Balkan New Film Festival – BaNeFF 2015
Official selection
- 1. Isceljenje \ The Healing
Director: Ivan Jović \ Serbia 2014 \ 90 minutes \ Serbian with English subtitle \ drama 2014 le ¶sh ‹≥≤\\\in och ut, verkar gå videare. h kulturella grupper, lustrer ab &
A cinematic story of drama after the drama and war that rages on in people’s hearts even after the war. The hero, an Orthodox Christian monk, finds himself on a road to spiritual healing through circumstances he could never have dreamed of. The story follows the path to spiritual uplifting, metaphorically introduced at the very beginning in the hero’s walk to the secluded (utesluta, isolera, skilja av)..) hermitage. The topic (ledmotiv, huvudtema) of watering a dry, dead tree, repeated throughout the film, illustrates the absurdity of the monk’s faith. The permanent paralysis of the characters after the torment of war invokes forgiveness as the only means to ultimate healing.
Production: Ivica Vidanović, Cinnamon production d.o.o.
Actors: Jovo Maksić, Radovan Miljanić, Nemanja Jeremić
- 2. Soba so pijano \ The piano room
Director: Igor Ivanov \ Republic of Macedonia* 2013 \ 103 minutes \ Macedonian, German, Turkish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Hebrew, English with English subtitle \ drama
This is a fable about the destinies of the guests who stay in the room with the piano in the hotel that is up for sale. This room, that hides them from the hypocrisy of the world outside, is the only place where they can find some kind of fulfilment. Although far from similar, as representatives of completely different social and cultural groups, all share emptiness in their life. As the years pass like revolving doors, motives become frustrations, ambition and fantasy lead to ruin. Only the Maid, oblivious to the thwarted dreams that check in and out, seems to move forward.
Production: Skopje Film Studio
Actors: Natasha Petrović, Jovica Mihajlovski, Svetozar Cvetković, Vasil Zafirchev, Igor Stojchevski, Simona Spirovska, Torsten Voges…
- 3. Travelator
Director: Dušan Milić \ Serbia 2014 \ 99 minutes \ Serbian with English subtitle \ action, drama
Teenage assassin sets out on a long voyage to gun down a witness under protection program, who luxuriates in the artificial worlds of Las Vegas.
Production: Film Deluxe International
Actors: Nikola Rakočević, Boris Isaković, Khetanya Henderson, Adrian Elizondo
- 4. Sanghaj
Director: Marko Nabersnik \ Slovenia 2012 \ 120 minutes \ Romani with English subtitle \ drama
Lutvija Belmondo Mirga narrates a story about four generations. Belmondo is the central character of the film, a gypsy king, who decided to establish his own gypsy village. He names it Shanghai. Belmondo makes a living by smuggling and his power and influence grow big. He even gets the local police and politics on his side and that helps him to become untouchable for law. But with the downfall of Yugoslavia, smuggling of goods is replaced by smuggling of the arms. Though lucrative the business starts to threaten Belmondo’s personal life and he finds himself at the crossroads. Will he protect his own family or is he going to sacrifice his personal happiness for business ambitions? Shanghai Gypsy is a story about longing for happiness; it is a story about love and family ties, in which tears are intertwined with laughs. The story is set in times of the downfall of Yugoslavia. The film is shot in the authentic Romani language.
Production: Bostjan Iković, Franci Zajc
Actors: Visar Vishka, Asli Bayram, Senad Bašić, Marjuta Slamič, Jasna Diklić, Miodrag Trifunov
- 5. Most na kraju svijeta \ The Bridge at the End of the World
Director: Branko Ištvančić \ Croatia 2014 \ 114 minutes \ Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian with English subtitle \ drama, thriller
The film “The Bridge at the End of the World” deals with the unfortunate human destinies from the war in Croatia. In fear of the return of Serbian refugees to their houses in which they lived before the war and that in the meantime populated with Croat refugees from Bosnia, an old man disappears, and the investigation that starts from a police officer who lives in Serbian house, will become more personal.
Production: Irena Škorić, Artizana film; Co-production: HRT –Croatian Television, Kinematografska kuća Belgrade, HEFT Sarajevo, Dari films Paris
Actors: Aleksandar Bogdanović, Sanja Radišić, Jelena Perčin, Slaven Knezović, Slobodan Ćustić
- 6. Dječaci iz ulice Marksa i Engelsa / The Kids from the Marx and Engels Street
Director: Nikola Vukčević \ Montenegro 2014 \ 96 minutes \ Montenegrin (serbo-croat) with English subtitle \ drama
Story about two brothers: in the same night – older brother, Stanko (30) is going to kill a man for a first time – and his 16-years brother Vojo is going to make love for the first time. What seems to be easy – it is not at all at Balkans.
Production: Gallileo production Montenegro; Co-production: Embrio production Croatia, Artikulacija Montenegro, SAT Montenegro, RTCG, Cinnamon Serbia
Actors: Momčilo Otašević, Goran Bogdan, Ana Sofrenović, Emir Hadžihafizbegović, Branka Stanić
- 7. Montevideo 2
Director: Dragan Bjelogrlić \ Serbia 2014 \ 141 minutes \ Serbian with English subtitle \ adventure, comedy, sport
A football team from Belgrade, former Republic of Yugoslavia gets a chance to go to the First World Football Championship, but things get complicated along the way.
Production: Intermedia Network
Actors: Miloš Biković, Petar Strugar, Viktor Savić, Elena Martinez, Armand Assante…
- 8. Mali Budo \ Little Budo
Director: Danilo Bećković \ Serbia 2014 \ 95 minutes \ Serbian with English subtitle \ dark ethnic comedy
Drago is a surgeon from Podgorica (the capital of Montenegro). He made a fatal mistake during the operation and, as a result, killed the only son of a local mafia boss. Now, his only son Budo is endangered, so Drago decides to send him to Belgrade (the capital of Serbia) to be under protection of his old college friend. For Budo this is a great opportunity to get a taste of Belgrade nightlife. He hits the bars and roams the hot Belgrade night, looking for girls and other forms of entertainment. He is blissfully unaware that his protectors aren’t what they are supposed to be.
Production: Marko Paljić, Gargantua films; Co-production: Balkan film, Perfo, Indigo view
Actors: Petar Strugar, Sergej Trifunović, Tihomir Stanić, Petar Božović,
Slobodan Ćustić
9. Čefurji raus
Director: Goran Vojnović \ Slovenia 2013 \ 100 minutes \ Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian with English subtitle \ comedy, family
Marko, Adi, Aco in Dejan hang out in front of block of flats in Fužine. Marko is pissed because he quit playing basketball and because the sexy TV presenter doesn’t notice him and because his father Radovan is going to beat him up for quitting basketball. Adi is irritated by the fact that his brother Sanel is a drug addict and because his father Mirsad prefers to shag waitresses somewhere in Austria than to deal with this. Makarovićka – a chefur girl gives a hard time to Aco and Aco would like to take a revenge on Damjanović – the bus driver. Dejan is anxious because his mother Sonja wants to move to Slovenske Konjice. Policemen stop the boys one night. And their world starts to disintegrate. “We tend to forget how fragile and vulnerable the immigrant families are. Living abroad they are cut off not only from their culture, but also from their relatives and friends. Children are often out on a limb, because their parents feel helpless just like their kids do. They are all lost in the world of rules unclear to them, and of different social norms and customs. The parents hardly know what is right, what is allowed and what not, so they cannot teach and advise their children. And so the kids are left to the street and its ‘rules’.”
Production: Arsmedia; Co-production: Jadran film, Depo
Actors: Benjamin Krnetič, Emir Hadžihafisbegović, Dino Hajderović, Ivan Pašalić
- Neposlušni – The Disobedient (2014)
Director: Mina Djukic/ Serbia 2013/112 min/Serbian with English subtitle/romantic comedy
As children, Leni and Lazar were best friends. When Lazar returns from extensive travels abroad for his father’s funeral, Leni yearns to reconnect with her childhood soul mate but still feels the sting of their years of estrangement. Nevertheless, hoping to escape the doldrums of adult life, she embarks with Lazar on an impromptu bicycle trip across a gorgeous, sun-baked countryside. As they revel in raucous bouts of disobedience, Leni must decide if their shared language of misbehaviour is a bond upon which she can build a life.
The Disobedient perfectly captures the rush of youthful rebellion and the euphoria of finding a kindred spirit, but uses its vivid portrait of that bliss to facilitate a clever and creative exploration of the stumbling blocks one encounters while growing up.
Production: Kiselo dete – Belgrade
World sale: Visit Films, NY, USA
Scenario: Mina Djukic
Actors: Hana Selimovic, Mladen Sovilj, Danijel Sike
- Branio sam mladu Bosnu – The Man Who Defended Gavrilo Princip
Director: Srđan Koljević \ Serbia 2014 \ 156 minutes \ Serbian with English subtitle \ historical drama
This is the story about the investigation and trial following the Sarajevo assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, which triggered the First World War. The courtroom drama is seen through the eyes of young attorney Rudolf Zistler, one of the attorneys appointed by the court to defend the 24 accused members of Young Bosnia and assassin Gavrilo Princip. Rudolf Zistler, the forgotten hero of this historic trial, was the only one who really defended the accused, in spite of the threats, and facing a danger of being lynched by Austrian officers. According to his own conscience, and skill, he bravely proved that the accusation for high treason was not legally valid, by proving that Bosnia was not legally part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, but just an occupied territory.
Production: Košutnjak film
Actors: Nikola Rakočević, Vuk Kostć, Nebojša Glogovac, Vaja Dujović, Dragan Petrović
12.Top je bio vreo \ So Hot Was the Cannon
Director: Slobodan Skerlić \ Serbia 2014 \ 100 minutes \ Serbian with English subtitle \ drama
During the siege of Sarajevo in 1994 a grenade fired from a nearby hill kills the parents of a ten-year-old boy. The boy loses his ability to speak. A neighbour lady adopts and takes care of him. The boy is thrown out from his destroyed apartment and he begins to prowl around the city with a schoolmate. Too early and too soon, he goes through the process of growing up. He learns the meaning of words such as force, death, sex. He learns how to achieve. He learns about the values. He learns what matters the most. The lady neighbour unsuccessfully tries to protect him, but the boy rushes to his own destruction. Death and suffering have become his everyday company.
Production: Drina Film, Tihomir Stanić, Bogdan Stanić; Co-production: Balkan Film (Serbia), Kozarska Dubica (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Actors: Stanislav Ručnov, Anita Mančić, Muhamed Dupovac, Mugdim Avdagić, Kenan Musić, Slavko Štimac, Milica Mihajlović
* TFYROM regarding UN.