These Are the Rules and Inferno at One of the Most Important Asian Festival
Ognjen Sviličić’s film These Are the Rules has been selected for the World Cinema category of the 19th Busan International Film festival, taking place 2-11 October in this South Korean city. The same selection includes the Slovenian film Inferno, which is premiering internationally at the festival. The programme, besides these two films, shows 51 more ‘world must-see films’, including hit entries from the recently closed festivals like Cannes, Venice and Toronto.
The Busan International Film Festival is one of the most important film festivals in Asia, founded in 1996, presenting new trends in Asian filmmaking. It consists of a dozen sections and is also accompanied by a very well developed industry segment and Asian Film Market, one of the largest film markets on the eastern hemisphere.
These Are the Rules had its world premiere in the Horizons section of the 71st Venice International Film Festival, whose jury decided to present Emir Hadžihafizbegović with the best actor award. The film follows a couple from the Zagreb neighbourhood of Savica facing the worst situation in their lives. When their son ends up in hospital after a street fight, they are forced to tackle state institutions which are never on their side – which is what the film title refers to.
Opposite Hadžihafizbegović, the film stars Jasna Žalica, Hrvoje Vladisavljević and Veronika Mach. The producers are Damir Terešak (MaXima Film, CRO) and Janja Kralj (KinoElektron, FR), with co-producers Nikolina Vučetić Zečević (Biberche Productions, SR) and Svetozar Ristovski (Trice Films, MK). The film was co-funded by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and Croatian Radio and Television.
The international premiere of Inferno, a Slovenian-Croatian co-production directed by Vinko Möderndorfer, will also take place at the festival. The film is about an unemployed father who fights for his family’s survival every day in a ruthless capitalist world. It was written and directed by Vinko Möderndorfer, the cinematographer was Mirko Pivčević, and editor Andrija Zafranović. The film is produced by Forum Ljubljana, in co-production with Kinorama (CRO), Sektor film (MK) and Delirium (SR). The film was backed by the Slovenian Film Centre and Croatian Audiovisual Centre.
Also, Sviličić’s film will be presented at the Asian Film Market, this year selling a record-breaking number of European films. These 50 films accrued a total of 132,700 euro for marketing activities from European Film Production (EFP). The European Pavilion will present the directors of these films, as well as their 38 distribution companies. In addition to Ognjen Sviličić, new films will be introduced by Fatih Akin, Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, Álex de la Iglesia, John Boorman, Bille August and many others.
Press materials from the film These Are the Rules are available on this link, and from Inferno on this link.
Title photos: These Are the Rules; Inferno
