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Throughout her storied career as a screen and theater actress, Mirjana Karanović has never run away from a challenge. In the melodrama “Mother Mara,” her second feature as a director, co-writer and star, she gives herself challenges aplenty, including showing herself both physically and emotionally naked. Her Mara is a tough, successful businesswoman with platinum curls à la Marilyn Monroe, whose carefully constructed identity falls apart after the death of her 21-year-old son.

Even Mara’s grieving process defies custom. She refuses to stay away from work or cry on the shoulders of others. Instead, she re-ignites her lifeforce through an affair with a much younger man. Some viewers, who would find it perfectly acceptable if the genders of the two principal characters were swapped, may find the older woman/younger man dynamic implausible, but the performances of the two leads and a late twist in the plot do a...

“Mother Mara,” which has its world premiere at Sarajevo Film Festival as a gala screening, playing out of competition, has debuted its trailer (below). World sales are being represented by Antipode Sales International.

The Serbian drama stars and is directed by Mirjana Karanovic, who previously starred in and directed Sundance competition title “A Good Wife.” As an actor she is best known for Jasmila Zbanic’s “Grbavica,” winner of the Berlin Golden Bear, and Emir Kusturica’s Oscar nominated and Cannes Palme d’Or winner “When Father Was Away on Business.”

The film centers on Mara, a successful businesswoman and single mother, who is heartbroken after her son Nemanja’s untimely death. She becomes emotionally detached, refusing to communicate with friends and family. However, when she meets Milan, Nemanja’s close friend, she finds solace and comfort in their relationship. As they grow closer, they uncover more about Nemanja’s life and his passing,...

Film debuts in the Just Film youth section of Poff.

UK-based sales agency Film Republic has boarded world sales rights on Sweet Sorrow, the latest film from Serbian director Kosta Djordjevic.

Sweet Sorrow will have its world premiere this Sunday (November 5) in Just Film, the youth-focused section of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff).

The film centres on an angsty teenager who takes on organising his grandmother’s funeral, when he realises that doing so could win the affections of his crush.

Pavle Cemerikic, Branka Katic, Denis Muric and Alisa Radakovic lead the cast.

Djordjevic produced the film with Bojana Andric...

The Croatian film and TV sector is expected to get a financial boost of more than 5 million Hrk from international streaming platforms through the Croatian Electronic Media Act, which came into effect in October 2021, the Croatian Audiovisual Center (Havc) has told Film New Europe.

Netflix is expected to participate with 3 million Hrk and other contributors will include HBO Max, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.

According to the new law, streamers will have to invest 2 of their revenues generated in Croatia in local production or acquisition. Network operators will invest 10 of the revenue generated by their own services. Private broadcasters will set aside 5 percent of their annual revenue for independent productions in Croatia.

“With our new law, we have introduced a series of interlinked measures to promote independent production in Croatia. The law is not prescriptive as to how the new funds will be invested. Sure there was resistance as the law was taking shape,...

Lecturers include Finland’s Juho Kuosmanen, US producer Peter Spears.

US duo Frances McDormand and Joel Coen will be ‘masters’ for the second edition of Ponta Lopud Film Festival, on the island of Lopud near Dubrovnik, Croatia.

McDormand and Coen will give invite-only masterclasses to directors, actors and cinematographers from Southeast Europe, in the festival from June 22 to 27.

Ponta Lopud was started last year by Miro Purivatra, founder and long-time director of Sarajevo Film Festival; and Tilda Grossel Bogdanovic.

The festival will also host lectures from Juho Kuosmanen, Finnish director of Compartment No. 6; Peter Spears, US producer of titles including...

The line between fairy tale and horror proves a thin one in Igor Drljaca’s The White Fortress thanks to the differing perspectives of young love in Sarajevo. Whether Faruk (Pavle Cemerikic) and Mona (Sumeja Dardagan) believe a life together may yet be possible for them despite coming from opposite social and economic worlds doesn’t factor in because they’re just teenagers buckling under the pressure of outside forces that refuse to let them be free. So while the idea of a happily ever after is nice considering the alternatives (Mona is about to be shipped to Canada by her affluent and influential parents as Faruk teeters on the precipice of a life in crime threatening to destroy the morality his grandmother instilled), the darkness of despair slowly creeps in.

A walk through the woods is thus the scenario that brings up the two genres. Mona sees promise and...