“Coming from different cultures and countries and overcoming language barriers to find ways to communicate, these two actresses conveyed their vulnerabilities, as well as their exceptional will and physicality, establishing a meaningful connection and inspiring a shared rebellion in an authentic and compelling way”, said the jury statement awarding the Best Performance to the two actresses starring in God Will Not Help.

“I am extremely happy about the award that Manuela and I received here in Locarno. I couldn’t travel to the world premiere with the film crew because I had a premiere at the Split Summer Festival and I was really sad that I had to miss this special event, so I was very happy to receive a phone call from the festival’s artistic director congratulating me on the award and inviting me to come to the festival  to accept it. I really couldn’t have hoped for a better finale”, said actress Ana Marija Veselčić, after accepting the Leopard Award in Locarno. She also accepted it on behalf of her colleague Manuela Martelli, the Chilean actress and director, who couldn’t attend the ceremony because she is currently filming her own film in Chile.

Founded in 1946, Locarno Film Festival is one of the oldest film festivals in the world, yet it has always been dedicated to discovering new auteurs and trends in the world of cinema. Over the course of 11 days, from 6 to 16 August, more than 300 titles were screened in 11 sections. As the organisers often highlight, the main competition programme, Concorso Internazionale, is the “heart of the festival” and a forum for the best works of contemporary cinema, bringing together relevant creative voices who become part of the history and tradition of the Locarno Film Festival.

After its world premiere in Locarno, the feature by director and screenwriter Hana Jušić has attracted the attention of numerous international media outlets, receiving early reviews in the most prominent film magazines and portals such as Variety and Cineuropa.

God Will Not Help is the story of a Chilean woman, Teresa (Manuela Martelli), who comes to an isolated community of shepherds in the Dinara Mountains, claiming to be the widow of the elder’s brother who died in a Chilean mine. The elder’s younger sister (Ana Marija Veselčić) is the first to welcome her, and although her arrival disrupts the tight-knit fabric of the community, it also brings unrest, as well as freedom for Teresa.

Besides Manuela Martelli and Ana Marija Veselčić, the cast is headed up by Filip Đurić, Mauro Ercegović Gracin, Nikša Butijer, Tina Orlandini, Ivan Skoko, Bogdan Farcaș and Vinko Kraljević.

The director of photography is Jana Plećaš, with Jan Klemsche as editor, Stavros Evangelou, Iris Asimakopoulou and Vasilis Chontos as composers, Marius Leftărache as sound designer, and Nikos Exarchos as production sound mixer. The production design was done by Laura Boni, Katarina Pilić created the costume designs, while Mojca Gorogranc Petrushevska created the make-up.

With Kinorama as the main producer, God Will Not Help is a co-production with Nightswim (Italy), Micro Film (Romania), Horsefly Films (Greece), Maneki Films (France), Perfo Production (Slovenia) and ERT S.A. (Greece), with co-producers Ada Solomon, Diana Caravia, Ines Vasiljević, Stefano Sardo, Yorgos Tsourgiannis, Didar Domehri, Aleš Pavlin, and Andrej Štritof.

After its world premiere at Locarno, the film is set to have its regional premiere at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival, which runs from 15 to 22 August.

The film was supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Eurimages, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Italy (MIC), Romanian National Centre for Cinematography CNC, the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Centre – Creative Greece, Filming in Croatia, European Union – NextGenerationEU, French National Centre for Cinematography and Moving Images CNC – Aide aux cinémas du monde, Slovenian Film Centre, Viba Film, HRT and programme RE-ACT.