Works in Progress Award @KVIFF
The 8 projects (plus 1 out of competition) selected out of 57 registered projects from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, Greece and post-Soviet territories. The 2016 award, in a total value of 100.000 EUR, is combining post-production services in UPP and Soundsquare, and a cash award by Barrandov Studio (10,000 EUR).
Statement of the Jury
We decided to award a drama that looks at today's society from a darkly humorous and realistic perspective. Lead by a complex performance, this film examines the life of a woman whose struggle with bureaucracy forces her to take an inevitable solution, the Works in Progress Award goes to Requiem for Mrs. J.
Requiem for Mrs. J (Rekvijem za gospođu J)
dir. Bojan Vuletić, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia
produced by Nenad Dukić, Pavlina Jeleva (Co-Producer), Tomi Salkovski (Co-Producer)
Eurimages Lab Project Award @KVIFF
8 projects selected out of 64 registered projects from Eurimages countries in production or post-production, made outside the traditional filmmaking framework and showing international co-operation. The best project will receive an award of EUR 50,000.
Of the four international film festivals selected by Eurimages from different corners of Europe, KVIFF is the first to present this award; over the coming months, the others will present the same award at their respective festivals.
Statement of the Jury
We were moved by this poetic film that evokes the basic conditions of mankind. For its visually striking and sensory journey through the secrets, memories, and imagination of the human race, the Eurimages Lab Project Award @ KVIFF goes to Perseverance.
Perseverance (Vztrajanje)
dir. Miha Knific, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Serbia
produced by Siniša Juričič
More information about the films:
Requiem for Mrs J
Rekvijem za gospođu J
Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia
Directed by: Bojan Vuletić
Scriptwriter: Bojan Vuletić
Producer: Nenad Dukić (Delegate Producer), Pavlina Jeleva (Co-Producer), Tomi Salkovski (Co-Producer)
Camera: Jelena Stanković
Language: Serbian
Genre: drama, dark comedy
Release date: Spring 2017
What’s missing: postproduction
This is the film’s working title and may change.
Film synopsis
On the day a family pet rabbit dies, Mrs J, a modest middle-aged widow, former administrative clerk with a high school diploma and no job, decides to complete all her chores: bury the rabbit, wash a sink full of dishes, go to the store, dig up an old family pistol. Her late husband’s pistol. She is determined to kill herself with that gun on the anniversary of her husband's death.
Mrs J decides to make peace with her pregnant older daughter Anna and decides to collect her severance pay from the bankrupt factory she spent half her life working in. In a country which is going through social transition and comprehensive administrative reform, this will be highly complicated.
Director’s filmography
Bojan Vuletić collaborated as a co-writer with Stefan Arsenijević on the omnibus Lost and Found (story Fabulous Vera) and feature Love and Other Crimes, for which he was two times granted a best script award at national festivals.
His first feature film Practical Guide to Belgrade with Singing and Crying premiered at Karlovy Vary Film Festival in East of the West Competition. At the moment he is editing his second feature film Requiem for Mrs J.
Credits
2011 – Practical Guide to Belgrade with Singing and Crying (director and writer)
Karlovy Vary, East of the West Competition
Pula Film Festival, Fedeora Critic Award
Cinema City Film Festival, Fipresci Award
Producer’s filmography
Nenad Dukić is a producer, festival programer and film critic. President of Belgrade’s production company SEE Film Pro (South East European Film) from 2001.
Credits:
2015 – The High Sun, feature film / Co-Producer
2012 – Eastalgia, feature film / Co-Producer
2011 – Con Fidel, pase lo que pase, feature documentary / Co-Producer
2010 – Some Other Stories, feature film / Idea, Concept and Lead Producer.
Vice-president of The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) for two mandates (1993–1997). President of The Federation of Film Critics of Europe and Mediterranean, from 2015. Member of European Film Academy (EFA), from 2012. Member of the Board of International Press Academy (IPA), Los Angeles, US, from 2012.
Producer’s statement
The film deals with one of the painful and unavoidable issues in Eastern Europe – transition. The newly established political and economic system often causes a mindset change and the crisis of the values system. And this inevitably leads to an identity crisis.
The heroine of the film, Mrs J, tries to solve with suicide the despair faces. Thus, transition is the theme and the story is initiated by her attempt to commit suicide. The film will treat this complex dramatic situation with a directing procedure that uses irony, self-irony and black humor. Thus the theme itself acquires a special dimension.
Requiem for Mrs J features Mirjana Karanović, renowned acress, as Mrs J.
Contact / Presenters
See Film Pro DOO
Omladinskih Brigada 224, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia
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Bojan Vuletić | Film Director, Scriptwriter
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Mobile: +381 641 714 993
Nenad Dukić | Film Producer
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Mobile: +381 641 469 119
Perseverance
Vztrajanje
Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Serbia
Directed by: Miha Knific
Scriptwriter: Miha Knific
Producer: Siniša Juričić
Camera: Aljoša Korenčan
Music: Luka Zima
Language: English, Slovenian, Croatian
Genre: drama
Release date: Q4/2016
What’s missing: sound and picture postproduction
This is the film’s final distribution title.
This film is director’s debut.
Working version of the film will be presented.
Film synopsis
Perseverance consists of 20 stories inspired by true events and characters that span the world and last 60 years. They are not formally connected, their narratives are separate but create a larger one. The stories cover the period from the past to the present day and are located around the world. Perseverance is a poetic travel through the collective memory of mankind and it tries to answer the questions of who we are, where we do come from and where are we going Through intimate stories, the film describes the phenomenon of the human being, of the human race.
Director’s filmography
Miha Knific (b. 1976, Kranj, Slovenia) graduated in sculpturing at Ljubljana Academy for Fine Arts (1995–2000). He has directed a number of short films, directed adverts for major international clients (more than 50 TV commercials in last 6 years) and multiple music videos. Miha focuses primarily on human stories and in his movies researches extreme situations and their outcomes, with a particular interest in the concept of freedom that these situations create. He deals with worlds that fatally change an individual, his own relationship towards the world and the world itself.
Producer’s filmography
Siniša Juričić holds a degree in Acting (1990) as well as a degree in Film Production (2009) from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. Sinisa's focus is on producing films and helping talented filmmakers from the EEC to achieve their full international potential. His recent works include co-producing The Chicken (dir. Una Gunjak, received the European Film Award in 2014), Full Contact (dir. David Verbeek, premiered at Toronto IFF 2015) and Interruption (dir. Yorgos Zois, premiered at Venice Film Festival 2015) among others. He attended workshops such as Inside Pictures (2015), EAVE+ (2014), Torino AdaptLab (2014), EURODOC (2009) and EAVE (2007) and many more.
Producer’s statement
Feature fiction film Perseverance is currently in the final postproduction phase after having an ongoing production for a couple of years. The film has a great distribution potential because most of it is filmed in English language while the storytelling itself is quite universal and undertandable to a wide audience – each story is unique, yet adaptable to any part of the world. The budget is nearly completely found but there is still the gap of the 50,000 euro that is needed for completing the film and for placing it on the international market.
Moreover, we do not have the World Sales at this moment and this also something we’re looking for.
Contact / Presenters
Nukleus film Slovenia
Lepodvorska ulica 26, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
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www http://www.nukleus-film.hr
Nukleus Film
Dalmatinska 8, Zagreb, Croatia
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www www.nukleus-film.hr
Miha Knific | Film Director
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Siniša Juričić | Film Producer
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Mobile: +385 91 502 1871
