The new Montenegrin feature film "Obraz", directed by Nikola Vukčević, begins its life in front of the audience, and the first screenings include two major festivals. "Obraz" will premiere at the Cottbus Film Festival (Cottbus) in Germany on November 7th, and after the German premiere, the film will debut in front of the audience at the Cairo International Film Festival, one of the prestigious "A" category festivals.
The film will be screened in the main competition program at the Cottbus festival, and in the prestigious parallel selection in Cairo, with only 11 selected films from around the world.
"With his latest work, Nikola Vukčević managed to create a genre film full of tension, rich in elements of fantasy, sometimes resembling horror, with superb landscape shots and characters that could be compared to 'The Lord of the Rings'," wrote the program director of the festival in Cottbus, Bernd Buder, a connoisseur of Balkan film and former part of the selection team of the Festival in Berlin.
As already known, the plot of the film is inspired by the motifs of the anthology story by academician Zuvdija Hodžić, and the screenplay is written by Ana Vujadinović Tomić and Melina Pota Koljević.
"The plot is inspired by elements of a true event, a kind of legend about Nur Doka, and is set during the Second World War, in an unnamed small town in Montenegro. During the 36 hours of the plot, a persecuted child, who lost his parents in an attack by a fascist paramilitary unit, finds refuge in the house of a complete stranger: the Albanian Nur Doka. There is another significant difference between them: the child is a Christian, while Nur is a Muslim - and at that moment, that fact means the border between life and death , the owner of the house, Nur - is faced with a difficult moral dilemma - should he hand over the child to the persecutors and thereby betray the centuries-old code of his home, saving the lives of his family and the house from destruction, or should he risk the lives of his family almost in vain to protect that unknown child of another religions and nations," the main producer of the film, Milorad Radenović from Galileo Production Montenegro, points out in the announcement.
Through the story of morality, love and growing up, he adds, "Obraz" asks universal questions about the value of human sacrifice, regardless of religion and nation, and tells us that we need it at this moment.
"Through the journey of one individual who dares to stand up to the right of the stronger, in a world where conflicting parties still relentlessly strive for mutual destruction, this film inspires change and strongly reminds us that humanity is our ultimate victory over violence and decay. In times of war, to be man is our most important mission," says Radenović.
After its world premiere in Cottbus, a festival described by "The Hollywood Reporter" as "the leading film festival of Eastern European cinema," with more than 22.000 visitors, "The Face" will also be screened at the largest and oldest film festival in the Arab world, the Middle East. and Africa Cairo International Film Festival in Egypt.
"We are proud that the film "Obraz" was recognized by the selectors of both festivals: Cottbus - one of the important festivals of Eastern European film, and Cairo Film Festival - one of those world festivals of category 'A'. The premiere at such important international film festivals is a confirmation of the value of our film on which we worked for over eight years and an opportunity to promote Montenegrin cinematography and overall culture," said Radenović.
The film was presented last year in Cannes, at the Marché du Films, where it had two closed screenings, and was then selected for the "Work in Progress International" selection at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival as one of five selected films from around the world.
"Obraz" was created under the auspices of the Film Center of Montenegro and in the international co-production of Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia and Germany, with the co-financial support of public competitions, since 2017: the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro, the Film Center of Montenegro, the Film Center of Serbia, the Croatian audiovisual center, Radio and Television of Montenegro and the support of the Center for the Preservation and Development of the Culture of Minorities of Montenegro CEKUM. In November 2020, the project of this film won first place in a co-production contest in Serbia, ahead of about 50 others...
The film was mostly shot in Bar and on several rivers around Lake Skadar. The team gathers international and regional talents: Montenegrin actors Aleksander Radulović, Branimir Popović, Ana Vučković and the doyen of Montenegrin acting Zef Bat Dedivanović in his last film role, while the main role is played by Edon Rizvanolli, and there are also: Nikola Ristanovski (North Macedonia), Igor Benčina (Serbia), Alban Ukaj (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Selman Jusufi and Xhejlane Terbunja (Kosovo).
The children's roles are played by: Elez Adžović, Vuk Bulajić, Merisa Adžović and Hana Pavlović - who won the roles during several weeks of casting.
"The film is inspired by the motifs of a true event written by Montenegrin academician Zuvdija Hodžić in the anthology short story 'Face', and is based on the screenplay by Ana Vujadinović (Montenegro) and Melina Pota (Serbia), and director Vukčević is a collaborator on the screenplay, which was developed at international workshops," the announcement states.
The film was visually shaped by director of photography Đorđe Stojiljković (Serbia), set designer by the late Stanislav Nikičević (Montenegro), costume designer Lidija Jovanović (Serbia), while Dušan Maksimovski (Croatia) was in charge of the music. The editor of the film is Olga Toni (Slovenia), while the visual effects were created by Đuro Mihaljević (Montenegro) and Đorđe Stojiljković (Serbia); mask and make-up by Nataša Sevčnikar (Slovenia). The sound designer and mixer is Igor Vujović (Montenegro) with his Croatian colleague Dario Domitrović.
In the executive production are Milorad Radenović (Galileo production Montenegro) and Jelena Filipović (lecturer at FDU Cetinje). Co-producers are Nevena Savić and Ivica Vidanović from Belgrade production company Cinnamon Films, Dario Domitrović from Zagreb production Embrio, associate producers are Christoph Thoke (Mogador film Germany) and Boris Raonić on behalf of RTVCG and their public competition.
In the entire crew of the film behind the camera there is a considerable number of Montenegrin colleagues: Nemanja Lakić, Budimir Bečić, Dejan Vuković, Nikola Čavor, Farah Ademović, Darko Bjelobrković, Majdana Ljuljdjuraj, Djoko Jablan, Niko Tripunović, Boris Vuković, Ilija Kaluđerović, Bojana Kojičić, Mila Nenezić , Dunja Sekulović, Nataša Milićević, Mila Čelebić, Milica and Maša Vujadinović, Balša Dabetić, Strahinja Vuković, Goran Živković...
Nikola Vukčević is a well-known Montenegrin director, full professor at FDU Cetinje. He was the artistic director of the Podgorica City Theater for seven seasons. His previous films are: A View from the Eiffel Tower (2005), which is the third highest rated Serbian minority co-production in the first two decades of the 20th century (according to the statistics of the Film Center of Serbia) and "Boys from Marx and Engels Street" (2014).
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