Revolutionary Minds: The Making of NOVAK
Image from NOVAK
Director Harry Lagoussis and stars Zlatko Burić and Ella Rumpf discuss their provocative sci-fi drama following its Edinburgh premiere.
Cinetopia's Emma Jamieson sat down with director Harry Lagoussis and actors Zlatko Burić and Ella Rumpf to explore the making of Novak (2025), following its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it competed in the feature competition. Novak follows a reclusive Croatian neuroscientist in Athens who is pulled back into the world by a group of young, idealistic scientists captivated by his discredited theories on electromagnetic pollution. As their underground movement gains momentum, egos clash and their community starts to fracture. With its grungy, lo-fi sci-fi vibe, surreal atmosphere, and sharp themes of idol worship, consumerism, and non-conformity, Novak is a bold, offbeat journey through a world teetering on the edge.
Zlatko Burić, who won the European Film Award for Best Actor and a Guldbagge Award for his riveting turn in Triangle of Sadness, alongside his acclaimed work in the Pusher trilogy, brings his signature theatrical intensity and unpredictable energy to the role of Dr Nikola Novak. He also portrays Boravian President Vasil Ghurkos in this year's blockbuster Superman (2025)—a menacing dictator in league with Lex Luthor, adding a high-profile genre credit to his diverse filmography. Ella Rumpf, the breakout star of Raw and recent winner of César and Swiss Film Awards, continues her trend of fearless, genre-defying roles.
Emma Jamieson: Harry, first of all, welcome to the festival. How does it feel to be having your world premiere here?
Harry Lagoussis: I'm super excited. It's a great place, a great festival. I've been here from day one and I'm staying for the whole run. For me, it's what I've been working towards for so many years—to finally get to see the film with an unsuspecting audience.
Emma: And this is the first time, Zlatko and Ella, that you're going to be seeing the film as well. What reaction are you hoping for?
Ella Rumpf: We're very curious about how the audience is going to react because it's a very unusual story and a real proposition. When I read the script first, I thought I'd never read something like that. It's a film that takes a risk, and I just felt it could be really hilarious to do this film. So I'm really excited to see how the audience reacts to this proposition.
Zlatko Burić: It's great that it's in the festival. Film festivals are special places—the temperature is higher and focus is more sharp. It's always so interesting to play for festival audiences. We hope tonight it will be great.
Emma: Can you tell me how you came to make this story? How did you come about the creative idea for it?
Harry: The idea first came from Wilhelm Reich, who was a psychoanalyst—a brilliant psychoanalyst who ended up shooting down UFOs with cosmic orgasmic energy, and then was put in jail where he died. He became a huge figure in freedom of speech because in the United States they put him in prison and burned his books in the '50s. The first idea that came to mind was: what if he hadn't died in prison, and what if he had been convinced that all his life's work was a lie? How would he go on living? That was over 20 years ago. I started researching the script in 2014, started writing in 2015, found my Greek producers in 2017—so it's been a long process.
Emma: Was Wilhelm Reich a direct influence on Dr. Novak and Zlatko's character?
Zlatko: Wilhelm Reich was super interesting for me. I was in Zagreb at university in the '70s studying psychology, and Wilhelm Reich was a person really hot for us—one kind of anti-authoritarian communist in opposition to Stalinism. His book Mass Psychology of Fascism was one of the books you had to read at that time, and his essay "Listen, Little Man" was important because in Yugoslavia there was opposition to the system from the left. Reich was a central figure, but when he moved to the States, there was this hysteria about cosmic erotic energy and his followers started to look like a cult phenomenon. For me it was a great story because of this tragic contradiction in the character between vision—anti-authoritarian vision—and the social structure of the group, which becomes more hierarchical. That's the frame of the story for me.
Zlatko Burić playing Dr. Novak in NOVAK
Emma: Speaking of that cult dynamic and the guru figure, there's that strange sexual energy as the group gets further into the mission. Can you talk about your particular dynamic as characters?
Ella: It's interesting because we talked a lot about how to establish that. We're in a very open-minded artist community who is really interested in these theories, and first it all seems quite light—being part of that activism. At some point there's some kind of isolation that happens within the group and a dynamic that turns into admiration for some kind of guru, wanting to create a family almost. What's interesting is that even the theory he's talking about seems very seductive and fascinating to a certain point, and then it goes in a direction that becomes maybe a little bit weirder. It was very interesting to keep it on a very normal and human level—how something can shift within a group dynamic while keeping both the absurdity of it and the humanness.
Ella Rumpf playing Louise in NOVAK
Emma: Harry, at the core of your film is the book New Atlantis by Francis Bacon. Was it quite central to the preparation?
Harry: Did I force you to read New Atlantis? I don't think so.
Zlatko: It was a suggestion.
Emma: Talk to me about this vision of utopia, because Dr. Novak talks about revolution and being a revolutionary. Do you feel it's even possible in our modern era to be revolutionary, or are we destined to just be sheep and destroy ourselves as a society?
Harry: Personally, I think we absolutely have to be revolutionary, even though society will be destroyed. I mean, I have no high hopes for humankind, but that's because we were not revolutionary enough—we just kept on with business as usual.
Zlatko: For me, to work with theater and film is one part of that. I came from theater and played in group theater with another structure. In this film, it was a little touch of that because [the production company] has a little bit of this sort of mystic thinking. Also between Ella and me as actors, there's a big generation gap. But it was nice and interesting because Ella is part of her generation's counterculture, and me too, so the film was like a place where we exchange ideas and dreams.
Emma: I felt it was very collaborative when I was watching it. Was the creative process on set quite improvised?
Ella: No, it was not so much improvised. The script was there and we really tried to follow it. But everybody brought their note. I'm very sad that most of the cast can't be here because they're all incredible. I really want to give a special mention—every single one has been so special to create this group dynamic. It feels like we represent the rest of the group, but it was a really incredible experience to feel like they chose people who all have their kind of vision about the world.
Zlatko: We shot in a squat house in Athens with the community, and a lot of that was not like an ordinary film set—it was like we were going to our house.
Novak premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and continues to screen throughout the festival run.
Watch the full interview below.
