Horizons are one of the two competitions at Venice Film Festival, announcing upcoming global trends and new and interesting directors and also screening films by already accomplished authors. In recent years, names like Michael Glawogger, Ben Rivers, Ben Russell, James Franco, Nicolas Provost, Lukas Modysson, Manoel de Oliveira, Guillermo Arriaga etc. have presented their films there. Orizzonti 2014 includes 17 feature films, and the programme opens with the great Iranian director Mohsen Makmalbaf and his film The President, starring Milla Jovovich and Ed Harris.
Ognjen Sviličić said that ‘this was a big action and that the participation of his film in Venice’s competition is a result of both the film’s quality and good collaboration with HAVC in the area of production and placement, especially organisation of special screenings at international festivals and markets.’ Damir Terešak the film’s producer is extremely pleased with the fact that among the feature-length 1500 entries from all over the world, only 40 were selected to compete for the Golden Lion and Grand Prix in Horizons.
Sviličić’s film These Are the Rules revolves around an ordinary family from Zagreb: Maja and Ivo are nearing retirement and struggles to make ends meet; one day, for no particular reason, their 18-year-old son Tomo is beaten on the street by a group of kids. Maja and Ivo will soon have to face the greatest challenge ever…
The film stars Jasna Žalica, Emir Hadžihafizbegović and Hrvoje Vladisavljević. The cinematographer was Crystel Fournier, set designer Ivan Veljača, and costume designer Katarina Zaninović. The film producers are Damir Terešak from Zagreb’s MaXima Film and Janja Kralj from the French KinoElektron. The co-producers were Nikolina Vučetić Zečetić (Biberche Productions, Belgrade) and Svetozar Ristovski (Trice Films, Skopje). The film was supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Croatian Television, French National Centre for Cinema, Serbian Film Centre and Macedonian Film Centre. The film’s sales agent in the French company Urban Distribution Intl.
Croatian films this year are present in Berlin, Cannes and Venice competitions. Croatian films included in the anniversary edition of Sarajevo – 10 of them in the official selection, and another nine short films in side programmes.
Hrvoje Hribar congratulated Sviličić’s crew and finally praised the role of the less visible departments within HAVC, which systematically work on the promotion and placement of Croatian film abroad, making it possible for ‘our small cinema to make a name for itself in the film circuit’.