something easier to manage for a first directing effort. I gave that some serious thought and about a month later came back with the screenplay for Ice Cream. Sladoled. He read it, liked it and the search for an actor began.
THE START:
At the start of this process, I didn’t have a film reel, but still hoped to assemble a strong team. I had a writing background and placements in writing competitions. Which I thought was my best chance to convince future collaborators that I was serious and that we should work together.
LEAD ACTOR:
It was important to me that the actors weren’t actors who grew up in the states. So that dialects were authentic. That made the search much more difficult. I researched online, called theater companies, and anyone I could think of who may offer some insight. It piqued my curiosity when Igor Obradović’s name came up as a recommendation from multiple sources. I contacted him and we agreed to meet. He had an impressive and long theatrical background. I knew he could do the part, but I didn’t feel that he had the right look. If we were casting for a banker or a doctor, he would be great. I just couldn’t picture him as Rade, the lead role in ICS. We ended the meeting by agreeing to give it more thought. A couple of months passed, and we met again. To my surprise, in walked a scruffy guy, unshaven and in need of a haircut. I could barely recognize him and right away knew he'd be prefect for the role.
Page 1
PRODUCTION NOTES
I watched hundreds of demo reels online.
My first call for the part of the Neighbor was Esteban Schemberg. I was convinced that he was right for the part. Coincidentally, he had within the previous year moved from Argentina to Chicago. Esteban had a deep background in theater and film. I contacted him and explained the project. I think he was a bit surprised since he was so new to Chicago. He asked to see the script. We met for coffee, and soon after, he was on board.
A similar scenario played out with Brian Boller, who plays the panhandler. I watched his reel, and he was my first call as well. It just so happened that he was performing in a play at the time and he invited me to attend. I did, and that reaffirmed my choice. In the days that followed, we discussed the project, and he agreed to do the part.
Prior to shooting the film, I took some acting classes. Wanting to better understand how it felt to be in front of an audience (or camera). That’s something I felt I needed to better understand as I was coming from a writing background.
SUPORTING ACTORS:
Those classes are where I met Matthew Lipman, who is the arresting police officer in the film. He was someone I’d seen tackling role after role in class and he became a natural fit to become part of the film.
Circling back to Igor Obradović. He was a tremendous help with his connections to the local theater community in helping fill the smaller roles. Including finding Nevena Tutunović, who doesn’t appear on camera but did an incredible job as the voice of Maja.
Page 2
PRODUCTION NOTES
There were so many, since the story is a journey.
The house location was the priority. Without the right house, we all agreed we shouldn't start. I searched online, then drove through the areas I'd found. This went on for weeks. One location that was considered was a run down abandoned looking 3-flat. I tracked down the owner through management company phone numbers posted on neighboring buildings. When I spoke with him, he said his son handled that property, and asked for my information so that his son could call me. It turned out his son was an attorney, and I got a cease and desist letter and a warning to never come near the property again.
Eventually, I discovered the house that we used. Its look and proximity to the train line made it a great fit. Contacting the owner proved difficult and became a process that took months. I left messages at the doors. Mailed letters multiple times. Found out the owner didn’t live there and looked up public records to find out where else we could contact the owner and then mailed more letters. At which point, I started looking for other locations. Then, out of the blue, the homeowner responded, asking if I had been trying to reach them.
LOCATIONS:
The old warehouse location (where Rade’s car breaks down) was found early, and the owner was very cooperative and memorable. We called him multiple times to push back our timeline because of one complication or another; he was always understanding and would offer encouragement, reminding us that giving up wasn’t an option.
Page 3
PRODUCTION NOTES
I had no idea how difficult it would be to find a photo appropriate car that looks awful, but runs reliably. Everything that looked awful also ran awful. A week before the shoot, I settled on a 1990 Buick (my original goal was a beat up old Cadillac or Lincoln). I was told the Buick was “an old grandma’s car” that was bought by a kid in the neighborhood and he said he didn’t need it anymore. It was a perfect compromise. I bought it. Drove it home and the next day it broke down in the middle of a busy intersection. In the days that followed, I became very used to pushing a broken-down car off the road.
It turned out the Buick would run for a half hour and once it got hot; it needed to sit for hours before it would start again. Not an ideal situation for a film shoot. I had it repaired, and the next day it broke down again. I was told it broke down for reasons unrelated to the repair and that there were more things in need of fixing. The estimate for the second repair (with no guarantee that it would solve the problem) was higher than the combined total of the first repair plus the purchase price of the car. This was three days prior to the shoot.
THE CAR:
Igor, who is much more mechanically inclined than I, found a YouTube video about a similar car with similar problems. The guy in the video recommended a simple fix, pulling out the engine sensors and leaving them out. It seemed like a crazy idea, but we were now two days away from filming, so we tried it. Sure enough, from that point on, it ran perfect and never stalled again.
Page 4
PRODUCTION NOTES
Most of the crew met for the first time on the first shoot day and worked together as if we’d been working as a team for years. It’s a group that would be my first call on any future projects and I would recommend every person listed in the credits. The only thing that didn’t cooperate with us was the weather, but that’s something you come to expect when you live in Chicago.
THE CREW:
Aleksandar Manja did the sound design from Serbia. I found a film he had done sound on and was captivated by the atmosphere it created for the film. So I reached out to him, explained what we were doing. He asked to see the edit and after some discussions agreed to come aboard as well.
Both Damian and Aleksandar did amazing work, and their work completely impressed me. That they were from the same countries as Igor and Esteban was coincidence.
IN SUMMARY:
After the shoot, I reviewed footage and made extensive notes. Then Covid happened and all work on the film stopped. I didn’t see a point in finishing when there didn’t appear to be any outlet for the film. Everything was shutting down and cancelling. So I turned my attention back to writing and didn’t think about the film again for quite some time.
Over a year later, it felt like it was time to get the project back on track. I started researching editors online. When I saw Damian Tetelbaum’s work, I reached out to him in Argentina.
Damian had an amazing reel of emotionally powerful work. Films he had cut had been at very big festivals. He asked to see the script and the footage. And somehow he agreed to be part of the project. (In 2022, he received the Argentina national award for feature film editing).
Who knew that a 12 minute film could pose so many challenges and take years from concept to finish? Though when I think about the idea behind the story, it seems appropriate that it worked out that way.
Steve Spremo (in photo - green T-shirt)
Partial Cast & Crew Photo. Unfortunately, we never got a group photo with everyone.
POST PRODUCTION:
Final Page
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