The Reaper was based on a script written by Zvonimir Jurić and Jelena Paljan, and it intertwines three stories taking place during the course of one night in Slavonia. The cast includes Ivo Gregurević, Mirjana Karanović, Igor Kovač, Nikola Ristanovski and Lana Barić, director of photography was Branko Linta, editors Dubravka Turić and Tomislav Pavlic, set designer Ivan Veljača, costume designer Ivana Zozoli Vargović, and sound editor Julij Zornik.

At the recent 61th Pula Film Festival, The Reaper won Golden Arenas for camera, best leading male role (Gregurević) and supporting male role (Kovač), as well as the Oktavijan Award presented by the Croatian Film Critics’ Association for best film in national competition.

The film was produced by Kinorama and producer Ankica Jurić Tilić, in co-production with the Slovenian company Forum Ljubljana. It was co-funded by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Slovenian Film Centre, Eurimages, MEDIA and Viba Film. The Reaper is the first majority Croatian production to be selected for this extremely important international festival.

Itsi Bitsi was co-produced by Denmark, Croatia and Sweden and it is one of the international projects filmed in the last three years in Croatia thanks to HAVC’s incentive programme. It is a biographic tale of Eik Skaløe, famous Danish activist, poet and musician, taking place in the 1960s. The action takes place in Denmark, Sweden, France, Pakistan, Iraq, Nepal, India, Greece, and the shooting took place in Split and its surroundings, Zadar, Trogir, Rijeka, Opatija, Motovun, Zagreb, Pag and Velebit. The director is Ole Christian Madsen, and the cast includes Joachim Fjelstrup and Marie Tourell Søderberg. The main producer is the Danish company Nimbus Film, and the Croatian co-producer in charge of shooting on Croatian locations was MP Film Production.

This is The Reaper’s international and Itsi Bitsi’s world premiere. The Contemporary World Cinema section will present a total of 56 carefully selected titles to the Canadian audience, including the latest titles by Naomi Kawase, Bruno Dumont, Céline Sciamma, Schlomi and Ronit Elkabetz, Mélanie Laurent’s directing debut etc.

Launched in 1976, the TIFF has in recent years become one of the most influential film festivals in the world and the most important showcase for prospective Oscar candidates. The festival opens with The Judge by David Dobkin, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall, and close with Alan Rickman’s A Little Chaos, starring Kate Winslet. The celebrity list includes the latest films by Mike Leigh, François Ozon, Jean-Marc Vallée, Jean-Luc Godard, Michael Winterbottom, Andrey Zwiagincew etc.

The Reaper press kit, including the trailer, can be downloaded on this link, and more information about the other films and the programme of the 39th Toronto is available on the official website.

Title photos: Mirjana Karanović (The Reaper); Ivo Gregurević (The Reaper); TIFF logo; the shooting of Itsi Bitsi in Trogir (source: www.trogir.hr)