10-07-2008

Karlovy Vary film festival East of the West competition It´s Hard to Be Nice

By Mateja Princic

    Veteran writer/director Srdan Vuletic competes in the Karlovy Vary film festival East of the West section with the Slovenian co-production It´s Hard to Be Nice.

    The film's protaganist, Fudo, is an 40 year old taxi driver who wants to be good, but just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time: Sarajevo today. Though he has elaborate plans to rise above his petty-criminal past, Fudo's old friends have their own plans-- to bring him back for one last job. Vuletic's credits include the awarded short film Hop, Skip and Jump and the feature film Summer in the Golden Valley, which received a Tiger Award at Rotterdam Film Festival.

    A 120 minute co-production from Slovenia (Studio Arkadena), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Televizija Bosne i Hercegovine), Great Britain (Clubdeal ltd), Germany (Riva Filmproduktion, ZDF), and Serbia and Montenegro (FTV, RTRS), It´s Hard to Be Nice also received financial supported from the Foundation for Cinematography (FBIH), the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports Bosnia and Herzegovina, and EURIMAGES. Producer Adimir Kenovic, also known as a producer of films directed by Pjer Zalica (Fuse, Days and Hours), Rajko Grlic (Border Post) and Ognjen Svilicic (Armin), cooperated with Pierre Spengler, Michael Eckelt, Milko Josifov, Zoran Cvijanovic and Jani Kovic.

    The €2,650,000 film was shot in Split (Croatia) and Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The film was awarded at Sarajevo film festival for the best actor (Sasa Petrovic) and received a special mention at the Miami Film Festival. The distributor is international film company Fortissimo Films.