Peninsula and Birthmark in competition at 48th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival
The short Peninsula directed by David Gašo and produced by Marta Eva Mećava and Lucija Perić (Academy of Dramatic Art) has been included in the Lab Competition, the official selection of this year’s edition of the prestigious festival in Clermont-Ferrand. Meanwhile, the short film Birthmark, directed by George Barbari, made in co-production with Croatian companies Vergo and Robot 22, will feature in the International Competition programme. The Clermont-Ferrand ISFF takes place from 30 January to 7 February.
Focusing on films that transcend the boundaries between documentary and experimental cinema, the Lab Competition programme will feature a selection of 24 films, including David Gašo’s fiction short Peninsula.
Peninsula, which had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival, was created as a director’s graduation film at the Academy of Dramatic Art under the mentorship of professor Snježana Tribuson. The producers are Marta Eva Mećava and Lucija Perić, with co-production partners Antitalent, Izvan fokusa, Little Red Dot, and Sunny Shorts Film Market. Peninsula was realized with the support of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.
Heading up the cast are Rok Kravanja, Uroš Kaurin, Stipe Kostanić, Luka Piletič, Siniša Ružić, Timon Špalj, Lav Novosel, Andrija Žunac, Ivan Lučev and Mark Fejer.
Tin Ostrošić was the director of photography, Marta Bregeš edited the film, Dino Ljuban did production sound mixing and sound design, while Tihomir Vrbanec did the re-recording mixing. Miro Manojlović and Ana Kovačić composed the score, while Sara Pavleković Preis designed the posters and credits. The production designer on the project was Jan Herenčić, while Paula Čula was the costume designer, and Ivana Pralija created the make-up.
Another fiction short that will also be presented to the audience in Clermont-Ferrand is Birthmark by director George Barbari, made as a co-production between Lebanon, France, and Croatia. Croatian co-production companies involved on the project are Vertigo (Vanja Vascarac) and Robot 22 (Stjepan Hundić). With Birthmark, producer Vanja Vascarac returns to Clermont-Ferrand two years after his directorial project Cul-de-Sac, a Croatian-Portuguese short, which he co-directed alongside Mário Macedo, screened at this festival.
In addition to the co-producers, the following Croatians also worked on the film: Tihomir Vrbanec (sound mixer), Filip Tot (colorist), Kristijan Petrović (VFX) and Ivor Radmilović Pavlek (post-production supervisor).
Birthmark is part of the International Competition programme totalling 64 titles.
This year’s, 48th edition of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival will take place from 30 January to 7 February. The festival consists of three competition programmes (International, National and Lab), and each year offers a rich accompanying programme.
