Performance
Trailer
Maja, an urbanite in her mid-30s, travels to a remote Dalmatian island to resolve inheritance issues that she only recently discovered exist. The deeper she delves into the island's tight-knit social fabric however, the more she distances herself from the idea of suing for the inheritance of her father, village patriarch Jakša Stipetić, who fathered her out of wedlock. Maja, too, soon finds herself in amorous entanglements: with Saša, who boasts of having made a name for himself in New York yet leads a lonely playboy existence on his island, and with Ičo, the mayor with a nostalgic communist attitude. Everyone here is an amorous and political romantic: "Bella Ciao" plays in the harbour café, then a Titoist song is sung, and at some point ex-partisan Ana, already slightly demented, steps out onto her balcony with a shotgun as she thinks the fascists are coming back. And then there are Ičo's everyday worries, both about his inability to find skilled workers for his café and about his cannabis plantation. Because if the police find out, he'll be kicked out of the mayor's office. A congenial exploration of the mindset of a Croatian Adriatic island, set in the mild light of summer and given life by distinctive characters that could only exist in real life. Director Danis Tanović won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2002 with NO MAN'S LAND. The screenplay was written by lead actress Anja Matković, who is this year a member of the FFC's International Festival Jury.
Text: Bernd Buder
05.11.2024 | 20:00 | Stadthalle (original version with English subtitles + simultaneous translation into German)
10.11.2024 | 14:30 | Weltspiegel Saal 2 (original version with German subtitles)
Anja Matković, Nikola Kuprešanin, Danis Tanović
Miloš Jaćimović
Marius Leftărache
Veronika Radman
Livina Tanović
Anja Matković, Uliks Fehmiu, Goran Navojec, Mario Knezović, Snježana Sinovčić, Luka Juričić, Mirela Brekalo, Marija Škaričić, Boris Ler, Ivana Roščić
Danis Tanović - DANIS TANOVIĆ (Bosnian/Belgian director) was born in 1969 in Zenica. He studied at the Sarajevo School of Drama (his studies where interrupted by the war in the Balkans in 1997) and at the INSAS of Brussels. His debut film NO MAN’S LAND won Best Screenplay at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival and the European Film Awards and also Best Foreign Language Film at the 2002 Academy Awards. NO MAN’S LAND won 42 awards, making this film one of the most awarded debut films in the history of cinema. His films AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER and DEATH IN SARAJEVO won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2013 and 2016. He currently lives in Sarajevo.