Vinko Brešan’s black comedy The Priest’s Children (Interfilm) was included in the Official Selection – Feature Competition of the 48th edition of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The Priest’s Children was a big box office hit in Croatia. Attracting almost 160,000 viewers it gained the highest view rates for a Croatian feature in the 21st century. The Karlovy Vary screening will be its international premiere.

The Documentary Films in Competition include the feature-length Gangster of Love by Nebojša Slijepčević (Restart and Fade In). The film premiered nationally in February at ZagrebDox, where it won the HT Audience Award.

The East of the West - Films in Competition programme is dedicated to first and second feature films by directors from Central and Eastern Europe. It will present three Croatian minority co-productions. Velvet Terrorist by the acclaimed Slovak documentarian Peter Kerekeš is a Slovakian-Czech-Croatian co-production. Its Croatian co-producer is Siniša Juričić from Nukleus Film. Juričić was also the co-producer of Sofia’s Last Ambulance, the German-Croatian-Bulgarian co-production, the last year’s winner of Grand Prix in the Documentary Competition. An interview with Peter Kerekeš, whose film was made on locations in Croatia, can be read here.

The East of the West programme will also screen Adria Blues, a Slovenian-Croatian co-production by Miroslav Mandić, co-produced in Croatia by Boris T. Matić from Propeler Film. It is a drama about a Bosnian rock-star married to his fan, who finds himself in a situation where his wife and another fan are organising his come-back rock concert, but without his knowledge. The film stars Senad Bašić and Mojca Funkl, while the rest of the cast includes Iva Babić, Peter Musevski and Franjo Dijak. It was entirely filmed in Novi Vinodolski in Croatia.

Another East of the West entry is Dual, a Slovenian-Croatian-Danish co-production directed by Nejc Gazvoda. The film tells the story of two girls on a crossroads in their lives. One is Danish, the other Slovene, and after they accidentally meet in Ljubljana they will develop a very close relationship. The film stars Nina Rakovec and Mia Jexen. The Croatian co-producer is Studio dim.

The Priest’s Children, Gangster of Love, Velvet Terrorist and Dual were co-financed by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. The rest of the programme will be announced on Monday, June 10th.

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is an A-list festival. Every year it presents around 180 titles from across the world. Its 48th edition takes place 28 June – 6 July and more information on the programme are available on the official festival website. The festival consists of three competition sections (Official Selection –Competition of feature Films, East of the West, Documentary Films in Competition) and ten additional programmes focusing on different aspects of global cinema.

Cover photos: The Priest’s Children; Gangster of Love; Velvet Terrorist; Adria Blues; Dual