18-04-2023

FNE at Cannes 2023: Lost Country by Vladimir Perišić Selected for Cannes’ Critics’ Week

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    FNE at Cannes 2023: Lost Country by Vladimir Perišić Selected for Cannes’ Critics’ Week source: HAVC

    BELGRADE: The sophomore feature by Serbian director Vladimir Perišić has been selected for the 62nd edition of Critics’ Week (Semaine de la Critique), one of the sidebar sections of the Cannes Film Festival. This coproduction between France, Serbia, Luxembourg and Croatia stars Quo Vadis, Aida?'s Jasna Đuričić. Croatian/Spanish short film The Real Truth about the Fight by Andrea Slaviček was also selected for Critics’ Week.

    The script of Lost Country written by Vladimir Perišić together with French scriptwriter Alice Winocour (Mustang, Proxima) is set in Belgrade in 1996, when, following the victory of the opposition party in the elections, Slobodan Milošević's Socialist Party falsifies the results. The story follows Stefan, who is 14, and his mother Marklena, who is the spokesperson for the party. Because of his love for his mother, Stefan cannot trust his best friend Milan and tell him that his very mother is involved in an election fraud.

    The cast includes Jovan Ginić, Miodrag Jovanović, Dušan Valentić, Boris Isaković, Lazar Kocić, Ana Simeunović, Marija Škaričić and Pavle Čemerikić.

    The film was produced by Omar El Kadi and Nadia Turincev through Easy Riders Films (France), Vladimir Perišić through Serbia’s Trilema, and Janja Kralj through France’s KinoElektron, in coproduction with Vincent Quenault and Jeanne Geiben through Red Lion (Luxembourg), and Ankica Jurić Tilić through Croatia’s Kinorama.

    The project was supported by Film Center Serbia, CNC, Arte France Cinema, the Luxembourg Film Fund and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.

    The 62nd edition of Critics’ Week will be held 17 – 25 May 2023, and the 76th Festival de Cannes will take place 16 – 27 May 2023.

    Vladimir Perišić studied literature at Paris VII and film direction at La Fémis. His graduate film Dremano oko was selected for the Cinéfondation section in Cannes in 2003. He took part in the omnibus project The Bridges of Sarajevo (coproduced by Obala Art Centar from Bosnia and Herzegovina), which screened in the Official Selection in Cannes in 2014. His debut feature Ordinary People / Obični ljudi (produced by TS Productions), had its world premiere within the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2009.

    The Real Truth about the Fight by Andrea Slaviček was produced by Katarina Prpić through Antitalent with coproducers Fractal from Spain and Blank from Croatia. The film was supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and the City of Zagreb.

    Between school trouble, mean girl drama, catchy lyrics, and a mysterious blue car, teenage Lena, sometimes distracted or interrupted, tells us the real story behind The Big Fight. But it seems like there is something she is not telling us.