Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović is the first Croatian accepted into Cannes’ Cinéfondation Residence, where, over the course of several months, she worked on developing her first feature film Murina. The film was also developed within the First Films First program and the Jerusalem Film Lab. Murina is a psychological drama that takes place over the course of four days on a Croatian island and is, to some extent, a sequel to her multiple award-winning short film Into the Blue. ‘I’m happy, the years of work paid off!’ said the young director from Dubrovnik upon official confirmation that Martin Scorsese is joining her team.

The film stars Gracija Filipović, and the producer is Zdenka Gold (Spiritus Movens). ‘For a long time we’ve been cooking, working on and developing Murina and we’ve accomplished this amazing result. We are all so happy, but this is just the beginning, there is still a lot of work ahead of us. I believe in Antoneta and the team we assembled around this film and I hope that we will fulfil all expectations,’ said Gold. Also co-producing the film is Danijel Pek (Antitalent).

Head of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre Daniel Rafaelić did not hide his joy of the news of Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s tremendous success in Cannes, which was opened last night by Martin Scorsese himself. ‘Each film community is used to praising itself. But when you are sprinkled with professional blessings by someone who does not have to do so, then that is the biggest affirmation. To have Martin Scorsese in our filmography, to take his talent and nurture a new one, Antoneta’s, once again shows that Croatian film is most successful when, to paraphrase the Great Scorsese, there is an Age of Innocence behind it, while keeping an eye out for the Wolf of Wall Street,’ said Rafaelić.

Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović was born is Dubrovnik in 1985. The dominant themes in her films are the dark side of passion, familial limitations and dangers that come along with secrets. She has a Master’s in Film Arts from Columbia University in New York.

Sikelia Productions and RT Features will, along with Murina, co-finance and co-produce the debut feature film Port Authority by Danielle Lessovitz. You can read more about it in Variety’s article available here. These two companies have been collaborating since 2014 in order to together discover young talent from around the globe. ‘We’ve joined forces with RT Features in order to amplify authentic and exciting new voices in cinema. Danielle and Antoneta embody that spirit through their unique vision. We are incredibly happy to be bringing their inspiring stories to film lovers around the globe,’ said Martin Scorsese and Emma Tillinger Koskoff. 

Cover photo: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović
(*photo credit: Maja Medić)