Koki, Ciao
Director: Quenton Miller
Cast:Koki
Crew:Writers: Koki, Misho Antadze, Quenton Miller. Producer: Aram Lee. Sound Design: Luka Barajević; Editor: Misho Antadze
Synopsis
The autobiography of Koki, an immortal parrot, loyal comrade of Marshal Tito, leader of Yugoslavia for 35 years. Made over 4 years with Koki responding to previously unseen archives, this biopic relives the caged memories of this 68 year speaking bird, who had the honour of meeting Hollywood stars, and bloodthirsty dictators.
About the director
Born in Australia in 1981, the filmmaker and artist has been based in the Netherlands since 2012. His focus on film developed out of video installations and from writing and designing for literary publications. He often makes comedies which depict alienated characters struggling with language, truth, time and history. Animals and diverse experiences of language are a strong feature of his films.
Filmmaker's note
I’ve had a lifelong fascination with stories told from the point of view of animals, Balthazar is my absolute favourite, but with words, even when great writers did it, like Virginia Woolf with Flush, it seemed like a ventriloquist trick. I wanted to tell a story with the real voice of an individual, speaking parrot in their own words. I tried it out with other parrots with limited success. Later when I was working on a different project about animal diplomacy, and animals as state symbols, I met Koki, the parrot of Tito, leader of Yugoslavia for 35 years, and I knew I had my collaborator.
Koki is credited as a co-writer because not only does he narrate, but his responses to archival material shaped the film, I brought Koki photos and videos from different Yugoslavian archives to get his reactions. I was amazed to find pictures and footage of a cockatoo not only with Tito, but Sukarno, the Ceaușescus, Idi Amin, as well as stars like Sophia Loren, Elisabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Koki lives on Brijuni, an island Tito took over full of elephants, bears and zebras, animals who arrived as state gifts, symbolising the power of states and authoritative figures, with weird lives of their own behind their diplomatic jobs.