Last summer I spent a month in Serbia, mostly just walking around Belgrade and drawing with local artists. The cartoonist Aleksandar Zograf suggested that he and I conduct a workshop for the Grrr Festival in his hometown of Pancevo at Gallery Elektrika. My job was to come up with at least 12 pages in either ideas or pencilled drawings for the group of a dozen or so cartoonists to collectively work on, within a span of about six to seven hours. I had about two weeks to work on it, the ideas kept coming and going but nothing stuck. About a week before the workshop Aleksandar informed me that Dusan Makavejev had offered us the original script to his 1968 movie, Innocence Unprotected, to use for the purpose of the workshop. For those who don’t know, my work is hugely influenced by Makavejev’s early films. This was definetly an honour – I got busy at once!

About a dozen of my favorite Serbian cartoonists participated in the festival workshop. After the workshop we screened Makavejev’s Innocence Unprotected, where Makavejev himself, Zograf and myself gave a talk about the film and the workshop experience. As great as the whole day was, the best part came when I was offerred a ride back to Belgrade by the Maks.

Sitting in the back seat of their car, breathing the same air as Mr. and Mrs.Makavejev, I remember thinking, “this is as good as it gets”!