Once, quite a long time ago, before all the wars and disasters, we sat in my kitchen in the evening, gloomily arguing and sorting things out, as only a director and a director of photography can do. Usually, this process is languidly called a creative search, but I would say that it can be described by the slogan "how not to strangle your partner".

We returned home very late; the stores were already closed, and we only managed to grab some flatbreads from a 24-hour Bosnian bakery. At home, we found a strange set of products: a huge piece of Camembert, a couple of onions, garlic, and a lie too long mango. And, of course, spices—I always have a lot of them. I had to make up a dinner based on what I had. Well, I made it up... that's how mango sauce was born.

Then we stopped bickering and wrote the script quite peacefully until the morning, after which my friend safely went to the airport and flew to Moscow. Immediately after his arrival, I received a message: "urgently send me the recipe for mango madness before you forget it!" In fact, the recipe was written down and really wasn't forgotten or lost.

Since then, I have prepared mango sauce every time he comes, and I always buy Camembert. The last time was a long time ago because of epidemics, wars, borders, and all that. But I really hope that in the foreseeable future, we will meet and, if not shoot, then at least make mango sauce.