Official Selection: Romanian-Croatian co-production Sieranevada

Cristi Puiu’s feature film Sieranevada, co-produced by Croatia’s Spiritus Movens, will be screened in official competition at Cannes. The film is both written and directed by Cristi Puiu, and the Croatian team includes producer Zdenka Gold, actress Petra Kurtela, casting directors Marina Redžepović and Ivana Ivišić, hair stylist Štefanija Roso, make-up assistant Evelina Cikron, filming director Igor Miklošić Figo, composer Bojan Gagić and visual effects master Tom Vujnović. 

Sieranevada is a film about a family gathering. Upon returning from a business trip in Paris, a renowned neurologist has to pick up his wife and attend a commemorative dinner in honor of his father who died a year earlier. Waiting for the priest, those in attendance talk about wars as well as connected and unconnected events in the world. 

Quinzaine des Réalisateurs: The Beast by Miroslav Sikavica

The Beast by Miroslav Sikavica, a short film produced by Zagreb’s Propeler Film, is a realistic story about how a shady and rashly accepted construction job at a resort on the Adriatic Coast turns into a major problem for a backhoe operator from the Dalmatian hinterland when, in order to preserve his fatherly authority and complete a legal but shady job, has to dispose of an unwanted witness.

The film is written by Miroslav Sikavica and Marija Šimoković Sikavica, the cinematographer is Danko Vučinović, the editor is Marko Ferković, and the sound engineer is Martin Semenčić. The art director is Veronika Radman, the costume designer is Morana Starčević, and the make-up artist is Mirna Čurak. The film stars Ivan Smoljo and Marko Ban. The producers are Boris T. Matić and Lana Ujdur from Propeler Film.

The ‘Quinzaine des Réalisateurs’ has been held since 1969 in parallel with the Cannes Film Festival, and highlights new directors and authors with a strong and unique poetic. Throughout the programme’s history, the public and critics have been introduced to some of the most successful filmmakers of our time including Werner Herzog, Martin Scorsese and Ken Loach. 

Maison Des Scénaristes Pavilion 

The Maison Des Scénaristes is a French organization founded with the goal of promoting screenwriters at the most important international film festivals and connecting them with producers, directors, actors, distributers and other film professionals. This year, Croatian writer Karla Lulić will present her script for the feature film Burgeis, a satire with elements of fantasy. The pavilion will promote 23 authors this year, from 230 applicants. 

The Croatian Audiovisual Centre at Cannes

For the ninth year in a row, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre will be presenting Croatian cinematography at the ‘Marché du film’ film market. In order to further promote them on the international film scene, this year’s market-screenings will include Nevio Marasović’s Goran, On the Other Side by Zrinko Ogresta, the minority co-production Train Driver’s Diary by Miloš Radović, and the documentary A Two Way Mirror by Zrinka Katarina Matijević. Representatives will, through publications, meetings, digital platforms and market-screenings to film professionals at the market – buyers and festival selectors – offer completed Croatian films of all forms and genres. The Centre will also be available to – in the logistic and lobbyist sense – offer support to all Croatian authors and producers negotiating, at the Cannes Festival, current and future projects. 

Short Film Corner

In order to promote short films, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre has secured a space for Croatian works at the Short Film Corner – a platform for meeting, networking, exchange of ideas and promotion among professionals in the short film industry. The following films will be presented: 4,7 by Đuro Gavran, All Still Orbit by Dane Komljen and James Lattimer, The Beast by Daina O. Pusić, Belladonna by Dubravka Turić, The End by Tomislav Šoban, Flowers by Judita Gamulin, Here There by Alexander Stewart, Moving Elements by Marko Tadić, Planemo by Veljko Popović and Zagreb Confidential - Imaginary Futures by Darko Fritz.