On the Other Side and two minority co-productions at 60th BFI London Film Festival
Zrinko Ogresta’s On the Other Side will be screening at the renowned 60th BFI London Film Festival taking place from October 5th to 16th. Furthermore, the festival will screen two Croatian minority co-productions: Houston, We Have a Problem! by Žiga Virc and Sieranevada by Cristi Puiu. The London Film Festival has only screened one Croatian film since 1991, Ogresta’s film Here (2004).
On the Other Side is the Croatian candidate for a Best Foreign Film nomination of the 89th Oscar Awards and is also a candidate for nomination for a European Film Award. The American portal IndieWire had recently named it a likely candidate for an Oscar nomination, while the Hollywood Reporter, in a recent critique, said that the film ‘precise and concise, and puts an intriguing new slant on the conventions of post-war Balkan cinema.’
This psychological drama is about a nurse named Vesna whose husband, after having served several years in The Hague prison for war crimes, gets in touch twenty years after abandoning her. The film had its world premiere at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival and won special mention from the Europa Cinema Labels jury, followed by fifteen more wins from numerous festivals.
The screenplay is written by Zrinko Ogresta and Mate Matišić, the cinematographer is Branko Linta, and the editor is Tomislav Pavlic, while the lead roles are played by Ksenija Marinković and Lazar Ristovski. The film’s producer is Ivan Maloča and Interfilm (Zagreb), while co-producers are Zillion Film (Belgrade) and HRT (Croatian Radio Television). The film is co-financed by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and Film Centre Serbia.
The feature documentary film Houston, We Have a Problem! by young Slovenian director Žiga Virc is a co-production between Slovenia, Croatia, Germany, Czech Republic and Qatar, and is also the first HBO production in the Adria region. The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, and it recently won the Audience Award at the 17th Mediterranean Film Festival. The Croatian co-producer is Nukleus Film and producer Siniša Juričić.
The five-country co-production Sieranevada, by Romanian director Cristi Puiu, is also a candidate for a 29th European Film Awards nomination and is Romania’s candidate for an Oscar nomination. The film is a Romanian-French-Croatian-Bosnian and Herzegovinian-Macedonian co-production. The Croatian co-producer is Spiritus Movens and producer Zdenka Gold.
More information on the 60th BFI London Film Festival can be found at this link.
