The Sundance Film Festival will be held from January 21st to 31st in Park City, Utah. This year there were 8712 short films entered, of which 72 have been selected for screening in the feature, documentary and animated short film categories. 

Belladonna is a short film about three different women who meet in an ophthalmologist’s waiting room, where, unexpectedly, they experience a moment of closeness. The film stars Aleksandra Naumov and Nada Đurevska, while supporting roles are played by Lana Barić, Dražen Kühn and Anita Matković. Zdenka Gold of Spiritus Movens produced the film, while Ivana Ivišić of Everything Works headed promotion and distribution. Branko Linta is the cinematographer, Dubravka Turić both wrote and edited the film, while the sound designer is Dubravka Premar, the sound mixer is Hrvoje Petek, the art director is Željka Burić, the costume designer is Morana Starčević, and the make-up artist is Snježana Gorup. The film was co-financed by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.

This year, Belladonna won Best Short Film in the Horizonti Programme at the Venice International Film Festival. The Venice Festival is aimed at discovering new cinematographic trends and film directors, including both feature and short films.

Actress Mirjana Karanović’s debut directorial film, Croatian minority co-production A Good Wife, will have its world premiere in the international competition at Sundance. The film is a Serbian-Bosnian-Croatian production, and the Croatian minority co-producer is Nukleus Film. Mirjana Karanović co-wrote the film, based on a true story, with Stevan Filipović and Darko Lungulov. The film stars Boris Isaković, Jasna Đuričić, Bojan Navojec, Hristina Popović and Ksenija Marinković. 

All materials from Belladonna are available here, while details on the Sundance Festival can be found here.

Cover photos: scenes from Belladonna and A Good Wife