“We were really excited before the premiere and it is a truly amazing feeling to present your film to the audience here. We are happy with the positive feedback and proud that the film screened alongside other remarkable shorts. The selection is very versatile, yet non-linear storytelling and atypical structures abound, which goes to show that it pays off to try out new modes of storytelling”, said Andrea Slaviček following the world premiere of her film The Real Truth about the Fight at Cannes.

Alongside director and writer Andrea Slaviček, attending the premiere at the packed auditorium of the Miramar Theatre was the film’s producer Katarina Prpić.

“It is such an amazing feeling and privilege to be here at Cannes with some of the other crew members, and it has been equally interesting to watch all the titles in the Critics’ Week short film selection because they are truly a demonstration of diversity, curiosity and ambition. The fact that ‘The Real Truth about the Fight’ directed by a young Croatian female director was selected precisely for this section, proves that Croatian short cinema definitely has a lot to offer to the world, not only keeping up, but being at the forefront of new trends. This also indicates that short film is certainly worth investing in, in terms of both financing and training, and we can only hope for similar success in the following years”, said producer Katarina Prpić.      

In addition to the film’s director and producer, presenting the film in Cannes were leading actress Vida Tunguz, director of photography Alana Mejía González, colorist Nadia Khairat Gómez, co-producent Marc Guanyabens (Fractal) and Danijel Pek (Antitalent).

The Real Truth about the Fight centres centres on Lena, a teenage girl, occasionally distracted by school troubles, catchy tunes and a mysterious blue car, who recounts the real story about the big fight, but at the same time, it seems like there is something she is not telling us.

Apart from directing the film, Andrea Slaviček also penned the script. Staring in the film is Vida Tunguz, with Ana Ugrina, Lucija Plesac, Lily Antić, Lola Jelčić, Nedim Hasanbegović, Adrian Babić Herceg and Pan Jelić comprising the rest of the cast. 

The film is produced by Croatian company Antitalent, with co-producers Fractal from Spain and Blank from Croatia. The film was supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and the City of Zagreb.  

The International Critics’ Week (Semaine de la Critique), launched in 1962, is a parallel programme running alongside the Cannes Film Festival. This year’s 62nd edition takes place 17th – 25th May, traditionally presenting 10 feature and 10 short films from across the globe. The aim of the programme is to showcase new talents, with artists such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Gaspar Noé landing their first major breaks precisely at Semaine de la Critique. The international jury will award four prizes: two for feature films (the Grand Prize and the French Touch Prize) and one for short films (the Leitz Cine Discovery Prize). The Critics’ Week also presents the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award is also awarded, while the selected films also enter the running for the Camera d'Or. More information about the programme is available on this link.

In addition, on 22nd May, Croatian minority co-production Lost Country, the fiction feature directed by Vladimir Perišić and co-produced by Ankica Jurić Tilić (Kinorama) had its world premiere in the same festival section and won an award: actor Jovan Ginić has been given an award by Louis Roederer Fondation for the best up and coming talent. 

Meanwhile, in the industry portion of the festival, Croatian producer Miljenka Čogelja (Pipser) is participating in the programme Producers on the Move organised by the European Film Promotion, while Marta Eva Mećava (Eclectica) is taking part in the platform New Producers Room, taking place as part of a week-long programme Short Film Corner / Rendez-vous Industry.

The Cannes Film Festival is one of the biggest and most important film events in the world, this year running 16th – 27th May.   

More photographs from the premiere are available here (author of photographs Vincent Cros).  

Cover photograph: The Real Truth about the Fight film crew at Cannes (left to right) – Marc Guanyabens, Vida Tunguz, Andrea Slaviček, Alana Mejía González, Katarina Prpić, Nadia Khairat Gómez, Danijel Pek