We physicists are concerned with studying the properties of concepts such as motion, time, space, light and sound. In the meantime, it seems to me that Lazar – in his own artistic manner – has already mastered these. He’s been ruling the sound waves from a young age, when in elementary music school he studied the piano, as well as the drums and the classical and rock’n’roll guitar. As a film director, he skillfully controls light and time, transforming them into feelings and ideas. As an actor, he materializes scenarios into spacetime, be it on the stage or on a screen.

It couldn’t be simpler for me to choose the main motif in this profile – Lazar’s life story is built upon art and creation. The very day of our conversation, Lazar presented his first musical album and showed his first documentary in Kinoteka, along with the short film Dream in which he played the leading role (events which I was sad to miss). With excitement, he also told me about his previous adventures, such as his experience in Italy as the finalist of the Giffoni Film Festival, where he shook hands with his cinema idols. With a view of his future as a rockstar, he has even predicted his upcoming challenges and worked out a way to face them.

Apart from Lazar’s achievements, particularly impressive is his altruistic spin on art. For instance, by engaging in “applied theater”, he has utilized art to incite a wider discussion about societal challenges such as corruption and prejudice. In addition, as he described during our first interview, with his documentary (named Skopje – the city of labor), he celebrates the beauty and uniqueness of the capital, enriching the discourse about the city with a fresh and positive perspective. Perhaps the most crystal-clear example about this benevolent quality of Lazar is his drive to create space for the creativity of others – his aptly-named New Spaces festival is a platform for young artists enjoyed by hundreds of visitors for two consecutive years already.

When he’s not creating new worlds, Lazar thrives in existing ones – for instance as a handball player in the youth team of the Butel handball team (they won the championship this year!). In his own words, among his circles he is “the only one among the handball players to have released a song and the only one among the musicians who plays handball” – this is the source of the unique originality of every conversation I’ve had with him. In just one short call, he taught me about the balance between aesthetics and essence that film directors must consider, shared his take on art commercialization and the exploitation of the artist, and maturely reflected on the importance of team harmony in sports (and beyond).

Although there are qualities of Lazar that I have not covered in this short text, I can comfortably rely on time to unveil them – be it on a cinema screen, musical platform or a theater stage. Simultaneously, I am certain that the college in Karuizawa shall be yet another stage for Lazar’s energy as a creative, as a sportsman and as a friend.

Ilija, August 2022