Two Croatian minority co-productions: God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya, and Stitches, won awards at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival, which took place from February 7th to 17th. Both were co-produced by the Croatian production company Spiritus Movens.
Directed by Macedonian film-maker Teona Strugar Mitevska, God Exists, Her Name is Petronya won the Ecumenical Jury Prize. According to the jury, the film was chosen “for the bold way it showed the transformation of a powerless young woman into a declared defender of women’s rights.” The film also won the Guild Film Award, whose jury was made up of three cinema managers.
Based on a true story, Teona Strugar Mitevska’s film is about a 31-year-old woman, Petrunya, living in a small Macedonian town, Stip. Every January a priest throws a cross into the river — good luck and prosperity are guaranteed to the man who dives after it and retrieves it. This time, however, Petrunya impetuously dives into the icy water and grabs the cross before the others. This sets off a war against the young woman who refuses to give up her cross, honestly won. The film will be in French cinemas as from May 1st 2019.
Stitches by Serbian director Miroslav Terzic, won the
Berlin Europa Cinemas Label. Juha Elomäki, Marlena Gabryszewska and Daniela
Zuklic were the jury for this award. A story of loss and hope told through the
character of Ana, played by actress Snezana Bogdanovic: although she was told
her baby was stillborn, Ana believes he was stolen at birth by the Serbian
hospital authorities and sold for adoption abroad. On what should be his 20th
birthday, her husband and daughter want her to give up her search, but a new
clue gives Ana hope.
Other Mediterranean films also won major awards at this year’s Berlinale. Synonyms by Israeli director Nadav
Lapid, won the Golden Bear for Best Film, while the award for Best First
Feature went to Oray, by Mehmet Akif
Büyükatalay, a German film-maker with Turkish roots. Finally Italian
screenwriters Maurizio Braucci, Claudio Giovannesi and Roberto Saviano won the
Silver Bear Best Screenplay for La
paranza dei bambini.
Sources: https://www.havc.hr, https://www.cineuropa.org
