My World(1996), a short film directed by Snezana Trstenjak.

HK: Is the animated product on television in Yugoslavia predominantly American programming?

MZ: Yes, most, and we can't even fight them in our own country. That's how it is. What I was trying to do, because I lived in the States, I wanted to learn so much. I wanted to bring their expertise to our part of the world. I always thought that competition was a good thing. The NBA (National Basketball Association) can play in Europe if you allow it to happen. But if you take the cream of the crop over there, and you leave the rest to us, then we really cannot compete with you. The public doesn't care where it (programming) comes from. But I don't think its good for the industry. They're becoming self-sufficient and too self-indulgent in what they're doing. Unless they see some strong forthcoming around the corner, they'll just feel content at what they do. It just might happen that American media industry gets hit very hard, as it happened to American car industry some twenty or so years ago. I think its much cheaper to build a studio in Budapest or Beograd or Prague, and have development and production there, than it is to run the studio in Burbank. Then it would be a collaboration, and not exploitation. All of us have our little pride, and if you try to put us down we get angry at that.

Heather Kenyon is Editor in Chief of Animation World Magazine.