Somehow before the New Year, she wrote an award in her CV from Los Angeles, for the best supporting female role at the Independent Shorts festival in competition with 4580 films from 84 countries.
In a sixteen-minute film When I'm at home directed by Ivana Todorović about dealing with domestic violence, she plays the Aunt who, as Dragana Varagić explains, is "responsible for not solving family secrets." It also changed her life, and she herself is a victim of her actions. She is both a victim and an accomplice."
He adds that "the film shows sexual violence in the family." It is an extremely important topic that is not talked about enough. It's on Twitter these days #NisamPriyavila 20.000 women spoke about various types of violence and why they did not report the attacks. That data is scary, but I believe that now more attention will be paid to it and that things will change."
One of the characteristics of the film is the unusual screenplay structure (screenplay by Melin Pot), so "the main role has little text, while the Aunt I play has a lot of words. Maybe because she is manipulative," explains Dragana Varagić.
Given that we are talking right after roadblocks were held in the cities of Serbia as a sign of protest against the exploitation of lithium, the topic of civil protests inevitably came up. Dragana Varagić perceives them as "the responsibility of all of us for the society in which we live".
In this context, he believes that "personal integrity is the most important quality, especially in a society in which it is thought that personal responsibility can be delegated and left to others, in a society that still struggles with illiteracy, in which problems are kept silent, in which no there is transparency about decisions and how they are made. Mistrust causes heated and not meaningful dialogues, we are unable to define a common goal, and when we get closer to it, the further it is, the faster we want to solve it, so we use people lightly and forget them, there is no solidarity... Words are no longer trusted."
Dragana Varagić went to Canada in the nineties as a famous film and television actress (The deceptive summer of '68, Spa, Sivi Sun, Vuk Karadzic, Aleksa Santic...), but above all as a champion of the National Theater (Natasha Rostova, Katarina Lugomirski, Julia, Lady Anna, Helena Charles, Elizabeth Proctor). And yet, he acts the least on the stage of his former theater.
"Perhaps it confuses them that I returned from Canada not only as an actor but also as a professor and director, so they may not understand where my focus is." However, in Belgrade I am mostly an actress. I would like to play more on the stage of the National Theater. We'll see. Coming back, like leaving, is a process.”
Based on the experience gained during her two-decade stay in Canada, where she acted, directed, produced and taught acting at Dalhousie and Windsor universities, and acting and directing at the University of Ottawa, Dragana Varagić says that "serious and constant investments in Canadian writers led to this that they now regularly receive the world's biggest awards. For years, it was invested in workshops that brought together librettists, composers and directors so that Canadian productions would now become regulars on Broadway. A strategy was made to increase guest performances abroad, I remember that we had meetings with the artistic directors of theater companies outside of Canada, so I also played in Washington for a month. We need to think in a planned way, long-term in advance. And of course, quality should be the only criterion, and nothing else."
Immediately after returning from Los Angeles, she had the final performance of her students, the third acting class at the Academy of Arts, which she has performed since returning to Belgrade. Do young people have a chance?
"There are a lot of roles for young actors and actresses in this wave of filmed series." If this continues... Theaters in the interior of Serbia have recently been hiring directors of significant credibility and experience, so the interests of young actors are not only related to Belgrade. Acting is not an easy job, it requires constant focus, inexhaustible curiosity, dedication...it has always been like that. Acting is actually not a job, but a calling. Whoever understands this while still at the Academy certainly has a chance."
Last year she acted in serials 12 words, Professor Mi's notebookšforgeća i Time of evil, and this one is waiting for the premiere of the play Shakespeare in Love directed by Ana Tomović at the Belgrade Drama Theater, rehearsals for the play 4 walls by the young director Patrik Lazić, should also be directed by Karel Čapek.
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