An interview with the Director of Surviving Earth, Thea Gajic

Devastating and incredibly personal, Surviving Earth is the emotionally affecting directorial debut from Thea Gajic. I was lucky enough to speak to Thea before watching the film myself.

Taken from her own experiences, Surviving Earth tells the story of Vlad (Slavko Sobin), Thea’s own father, and his battle with addiction. A Yugoslav refugee, drug counsellor and musician, the film follows Vlad’s passion for music and fractious relationship with his young daughter, Maria (Olive Gray), as he navigates his own life in Bristol amongst constant triggers and past traumas whilst striving to remain clean.

Shot in Bristol, the film features locations that were visited by the real-life Vlad, grounding the film in its own history. I asked Thea what it was like revisiting these places:

“It was nice reliving some memories with him, places I had been with him before. It just reminds me heavily of him.”

This genuine and emotional connection to the locations and community that Vlad was part of is something that has clearly overflowed onto the set, blurring the lines between the film and the past. Thea goes on to say that:

“There were so many serendipitous things that happened in relation to my dad’s life and his community that were crossing paths on set […] We ended up finding a location that, unbeknownst to us until we were there, the owners of the flat had met my dad at some point. Little things like that that would happen along the way.”

Surviving Earth is an exploration by Thea into grief after losing her father through the events that are depicted in the film. Having been written some 6 years before the film's eventual release, I asked Thea how the grief that had initially inspired the film had changed over time.

“I think grief is a funny thing that is always developing, I guess I separated myself to some extent from the grief of it in having to write it and it becoming a story in its own right”.

The development of the story into its own entity can be seen in Thea’s choice not to tell it from her perspective but instead from her father’s.

“I think it was hard at first to tell whose POV to tell it from, instinctively I started it with mine, and then the script became a kind of split POV, and that wasn’t really working. So, I had to decide whose POV I had to tell it from, and I decided to tell it from his as I decided it was more interesting to me.”

The choice to tell it from the perspective of Vlad allows Slavko Sobin to shine, and in doing so, creates an incredibly standout performance. Vlad is a complex, multi-faceted character, and Slavko plays him convincingly and with ease, transitioning from gregarious performer to cheeky father and a heartbroken man. As an audience member, you cheer at his successes and weep at his self-sabotaging. I asked Thea what it was like casting someone as her own father and what it was she was looking for:

“I wasn’t casting on looks or anything like that, it was more to do with energy and charm and not only someone that is a really good actor but someone that can be soft and warm and really lovable”.

This affable charm is something that is apparent throughout the film as Slavko charms his way across the screen and into your heart. The creation of Vlad as a character on screen also provided Thea with some catharsis when looking at the relationship with her real-life counterpart:

“In writing him, you have to approach the character in a certain way, and I think in doing that it freed me of whatever judgement I had of him as a teenager or 21-year-old, and I really saw him beyond just a parent and for the 3D version of him that he was”.

This depth of character is a defining factor of the film as Thea creates a character that goes beyond the usual one-dimensional, well-worn depiction of addiction.

However, these complexities are only allowed to shine due to a triumph of Thea’s storytelling. Empathic and gut-wrenchingly authentic, Surviving Earth remains a hopeful tale in parts, whilst not pulling its punches when it comes to showing the drastic turns that life can take. The characters are incredibly human and sympathetic, ensuring you feel every emotional upheaval the film throws at you. Thea explained to me what it was like during the writing process, especially during the early stages when she had to work hard to maintain the narrative’s truthful integrity whilst drafting and redrafting the script.

“You learn where to push and pull and where to honour the real-life event versus what works best for the film. I think figuring that out can be really challenging. You question ‘What is art?’ What are we imitating if the real-life stuff doesn’t work?”

Maybe this non-compromising approach to grief and loss, as based on her own personal experiences, is what makes the film so effective and such a moving watch.

“What I find with this film, and I found it on set as well, is that it, I guess it gives people permission to be vulnerable”, says Thea. “A lot of people have come up to me afterwards to express their own losses and their own relationship with addiction”.

Surviving Earth is definitely a film that will stay with me due to its strong character-driven and emotive narrative, portrayed by a superb cast, and it is certainly successful in making you reflect on your own grief; however, I wanted to know what Thea wished people to take away from the film: