Mixing autobiography and fiction, the film tells the story of a Serbian actress Ivana, born on the Serbian-Romanian border on the Danube, who lives in Romania but cannot find her place in either Serbia or Romania. One summer she decides to spend her holiday in her hometown of Kladovo, with her family. The mayor proposes that she becomes the image of the most important event in town – the music festival Friendship Bridge. But when her eccentric friends from Bucharest arrive together with her much younger beau, gossip in town pushes Ivana to a nervous breakdown.

“The film is the result of a personal crisis that I had in the summer of 2017, when I went back home to the Danube shores, at the Romanian-Serbian border. I wrote a script and the project started as an independent project shot in Kladovo, where real protagonists as family and friends were invited to play fictionalised characters in front of the camera”, says Ivana Mladenović in a statement.

The main characters are played by Ivana Mladenović, Luka Gramić, Gordana Mladenović, Miodrag Mladenović, Kosta Mladenović, Zivka Sorejević, Andrei Dinescu and Anca Pop.

The film was coproduced by Ada Solomon through Romania’s microFILM and Ivana Mladenović through Serbia’s Dunav 84, in association with the Romanian Television, nomada.solo and Verde Stop Arena, and with the support of the Romanian Film Centre and Film Center Serbia. The project was sponsored by Hollywood Multiplex and United Romanian Breweries Bereprod.

Ivana the Terrible / Ivana cea Groaznică has been acquired by the Toronto-based outlet Syndicado Film Sales.

Beside the award in Locarno, the film also received the Golden Pram for Best Feature Film at the Zagreb Film Festival 2019.

The script was penned by Mladenović together with Adrian Schiop, the scriptwriter and actor in her acclaimed debut feature Soldiers. A Story from Ferentari / Soldații. Poveste din Ferentari, a film which was also produced by Ada Solomon through HiFilm Productions.

microFILM released the film in Romania on 13 March 2020, just when the COVID-19 pandemic was about to start. 

Production Information:

Producers:

microFILM (Romania)
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Dunav 84 (Serbia)
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Credits:

Director: Ivana Mladenović
Script: Ivana Mladenović, Adrian Schiop
Dop: Carmen Țofeni
Editor: Patricia Chelaru, Cătălin Cristuțiu
Sound: Alexandru Dumitru
Art direction: Ana Szel, Andrei Rus
Production design: Radmila Simić, Rada Dronjak, Gordana Mladenović
Costumes and makeup: Iulia Popescu
Cast: Ivana Mladenović, Luka Gramić, Gordana Mladenović, Miodrag Mladenović, Kosta Mladenović, Zivka Sorejević, Andrei Dinescu, Anca Pop