Our Father follows Dejan (Vučić Perović), a drug addict who comes to a monastery commune in a remote part of Serbia to receive treatment or his drug addiction. There, he is taken under the wing by Father Branko (Boris Isaković), a charismatic and strict priest whose methods of “healing” become increasingly extreme. 

It is director Goran Stanković’s feature debut, who previously made a name for himself in the region as the co-writer and director of the TV series Operation Sabre and Morning Changes Everything.

“The film explores the thin line between discipline and violence, between spiritual leadership and authoritarian control. What begins as a support system will eventually develop into a closed system that justifies repression in the name of change. Once it does that, it stops helping and starts harming”, described director Stanković, who also penned the script, together with Dejan Prćić, Ognjen Sviličić and Maja Pelević.

The film stars Goran Marković, Dado Ćosić, Lazar Tasić, Jasna Žalica, Toni Mihajlovski, Nenad Heraković and others.

The film’s producer is Snežana van Houwelingen, with production companies This and That Productions (Serbia), in co-production with Italy (Nightswim), Croatia (PomPom Film), Montenegro (KINO), North Macedonia (Dream Factory), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Novi Film) and Serbia (Cineplanet).

“The film is a powerful regional directing achievement created in a co-production between Serbia, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a great honour for us to have its world premiere as part of the Discovery programme at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which has established itself as one of the world’ most important platforms for showcasing promising filmmakers”,said Croatian co-producer, Marina Andree Škop (PomPom Film), on the occasion of the world premiere, adding:

“We also brought together a substantial number of local creatives who actively participated in shaping the project. Among them are actors Goran Marković and Dado Ćosić, editor Marko Ferković, composers Nenad and Alen Sinkauz and co-screenwriter Ognjen Sviličić.”

The film Our Father has been supported by the Film Center Serbia, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, Ministry of Culture of Italy, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Film Centre of Montenegro, Cinematheque of the Republic of North Macedonia, Sarajevo Film Fund, Creative Europe MEDIA Programme, and RE-ACT Fund. The project was developed through the First Films First and the MFI Script2Film Workshop programmes.

The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the largest and most visited festivals in the world, while its competition winners directly qualify for BAFTA and Oscar nominations. The festival programme is being announced gradually, while the full programme will be announced by 12 August. This year’s jubilee 50th edition will be held from 4 to 14 September.