Juraj Lerotić’s Safe Place nominated for Goya Award
The multi-award-winning feature debut directed by Juraj Lerotić and produced by Miljenka Čogelja (Pipser), Safe Place, has been nominated in the 38th Goya Awards of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain, in the category of Best European Film. The Goya Awards ceremony will be held in Valladolid on 10th February 2024.
The Goya Award is the most important Spanish national film award, considered the equivalent of the American Academy Awards. Awarded since 1987, the category of Best European Film was introduced in 1992. In the category of Best European Film at the 38th Goya Awards, Safe Place is nominated alongside only four other titles: Aftersun (Charlotte Wells), Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet), The Eight Mountains (Felix van Groeningen) and The Teachers’ Lounge (İlker Çatak).
The full list of all Goya nominations is available at this link.
Earlier this year, Safe Place was also nominated for a European Film Award in the category European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI.
The film’s journey began with the world premiere at last year’s Locarno IFF, where it won as many as three awards (Best Emerging Director, Best Actor and First Feature Award), followed by its regional premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival, winning four awards (of which two Hearts of Sarajevo, for Best Feature Film and Best Actor). At home, it won, among others, three Golden Arenas at the Pula Film Festival (Best Director for Juraj Lerotić, Best Actor for Goran Marković and Best Cinematography for Marko Brdar), as well as the annual national award Vladimir Nazor for best achievement in film (Juraj Lerotić).
Safe Place was also last year’s Croatian Academy Award contender. So far, the film has screened at 70 festivals and has received 52 awards and recognitions in total.
Safe Place is a story about the powerlessness of a patient, their family and the entire healthcare system in the face of the devastating pull of mental illness, but also about the persistent and unwavering power of unconditional love. The film is based on director Juraj Lerotić’s personal experience, who also stars in the film. The cast is also headed up by Snježana Sinovčić Šiškov and Goran Marković.
The feature is a Pipser production, with Miljenka Čogelja as producer and the Croatian co-production partner Zelena zraka (Saša Ban and Nevenka Sablić), along with Slovenian production company December (Vlado Bulajić and Lija Pogačnik) as associate producer.
Croatia’s candidate (Safe Place) for the Goya Awards has been selected by the Filmmakers Association of Croatia.