Features

JAKARTA — An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box-office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago's silver screens.

"Jumbo" — a film based on the adventures of main character Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school -- last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than $8 million.

Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit eight million ticket sales, the third highest in Indonesian cinema history, according to Film Indonesia.

The film explores "what we've lost in life and the strength we need to overcome it", director Ryan Adriandhy Halim told AFP.

"We hope to encourage a change, it is for people to treat [each other] more kindly and we want 'Jumbo' to be a reminder that everyone deserves respect, no matter what is your background, whatever age group you are."

In the film, Don has a storybook filled with magical tales -- including a meeting with a fairy who wants him to help her reconnect with her family.

"This film is for us, for our children, and for the child within us," Ryan said.

For weeks after its release, 'Jumbo' kept theatres packed across Indonesia.

The movie -- which began production five years ago and called on the help of 400 local creators -- surpassed the regional record set by Malaysia's "Mechamato Movie" in 2022.

Its success has caught many in the Indonesian film industry by surprise.

"I predicted the film would be popular -- but not this much," said Petrus Kristianto Prayitno Santoso, film programming supervisor for operator Flix Cinema.

'Stepping stone'

However, the film's wider appeal will be tested when it opens in more than 17 countries in June, including Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey and Mongolia, said Anggia Kharisma, chief content officer at Visinema Studios, the film's production house.

The company says other release dates are still in discussion, meaning it could be set for a global rollout.

In an industry flooded with Hollywood blockbusters and local horror movies, "Jumbo" has stood out.

"It's been a long time since we've had an Indonesian family film," said Adi, 38, who watched the movie with his wife Ria and their two young children.

But he added that "in Southeast Asia, it will work because the culture is similar, but I'm not sure about regions beyond that".

The film has given hope to Indonesian audiences that their local productions could see more global success.

Cinemagoer Dika, 27, said she believes "the film could rival Disney productions".

Ryan himself has more modest ambitions, hoping simply that his debut feature will become "a stepping stone and a benchmark for Indonesian animation" in the future.

PARIS — Record fossil fuel production kept planet-heating methane emissions near historic highs last year, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday, warning of a surge in massive leaks from oil and gas facilities.

Slashing emissions of methane -- second only to carbon dioxide for its contribution to global warming -- is essential to meeting international targets on climate change and one of the fastest ways to curb temperature rise.

But the IEA warned that countries are considerably underestimating their energy sector methane pollution, estimating that emissions are around 80 per cent higher than the total reported by governments to the United Nations.

The energy sector is responsible for around a third of the methane emitted by human activities.

It leaks from gas pipelines and other energy infrastructure, and is also deliberately released during equipment maintenance.

Tackling this is considered one of the easiest ways to lower emissions because plugging leaks can often be done at little or no cost.

"However, the latest data indicates that implementation on methane has continued to fall short of ambitions," said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

 'Super-emitters'

The IEA's Global Methane Tracker report said over 120 million tonnes was released from the fossil fuel sector in 2024, close to the record high in 2019.

China has the largest energy methane emissions globally, mainly from its coal sector.

The United States follows in second, driven by its oil and gas sector, with Russia third.

The IEA said its figures are based on measured data where possible, compared to emissions reported by governments, which can be outdated or estimated using information from the energy sector.

Global methane emissions are becoming easier to monitor from space, with more than 25 satellites tracking gas plumes from fossil fuel facilities and other sources.

The IEA said that Europe's Sentinel 5 satellite, which just sees the very largest leaks, showed that "super-emitting methane events" at oil and gas facilities rose to a record high in 2024.

These huge leaks were observed all over the world, but particularly in the United States, Turkmenistan and Russia.

Abandoned oil and gas wells, and coal mines are also significant sources of methane leaking into the atmosphere, the IEA said in new analysis for this year's report.

When taken together they would be the "world's fourth-largest emitter of fossil fuel methane", accounting for some eight million tonnes last year.

 'Tremendous impact'

Some 40 per cent of methane emissions come from natural sources, mainly wetlands.

The rest are from human activities, particularly agriculture and the energy sector.

Because methane is potent but relatively short-lived it is a key target for countries wanting to slash emissions quickly.

More than 150 countries have promised a 30 per cent reduction by 2030.

Oil and gas firms have meanwhile pledged to slash methane emissions by 2050.

The IEA estimated that cutting methane released by the fossil fuel sector would significantly slow global warming, preventing a roughly 0.1 degree Celsius rise in global temperatures by 2050.

"This would have a tremendous impact -- comparable to eliminating all CO2 emissions from the world's heavy industry in one stroke," the report said.

Around 70 per cent of annual methane emissions from the energy sector could be avoided with existing technologies.

But only five percent of global oil and gas meets "near-zero" emissions standards, the IEA said.

Energy think tank Ember said the fossil fuel industry needs to reduce methane emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 if the world is to meet the target of reducing overall emissions to net zero by the middle of this century.

In particular, methane from coal was "still being ignored," said Ember analyst Sabina Assan.

"There are cost-effective technologies available today, so this is a low-hanging fruit of tackling methane. We can't let coal mines off the hook any longer."

NEW YORK — The brightest stars in Hollywood, music, sports and fashion hit the red carpet on Monday for the Met Gala, the extravagant Manhattan fundraiser that this year spotlights the subversive style of Black dandyism.

The blockbuster night's theme explores the sharply tailored dandy aesthetic and its rich, complicated history. It also celebrates the opening of a corresponding exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.

But for the fashionistas, the Met Gala -- always the first Monday in May -- is simply one of the world's top red carpets with blinding star power.

Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, two of the co-chairs of fashion's marquee event, were among the early arrivals alongside gala supremo Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue.

Domingo paid tribute to the late Andre Leon Talley, Vogue's first Black creative director and one of fashion's towering figures, in a royal blue Valentino cape with a glittering white collar over a snazzy black and gold jacket and gray tweed trousers.

Hamilton meanwhile wowed in a sharp cream suit and matching backwards cap, diamonds glittering in his ears, as well as on his lapel, cuffs and hands.

And musician and designer Pharrell Williams, another co-chair, looked snappy in a short, pearl-encrusted white jacket and flared black tuxedo trousers.

Tailored suits, bejeweled brooches and jaunty hats were de rigueur for the men.

Among the women in attendance, actress Teyana Taylor definitely understood the assignment, arriving in a black suit with red pinstripes and matching huge red coat, the back fully pleated and "Harlem Rose" embossed in the fabric.

Rapper Doechii wore a logo-heavy Louis Vuitton cream shorts suit with burgundy accents, a cigar dangling between her lips.

And actress Zendaya, always a huge hit at the gala, stunned in a slim white suit and dramatic brimmed hat -- perhaps some bridal chic now that she is engaged to Tom Holland?

Still awaited was singer Rihanna, after she revealed a new baby bump ahead of the event. Her partner A$AP Rocky, a gala co-chair, confirmed the pregnancy on the carpet: "I'm glad everybody's happy for us because we're definitely happy."

 'New sense of importance'

The gala comes five years after the enormous anti-racist uprising of the Black Lives Matter movement, which pushed a number of cultural institutions in the United States to grapple with their representation of race and diversity.

This Met theme is years in the making but now coincides with Donald Trump's recent efforts to quash institutional initiatives to promote diversity -- a push to keep culture and history defined on the Republican president's terms.

The Met Gala and its exhibit, "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style", promises a sharp contrast to that notion, a deep dive into Black dandyism from the 18th century to today.

"Obviously, this exhibition was planned many years ago, and we didn't know what would be happening in the political arena, but it's taken on a new sense of importance and purpose," Wintour told AFP.

Subversion

Guest curator and Barnard Professor Monica Miller's book "Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity" was the Met's inspiration.

Her book details how dandyism was a style imposed on Black men in 18th century Europe, when well-dressed "dandified" servants became a trend.

But Black men throughout history subverted the concept as a means of cultivating power, transforming aesthetic and elegance into a means of identity establishment and social mobility.

During the vibrant Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, men wore sharp suits and polished shoes as a show of defiance in racially segregated America.

"Superfine" is a rare Costume Institute exhibition to spotlight men and male fashion, and the first to focus on Black designers and artists.

The Met Gala was first organised in 1948 and for decades was reserved for New York high society -- until Wintour transformed the party into a high-profile catwalk for the rich and famous in the 1990s.

It remains a fundraiser for the Costume Institute. The famed Manhattan museum reported last year's edition raked in some $26 million.

BASEL, Switzerland — Eurovision host city Basel laid on a mass over-60s disco on Saturday to whip up the party mood ahead of the event's grand final in two weeks' time.

Nearly 1,400 senior citizens attended the bash, an attempt to reach out to the older demographic and get them involved in the Eurovision Song Contest festivities.

The Swiss border city of Basel is hosting this year's edition of the glitzy extravaganza, one of the world's biggest annual live television shows.

It is staging a range of events on the sidelines to make the most of the occasion.

"It's a highlight of the Eurovision for me," said Liz Gilbert, 64, who came dressed in a 1970s outfit.

"Normally it's just on television, so it's great," she told AFP.

"I'm very happy that my hometown can host it."

Women outnumbered the men across the two dance floors, with plenty of over-70s swinging their hips to the music in the mid-afternoon.

One floor played Swiss tunes in the national languages of German, French and Italian, with the other dance floor playing rock and pop classics from the 1960s to the 1980s.

"We are here celebrating the disco like they used to back in the day and we are gathering people from all around Switzerland to have a good time," said Celine Koenig, spokeswoman for the Pro Senectute organisation for the elderly, which helped organise the event.

The tickets cost nine Swiss francs ($11).

Having a ball

Dominique Guerdat, 67, and Carmen Deillon, 61, came with their gym group from nearby Delemont.

"We're having a blast, we're dancing, we're laughing, we're seeing people, and we're drinking. Cheers!" said Guerdat.

"The music is great, it's from our era."

Her friend Deillon had hoped more people would have dressed up in 1970s outfits.

"I was expecting everyone to be like that, but in the end, there aren't many. But it's great, and they have some great hits," she said.

There were plenty of smiles as party-goers bopped away to classic hits from the Rolling Stones, the Monkees, Chubby Checker, Boney M., Wham! and ABBA.

"Opportunities to socialise decrease with age," said Eurovision 2025 host broadcaster SRG.

"This party is designed to give people aged 60 and over the opportunity to meet up and celebrate together.

"Joy is spread through music and dance," it said.

Singing "The Code", Swiss vocalist Nemo's 2024 Eurovision victory in Malmo, Sweden earned Switzerland the right to host this year's 69th edition.

The kitsch celebration is being staged at the St. Jakobshalle indoor arena. The semi-finals are on May 13 and 15, with the final on May 17.

Switzerland hosted the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, and again in 1989.

By Dr Tareq Rasheed
International Consultant & Trainer

In today’s fast paced era of digital transformation, rapid skill evolution, and accelerating knowledge, leadership must also evolve too.

Traditional leadership — centred on rigid hierarchies, centralised command and limited team input — no longer serves the dynamic needs of modern organisations.

Enter Lean Leadership: A smarter, faster and more collaborative approach designed to eliminate waste, streamline processes and improve performance.

It’s about cutting through the clutter and focusing on what truly adds value.

The 3 Pillars of Lean Leadership To go lean, leaders must embrace these three key principles:

1. Strategic Clarity

Rather than overcomplicating strategy, use the Business Model Canvas — a practical tool that helps leaders design, visualise, and communicate their strategies clearly.

Once the strategy is in place, leaders should meet with their teams to explain it, gather feedback, and align efforts towards shared goals.

2. Customer-Centric Mindset

Lean organisations treat customers as partners. Listen to them. Engage with them.

Invite their input into strategic conversations. 

Their insights can help shape more effective and responsive business decisions.

3. Agile Development 

Agility is essential for eliminating time-wasting activities.

By adopting Agile strategies, leaders can adapt quickly, reduce unnecessary steps and keep teams focused on high-impact tasks.

Lean in Action: Practical Leadership Tools

Lean leadership isn’t a theory — it’s a hands-on approach.

Here are four proven strategies leaders can implement:

1. Management by Walking Around Step out from behind the desk.

Engage directly with employees and customers.

These informal interactions build trust, foster ownership and keep communication lines open.

2. Results-Based Management (RBM) Move beyond the outdated “Management by Objectives” model.

RBM focuses not just on planning, but on actual outcomes — keeping teams aligned with results that matter.

3. Good Governance Practices A well-governed organisation stands on five key pillars:

1. Participation: Leaders and employees collaborate, especially in critical situations.

2. Responsibility: Clear roles promote accountability.

3. Accountability: Everyone knows what they’re responsible for — and to whom.

4. Monitoring and Evaluation: Continuous checks ensure progress and alignment.

5. Transparency: Honest communication builds lasting trust.

4. Teamwork Over Individualism Collaborative teams outperform isolated individuals.

When people work together, they solve problems faster, minimise errors, and strengthen organisational loyal In a world filled with constant change and growing expectations, leadership must be agile, inclusive and strategic Lean Leadership is not just a trend — it’s a necessary evolution.

When implemented effectively, it helps organisations achieve their goals faster, with less effort and greater impact.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

VATICAN CITY — As cardinals prepare to elect a new pope, thousands are doing so already, in a new video game that allows users to pick their favourites as the next Pontiff.

Almost 60,000 people have signed up to Fantapapa, an online game that plays on Italians' passion for football and the Church, since it launched after Pope Francis died last week, its creators said on Tuesday.

"People are intrigued by Vatican power dynamics," Pietro Pace, 42, one of the website's two founders, told AFP.

"Playing allows them to try to get inside these dynamics and remove some of the mystery that shrouds them."

The game mimics fantasy league, a pastime of many sports fans where users pretend to be managers of professional teams. Football fantasy league in Italy is known as "Fantacalcio".

Fantapapa -- papa is the Italian word for Pope -- asks players to choose a squad of 11 cardinals, including a captain (the "most papable" cardinal) and a goalkeeper (the least likely winner), providing an insight on users' favourite frontrunners.

As of Tuesday, Matteo Zuppi was the cardinal picked by the most people, followed by Pietro Parolin, Luis Antonio Tagle, and Pierbattista Pizzaballa -- more or less in line with bookies' expectations.

But the top 10 also featured some dark horses.

Cardinal Fabio Baggio ranked seventh, possibly because he shared the surname with Italian football legend Roberto Baggio, Pace said.

Sixth was Jose Advincula of the Philippines, who is first in alphabetical order and thus an easy pick for users rushing to complete their roster.

Mykola Bychok, the Ukrainian archbishop of Melbourne in Australia -- currently the world's youngest cardinal -- was the top choice in goal, meaning most players do not believe he will become Pope.

Points are also assigned to those who guess, among other things, the new Pope's political leaning, his religious order, language and the name he will take.

The most voted options in the latter category were Francis, John, Pius, Paul and Leo.

The brainchild of Pace, an AI worker, and Mauro Vanetti, a game developer, Fantapapa has no money prize because its creators are anti-gambling activists.

Winners will be granted "eternal glory" instead, Pace said.

Pope Francis died aged 88 on April 21. The conclave to elect his successor will begin on May 7.

PARIS — American actor Halle Berry and "Succession" star Jeremy Strong are set to serve on the jury at the Cannes film festival this year that will be headed by French actress Juliette Binoche, organisers announced on Monday. Berry and Strong will be joined by best-selling Franco-Moroccan writer Leila Slimani, Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia and Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher on what will be a women-majority judging panel.

The jury will also include South Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo, Mexican director Carlos Reygadas, and Democratic Republic of Congo documentary maker Dieudo Hamadi.

They will be responsible for watching the 21 films in competition this year and awarding the prestigious Palme d'Or at the end of the 78th edition of the festival, which takes place from May 13-24.

The women-majority jury is significant because organisers are under pressure to give a greater platform to women filmmakers and show they are serious about tackling gender inequality and sexual harassment.

President Iris Knobloch has promised that the festival will be "attentive" to the recommendations of a hard-hitting parliamentary inquiry into #MeToo abuses in the film industry which reported its findings earlier this month.

Only seven of the films in the main competition have been made by women directors, the joint highest total.

Australian actor Nicole Kidman is set to receive the 10th Women in Motion Award at this year's festival, which honours individuals who "advance the role of women in cinema and in society", organisers also announced Monday.

A little-known French woman director Amelie Bonnin was given the honour of opening the festival on May 13 with her debut feature "Leave One Day", which is the first time a debut film will start the world's most prestigious film festival.

Last year, the festival's jury was chaired by American filmmaker Greta Gerwig ("Barbie") and included French actor Omar Sy and Japanese director Hirokazu.

Competition

The 2025 competition line-up includes some heavy-hitting festival circuit favourites including American Wes Anderson, Iranian director Jafar Panahi, the Dardenne brothers from Belgium, and veteran American independent filmmaker Richard Linklater.

Panahi, who has been repeatedly detained and banned from film-making in Iran, will present his latest production, "A Simple Accident".

Compatriot Saeed Roustaee is also set to compete for the main prize with his latest feature, "Mother and Child", three years after showing "Leila's Brothers" in Cannes which led to him being sentenced to six months in prison in Iran.

Other directors in-competition include American horror newcomer Ari Aster, who has cast Joaquin Phoenix in his "Eddington", and compatriot Kelly Reichardt who will premiere her heist drama "The Mastermind" featuring John Magaro.

As well as featuring in Wes Anderson's A-list cast in his "The Phoenician Scheme", Scarlett Johansson is set to present her directorial debut "Eleanor the Great", about an elderly woman coping with the death of her best friend, in the secondary "Un Certain Regard" competition.

She will be competing for honours against the debut film made by fellow American actor Kristen Stewart, with the former Twilight star presenting "The Chronology of Water" in the same category.

AMRITSAR, India — India's Daoke village is fenced from Pakistan on three sides and 65-year-old resident Hardev Singh, who has lived through multiple wars between the arch-rivals, knows the drill if another erupts.

"All women, children, cattle and most younger men moved back to safe shelters in 1999 and 1971," Hardev said, referring to two of the worst outbreaks of fighting between the neighbours.

"We couldn't go to our fields," he said, adding that it was only the village's elderly men who "stayed back to ensure that our homes were not looted".

Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing the deadliest attack in years on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22.

Islamabad has rejected the charge, and both countries have since exchanged gunfire across the de facto frontier in contested Kashmir, diplomatic barbs, expelled citizens and ordered the border shut.

Residents of the frontier villages in India's Punjab state say nothing has changed on the ground yet -- but there is a growing anxiety about the coming weeks.

"Any war would push both our countries back by many years, and there would be an even bigger loss of human lives,” Hardev said.

A border fence patrolled by troops slices in two the farmlands near Daoke, home to around 1,500 people.

Gurvinder Singh, 38, recalls the last major conflict in 1999.

Fighting then took place far from Punjab -- in the icy Himalayan district of Kargil -- but the sun-baked fields around his village did not escape unscathed.

He hopes that, if the bellicose statements issued by leaders on either side do turn into military action, his village will be left alone.

"We feel that the actual conflict would happen only in the Himalayas," Gurvinder said, adding that his village is "normal right now".

'Not just us'

In the nearby frontier village of Rajatal, between the Indian city of Amritsar and Lahore in Pakistan, residents remember the days when the golden farmland stretched without restriction.

The frontier was a colonial creation at the violent end of British rule in 1947 which divided the sub-continent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Sardar Lakha Singh's memory stretches back to before the fence was erected.

"We used to go to the open ground on the other side to graze our cattle," 77-year-old Lakha said, sitting about 100 metres from fences topped with barbed wire.

Farmers can obtain special passes to go close to the border, including beyond the fence but still within Indian territory.

But they must always be accompanied by a soldier.

"We can't go there whenever we want," said farmer Gurvil Singh, 65. "This reduces the time we get to work on our fields".

Panic gripped border villages last week after rumours suggested farmers would be stopped from accessing fields too close to Pakistan.

Sikh elder Sardar Lakha Singh advised younger villagers to accept their fate and not to worry.

"Whatever is going to happen will happen anyway," he said.

"We didn't know when the 1965 war suddenly started, same in 1971 when the planes suddenly started crossing the border," the grey-beared farmer added.

"So, if it happens again, we don't need to worry in advance."

Gurvinder Singh, 35, said he tried to take the lesson to heart.

"It would be a high-tech war, and not an invasion or a battle of swords like the past," he said.

"When the situation worsens, it would be for the entire country -- and not just us."

By Dina Halaseh
Educational Psychologist 

What Is Dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is a condition that affects a child’s ability to write, often impacting their fine motor skills and making handwriting slow or even painful.

As a result, their handwriting may be difficult to read.

But dysgraphia goes beyond just handwriting — it can also affect a child’s ability to express thoughts in writing, which in turn can impact their academic performance and, in many cases, their self-esteem.

Types of Dysgraphia

There are different types of dysgraphia, each with distinct challenges:

Motor Dysgraphia: Typically caused by poor fine motor skills, this form affects handwriting, drawing and the ability to form letters correctly.

Linguistic Dysgraphia: Despite having good motor control, in this case, students struggle with spelling, grammar and organising their thoughts in writing.

Spatial Dysgraphia: Involves difficulty with spatial awareness, affecting letter and word spacing, alignment and letter size.

This often results in disorganised and hard-to-read written work.

Signs of Dysgraphia 

Here are the common signs of dysgraphia: 

- Poor handwriting.

- Difficulty with holding a pencil.

- Struggling with letter spacing, size, or writing within lines.

- Trouble copying words.

- Avoiding writing tasks.

- Difficulty organizing ideas and putting them into words.

What to Look Out for at Different Ages

Children: Dysgraphia often appears as difficulty learning to write, messy handwriting and frequent complaints of hand pain during writing tasks.

Teens: In adolescence, the signs may shift to avoiding written tasks, frequent spelling errors and difficulty organising essays or notes.

Adults: In adulthood, dysgraphia can present as trouble taking notes, consistently poor handwriting and challenges with spelling or written communication.

Writing is a fundamental skill, essential across nearly all subjects.

Children with dysgraphia often struggle to complete assignments or take notes efficiently.

Over time, these challenges can lead to frustration, anxiety and even a reluctance to participate in academic settings.

That’s why early intervention is so important.

If your child is struggling with writing and it’s affecting their academic performance, it’s time to seek support and uncover the root cause.

By understanding what they’re experiencing and providing the right tools, we can empower our children to succeed — both in and out of the classroom.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

ZAGREB — From the dark shadows still cast by the wars that accompanied Yugoslavia's collapse to social exclusion, Croatian film director Nebojsa Slijepcevic is not afraid to shy away from weighty subjects.

Slijepcevic became Croatia's first ever Palme d'Or winner -- and achieved global acclaim -- when his "The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent" premiered at the Cannes film festival last year.

The short film, which depicts a war crime in Bosnia, was also shortlisted at this year's Oscars and has won a dozen other awards, including a French Cesar and a European Academy prize.

"It was a surprise indeed... it became one the most successful short movies in history considering the number of awards," Zagreb-born Slijepcevic told AFP.

The film depicts a real-life event from February 27, 1993 when Serb paramilitaries stopped a passenger train in Strpci, a village in eastern Bosnia.

Nineteen Muslim civilians from Serbia and Montenegro were kidnapped and later killed.

Of the around 500 passengers, retired Yugoslav army officer Tomo Buzov, who was travelling to visit his son, was the only one who stood up to paramilitaries.

Buzov, an ethnic Croat, was taken along with the others. His remains, like those of most the victims, were never found.

- 'Resisting violence' -

Slijepcevic said although the film is about an atrocity committed in Bosnia in 1993, the situation is "universal, out of time and space".

"It talks about something that happens very often to us both as individuals and societies... being in a position to witness injustice or violence, as some sort of observers who seemingly can afford to pretend not seeing it, that it doesn't concern us," he said.

The movie pays respect to an unusually brave man, who was motivated by a human desire to defend innocent people armed with only his words, the 52-year-old director said.

Buzov's family lives in the Serbian capital Belgrade and he sought their approval before making the film.

Mild-mannered Slijepcevic, who describes himself as an introvert, said the movie's success was also due to the current global political turmoil.

"It is about resistance to violence. The world is much more violent today than it was when I wrote the script, the violence is increasingly showing that it could change the world forever," he said.

"Global events were in favour of the success of my film. Unfortunately. It's really sad, I don't triumph over it at all," he added.

- Social exclusion -

Slijepcevic said that when he chooses a subject to tackle, it has to resonate with him emotionally and have social significance.

"It seems completely pointless to make something as expensive and as massive as a film about socially insignificant topics," he added.

Two award-winning documentaries that he made -- "Gangster of Love" (2013) and "Srbenka" (2018) -- address social exclusion of people considered "different", notably on ethnic grounds.

"Gangster of Love", about a matchmaker trying in vain to help a Bulgarian single mother find a husband in Croatia, portrays a conservative society in a humorous but also complex way.

In rural parts of staunchly Catholic Croatia, men prefer to stay single rather than marry a foreign national with a child.

"Srbenka" highlights Croatia's still-tense inter-ethnic relations after the 1990s independence war against rebel Serbs.

The documentary originated from a theatre play set against the backdrop of the war.

The play focused on the true story of a 12-year-old ethnic Serb girl, executed in cold blood at the start of the war, in one of the most gruesome crimes committed by Croatian forces during the conflict.

More than two decades on from the war, a young Croatian girl acting in the play is filled with fear after learning that she is an ethnic Serb.

Slijepcevic is currently working on a feature film, an adaptation of Croatian writer Kristian Novak's novel "Dark Mother Earth" -- a complex tale about a writer and his flashbacks to wartime childhood.

"One of the things that will be emphasised in the film is peer violence and isolation of children in elementary school," he said.

"It's something that I partly experienced in my elementary school... so I see this topic very personally."

Slijepcevic said he hopes to finish the movie in the next two years.