FEATURES
Opening film Eastern Neighbours Film Festvial with the presence of Ms. Mirjana Karanovic
FRÄULEIN 6th November 19:00 LHC 1
Original title: Das Fräulein
Country: Switzerland, DE
Year: 2006
Genre: Drama
Format: 35mm
Film run: 81'
Language: BSC with English subs
Directed by: Andrea Staka
Screenplay: Andrea Staka, Barbara Albert
Cinematography by: Igor Martinovic
Film editing: Gion-Reto Killias
Art director: Su Erdt
Costumes designer: Bettina Marx
Music: Till Wyler, Peter von Siebenthal, Daniel Jakob
Producer: Susann Rüdlinger,
Production: Dschoint Ventschr , Quinte Film , Schweizer Fernsehen, ZDF - Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (DE)
Cast: Mirjana Karanovic, Marija Skaricic, Ljubica Jovic, Andrea Zogg, Pablo Aguilar, Zdenko Jelcic
Synopsis: This is an intimate portrait of three strong-willed women now living in Switzerland, but who originally come from various parts of a country that no longer exists (former Yugoslavia). «Das Fräulein» describes the uprooting of people and of their yearning at a time when more and more humanity is on the move between various cultures, religions and countries - as travellers, as displaced persons or simply as people who have no home.
Swiss-born filmmaker Andrea Staka makes her debut with this tense, intimate drama about three different women’s struggles to find peace in modern-day Yugoslavia. It’s a quiet triumph, thanks to the understated writing and easy-to-believe performances by all the leads.
Andrea Staka's "Das Fraulein" won the jury prize, the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Film, at the Sarajevo Film Festival 2006. The film, also winner of the Golden Leopard prize at the Locarno International Film Festival
TAKVA - A MAN'S FEAR OF GOD 9th November 22:00 LHC 3
Original title: Takva
Country: Germany, TR
Year: 2006
Genre: Drama
Format: 35mm
Runtime: 96'
Language: Turkish with English subtitles
Directed by: Özer Kiziltan
Screenplay: Onder Cakar
Cinematography by: Soykut Turan
Film editing: Andrew Bird
Art director: Erol Tastan
Costumes designer: Ayten Sentürk
Music: Gökçe Akçelik
Producer: Sevil Demirci, Onder Cakar, Fatih Akin, Andreas Thiel, Klaus Maeck
Production: Corazón International, Yeni Sinemacilar (TR)
Cast: Erkan Can, Güven Kiraç, Meray Ülgen, Öznur Kula, Erman Saban, Murat Cemcir, Settar Tanriögen
The name of the film, ‘Takva’, which refers to one of the basic concepts of Islamic teaching, means fear of God and avoidance of sin. The film questions whether ‘Takva’ is possible within a capitalist system. The film’s protagonist Muharrem leads an extremely humble, simple life in the isolated world he has constructed for himself. He is then offered a job by the sheikh at the lodge he frequents. The sheikh, who has noticed Muharrem’s indifference to worldly pleasures, his sense of responsibility and his utter commitment to his faith, gives him the job of collecting rent from the properties owned by the order. Despite the drawbacks, Muharrem cannot refuse the insistent sheik and agrees. However, the job forces him into moral conflicts that irreversibly disrupt the balances of his small world.
Festivals and Awards:
* Berlin International Film Festival (2007): FIPRESCI Prize
* Geneva Film Festival, Switzerland (2007): Best Actor (Erkan Can)
* Asia-Pacific Film Festival (2007): Best Actor (Erkan Can)
* Sarajevo Film Festival, Bosnia-Herzegovina (2007): Heart of Sarajevo Best Picture, Jury Prize for Best Film
* Istanbul International Film Festival (2007): Best Actor (Erkan Can)
* Nuremberg Film Festival “Turkey-Germany” (2007): Best Actor (Erkan Can)
* Flanders International Film Festival, Belgium (2007)
* Tribeca Film Festival, USA (2007)
* Toronto International Film Festival (2006): Innovation Award
* Golden Orange Film Festival, Antalya, Turkey (2006): Best Actor (Erkan Can), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Music, Best Screenplay, Best Make-Up, Best Laboratory, Jury Special Award (Sevil Demirci/Producer)
Director: Özer Kiziltan was born in Istanbul in 1963. He studied Law at Istanbul University and later studied cinema & TV to become his dream of becoming a film director. "Takva" is his first feature film, but he has directed several TV series for Turkish television. He associated in 1997 with a few filmmaker friends in a production company, Yeni Sinemacilar (New Filmmakers) and has worked in different positions in four feature films made by Yeni Sinemacilar. "Takva" is their fifth film together. All the films they have been acclaimed in Turkey, were shown in many international festivals and won awards.
KINO LIKA 7th November 19:00 LHC 3
Original title: Kino Lika
Country: Croatia, BA
Year: 2008
Genre: Drama
Format: 35mm
Runtime: 112'
Language: Croatian with English subtitles
Directed by: Dalibor Matanić
Screenplay: Dalibor Matanić, Milan F. Živković
Cinematography by: Branko Linta
Film editing: Tomislav Pavlic
Art director: Zeljka Buric
Costumes designer: Ana Savic-Gecan
Music: Jura Ferina, Pavle Miholjevic
Producer: Ankica Juric-Tilic
Production: Kinorama, Hrvatska radiotelevizija, Porta Produkcija (BA)
Cast: Krešimir Mikić, Areta Ćurković, Ivo Gregurević, Danko Ljuština, Jasna Žalica, Milan Pleština, Nada Gačešić Livaković, Marija Tadić
Syopsis: A godforsaken mountain village is the only home that a young football player, a miser peasant and a fat girl have. This isolated part of the country finds itself in the middle of the referendum for or against the EU. Our characters couldn't care less - they are absorbed in their problems. The young football player who accidentally killed his mother doesn't want to join a rich foreign football team and is willing to risk his father's love because of it. The lonely fat girl is so desperate for a friend and for a lover that she will end up seeking both in the pig-sty. The miser peasant will find out that the real misery is in loneliness. Written by A. Juric-Tilic
´Superbly modulated ... a modest triumph of fearless acting and pointed social commentary in the same vein as "Ivan's Childhood,"...the script is a marvel of clarity, economy and metaphor.´ Eddie Cockrell, VARIETY
Festivals
Director: Dalibor Matanic, 21/01/1975 Zagreb. Father Tomo, building engineer. Mother Anka, cashier.
After finishing 7th gymnasium in Zagreb, 1993. enters The Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb in Zagreb, film and TV directing. Finished classes in Imaginary academy in Grožnjan (scriptwriting, production and documentary filming) and with awarded script finished classes in USA. In time of '96 – '00 made many awarded documentaries ("Derby", "Bag", "Good luck", "When our music roars"), short film "Silence", awarded film-festival trailers, commercials and videos… http://www.dalibormatanic.com/
Selected filmography:
Mr. Dalibor Matanic will be present for the screening and Q&A
MAGIC EYE 9th November 13:00 LHC 3
Original title: Syri magjik
Country: Albania
Year: 2005
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 93’
Format: 35mm
Language: Albanian with English subtitles
Director: Kujtim Çashku
Screen Play: Vath Koreshi & Kujtim Çashku
Directors of Photography: Hajo Schomerus, Spartak Papadhimitri, Sashko Frey
Editing: Marco Heiter
Set Designer: Sabri Basha
Costumes Designer: Almira Brojka
Sound:Berndt Hackman
Mixing: Tilo Busch - SoundVision
Music: Durbeck & Dohman
Producer: Kujtim Çashku
Coproducer: Anita Elsani - ElsaniFilm - Germany
Coproducer: Sven J. Maten - Paradigma-Entertainment - Germany
Executive Producer: Todi Bozo
Cast: Bujar Lako, Arta Dobroshi, Alban Ukaj, Timo Flloko
Synopsis: The film “Magic eye” directed by Kujtim Çashku was the most successful film in Albania the past year. Gjirokaster, a town in the southern part of the country, is on the edge of a civil war. The cameraman Berti is involved in a street shooting, convinced that there is not a witness to this tragedy.
About director: Kujtim Çashku born 1950, Albania, director, scriptwriter, producer.
Filmography:
MY MARLON AND BRANDO 9th November 16:00 LHC 3
Original title: Gitmek
Country: UK, Netherlands, TR/FR
Year: 2007
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 93'
Format: 35mm
Language: Turkish with English subtitling
Directed by: Hűseyn Karabey
Screenplay: Hűseyn Karabey, Ayça Damgaci
Film editing: Mary Stephen
Producer: Hűseyn Karabey, Sophie Lorant
Production: Motel Films, Mechant Loup Production, Ajans 21 (TR)
Cast: Nesrin Cavadzade, Cengiz Bozkurt, Ani Ipekkaya, Ayça Damgaci, Emrah Ozdemir, Gokhan Yildiz
Synopsis: Hama Ali, a charismatic actor from Iraq famous locally for his performance as Iraq's version of Superman, met Ayca on a film-set. He and Ayca, a fiery actress from Turkey, had a passionate love affair before returning to their respective homes. The true story of Ayca's departure from Istanbul and her extraordinary journey to the Iraqi border. At a time when many people were fleeing from East to West in search of safety, Ayca makes the opposite journey, in search of love.
MERMAID 9th November 19:00 LHC 3
Original title: Title: Rusalka
Country: Russia (2007)
Year: 2007
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 114’
Format: DVD
Language: Russian with English subtitles
Director: Anna Melikian
Cinematographer: Oleg Kerichenko
Screenplay: Anna Melikian
Produced by: Ruben Dishdishyan, Bohdan Graczyk
Production: Central Partnership
Cast: Mariya Shalayeva, Yevgeni Tsyganov, Mariya Sokova, Anastasiya Dontsova, Veronika Skugina, Natalya Rychkova, Irina Skrinichenko, Veronica Skugina
Synopsis: Once upon a time … is the best way to tell the incredible story of the adventures of the ‘mermaid’ Alisa in the Russian capital Moscow. There was a time when Alisa lived by the sea. Her life was nothing out of the ordinary. She dreamed of one day dancing in a ballet; she sang in a children’s choir and attended a special school, because, at the age of six, she suddenly stopped speaking. None of which would be noteworthy, were it not for the fact that Alisa possessed a remarkable gift: the ability to fulfil wishes. At the age of 18 she leaves her coastal town for Moscow, where her destiny
soon takes hold and she meets him … a man whose desire to be saved and protected is pretty much written all over him. Alisa takes him by the hand – and this changes her life.
This film by Azerbaijani director Anna Melikian is a modern fairy tale in which age-old myths and youthful imagination are merged in a surreal urban romance. The dream-like storyline is mirrored by the visual approach Anna Melikian has chosen to recount the adventures of a ‘mermaid’ who
finds herself washed up inland
- SUNDANCE 2008: THE WORLD CINEMA DIRECTING AWARD ANNA MELIKYAN
- 58 BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILMFESTIVAL: PANORAMA PROGRAMM FIPRESCI PRIZE
- SOFIA IFF 2008: GRAND PRIX FOR BEST FILM
- AFI DALLAS IFF 2008: GRAND JURY PRIZE FOR BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
- SEATLE IFF 2008: SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
- KARLOVY VARY IFF 2008: INDEPENDENT CAMERA AWARD
- EUROPEAN PALIC FF 2008: CRITIC AND AUDIENCE AWARD
MERMAID is chosen as an official Russian selection for Oscar 2009!
Central Partnership is very proud to announce that MERMAID is chosen as an official Russian selection for Oscar 2009!
Mum 'n' Dad 9th November 15:00 LHC 4
Original title: Mama I Tata
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Year: 2006
Genre: docu-fiction
Runtime: 65’
Format: 35mm
Language: Bosnian with English subtitles
Director: Faruk Lončarević
Screenplay: Faruk Lončarević
Director of Photography: Almir Đikoli
Editor: Faruk Lončarević
Costume Designer: Lejla Graho
Set Designer: Osman Arslanagić
Grafički dizajn: Enes Huseinčehajić
Sound Design and Music: Igor Čamo
Producers: Amra Bakšić Čamo, Faruk Lončarević
Executive Production: Amra Bakšić Čamo, Adnan Ćuhara, Amela Ćuhara, Ognjen Džinić
Production Company: SCCA/pro.ba in collaboration with PRIME TIME
Cast: Zagorka Borota, Vjekoslav Ramljak, Sabina Bambur
Synopsis:
The year is two thousand and something. An elderly couple live alone in a flat in Sarajevo, with their own rituals: drinking coffee, playing cards, watching TV. The husband (Dad) has had a stroke and although he is still physically strong, he has difficulties in communication. The wife (Mum) is a lively elderly lady who is, after 50 years, now using the husbands disability to change the things around in this old-fashioned, patriarchal family. Dad must not allow that and he opposes it in the only way he can, with physical force.
DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY: Faruk Lončarević was born in 1975. He graduated from the film and TV directing department of the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo in 2000. He has worked in theatre, on TV and film. He has made several shorts, and his first feature film is "JUDGMENT DAY – PREVIEW”, documentary about tsunami in Southeast Asia.
EXCHANGE 6th November 19:30 LHC 3
Original title: Schimb Valutar
Country: Romania
Year: 2008
Genre: Drama
Format: DVD
Runtime: 100’
Language: Romanian with English subs
Director: Nicolae Margineanu
Script: Tudor Voican after an idea of Catalin Cocris
Director of photography: Mihail Sarbusca
Scenography: Nicu Reseanu
Music: Petru Margineanu
Editing: Nita Chivulescu
Produced by: Nicolae Margineanu
Production: Ager Film
Cast: Cosmin Selesi, Aliona Munteanu, Andi Vasluianu, Rodica Ionescu and Valentin Uritescu.
Synopsis: In a corrupt world, the victim turns into aggressor.
In a country town, Emil (32 years old, common) becomes unemployed when the factory where he worked as a turner is closed down. He is married to Ana (30 years old, pleasant), saleswoman; together they have a son, Dorin (6 years old, nice, clever). After his wife loses her job too, the two decide to emigrate in Australia. Emil sells the apartment and the car bought at their wedding and moves with his family at his parents-in-law who live in the suburbs.
Director: Nicolae Margineanu , born 25 September 1938, Cluj, Romania
Filmography:
TOMORROW MORNING 7th November 22:00 LHC 3
Original title: Sutra Ujutru
Country: Serbia
Year: 2006
Genre: Drama
Format: 35mm
Runtime: 100’
Language: Serbian with English subs
Director - Oleg NOVKOVIĆ
Scriptwriter - Milena MARKOVIĆ
Director of photography - Miladin ČOLAKOVIĆ
Scenography - Nevena RISTIĆ
Music - Miroslav MITRAŠINOVIĆ
Mask designer - Tatjana LIPANOVIĆ
Editing - Lazar PREDOJEV
Sound - Dejan PEKOVIĆ
Producer - Lazar RISTOVSKI
Executive producer - ZILLION FILM
CAST: Uliks Fehmiu, Nebojša Glogovac, Nada Šargin, Lazar Ristovski, Ljubomir Bandović, Radmila Tomović, Danica Ristovski, Miloš Vlalukin, Ana Marković, Nebojša Ilić, Jelena Djokić, Renata Ulmanski,
Branko Cvejić, Elizabeta Djorevska
The film TOMOROW MORNING is a story about love and friendship
After twelve years spent abroad, the main character returns to his native city, where he meets his old love, friends and parents again They spend four days together and after that nothing will be the same in their lives.
Serbian candidate for Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences OSKAR 2006-2007
World premiere - KARLOVY VARY 2006
XXVIII MOSTRA DE VALENCIA 2007 - SILVER PALM
16. Film Festival Cottbus 2006.
1. Main Prize for Best Film
2. FIPRESCI prize
3. “From Cottbus to cinema” – distribution support prize for a festival film
SHADOWS (IN FOCUS MACEDONIA) 8th November 22:00 LHC 3
Original Title: Senki
Country: Macedonia/Germany/Italy/Bulgaria/Spain
Year: 2007
Genre: Drama
Format: 35mm
Run time: 129’
Language: Macedonian with English subtitles
Directed by: Milcho Manchevski
Screenplay: Milcho Manchevski
Cinematographer: Fabio Cianchetti
Editor: David Ray, Martin Levenstein
Music: Ryan Shore, additional music by Kiril Djajkovski
Costumes Elisabetta Montaldo
Production: Senka DOOEL Film Production
Co-Production: blue eyes Fiction GmbH & Co. KG, Classic SRL, Camera Ltd, Tornasol Films SA
Producer: Milcho Manchevski, Amedeo Pagani, Corinna Mehner, Nermin Gladers, Martin Husmann, Dimitar Gochev,Gerrardo Herrero, Mariela Besuievsky
Cast: Borce Nacev, Vesna Stanojevska, Sabina Ajrula-Tozija , Salaetin Bilal, Ratka Radmanovic , Filareta Atanasova , Dime Iliev, Vladimir Jacev
Synopsis: The spirits of Aegean refugees, suicides and unbaptized babies haunt the protagonist of Shadows until he learns the way to give them eternal peace, and in the process, finally grows into the man he wants to be
About director: Milcho Manchevski wrote and directed the feature films "BEFORE THE RAIN" (1994), "DUST" (2001) and "SHADOWS" (2007) and over 50 short forms (experimental films, documentaries, commercials and music videos (including "TENNESSEE" for Arrested Development), and has guest-directed network and cable TV (HBO's "The Wire"). "BEFORE THE RAIN" won an Academy-Award nomination and thirty awards, including Golden Lion for Best Film in Venice, Independent Spirit, FIPRESCI, UNESCO, best film of the year in Argentina, Italy, Sweden, Turkey, and other awards in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Poland, Puerto Rico, Russia, etc. The New York Times included "BEFORE THE RAIN" on its list of the best 1,000 films ever made.
MIRAGE (IN FOCUS MACEDONIA) 8th November 19:00 LHC 3
Original title: Iluzija
Country: Macedonia, AT
Year: 2004
Genre: Drama
Format: 35mm
Film run: 106'
Language: Macedonian with English subtitles
Directed by: Svetozar Ristovski
Screenplay: Grace Lea Troje, Svetozar Ristovski
Cinematography by: Vladimir Samoilovski
Film editing: Atanas Georgiev
Art director: Igor Tosevski
Costumes designer: Alexander Wieser, Svetozar Ristovski
Production: Synchro Film, Video Bearbeitungs , Small moves (MK)
Cast: Mustafa Nadarevic, Vlado Jovanosvki, Nikola Djuricko, Dejan Acimovic, Marko Kovacevic
Synopsis: Marko's world is collapsing around him. Amidst Macedonian's tumultuous transition, gambling and alcohol poison life at home, while ruthless bullies make school unbearable. But Marko discovers dreams of escape when his teacher encourages him to enter a poetry competition in Paris
Director: Svetozar Ristovski was born in Veles, Macedonia and studied architecture and dramatic arts at the University of St. Kiril and Metodij in Skopje, Macedonia. His filmography includes the short documentary Second Class Passengers (1999), the feature length documentary Joy of Life (2001) and the short fiction film Hunter (2000). Mirage is his feature directorial debut.
Filmography
UPSIDEDOWN (IN FOCUS MACEDONIA) 8th November 19:00 LHC 3
Original Language Title: Prevrteno
Country: Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia
Year: 2007
Genre: Drama
Format: 35mm
Run time: 105’
Language: Macedonian with English subtitles
Director: Igor Ivanov
Screenplay: Venko Andonovski, Igor Ivanov
Cinematographer: Tomi Salkovski
Music: Zoran Spasovski
Designer: Ivan Bartling, Igor Toshevski
Editor: Igor Andreevski
Producer: Vladimir Anastasov, Igor Nola
Production: Sektor Film
Synopsis: Hideous corners of the city, scenes without a trace of sophistication, depressing enclosed spaces – this is the setting chosen for the desperate life drama of young Jan Ludvik. Its individual chapters are recalled as retrospectives by Jan himself as he travels in a train hurtling through the darkening landscape, in the company of a random female passenger whose miserable exterior renders her the embodiment of the bleakest of destinies. Jan was a gifted student and, by some strange quirk of fate, also a talented circus artist, but the world in which he lives drives him only to self-destructive actions. Everything is marked by degradation, even love, for which cheap porn clubs are often an eloquent stage, and whose object is a palpably degenerate girl; several scenes are deliberately set in dingy, graffiti-covered urinals. Upside Down presents a modernised version of the film expressionism of the past; in this case, the wasted life of an individual forms a parallel to the disintegration engulfing society as a whole, a society which lacks spiritual horizons.
Director by: Igor Ivanov (b. 1973, Skopje, Macedonia) studied philosophy and began his film career in 1993, when he began directing a series of films for television. Between the years 1995 and 2004 he made several documentaries and short films; one of them, the 15-minute-long Bugs (Bubački, 2004), won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno festival. The title Upside Down, an adaptation of the novel Navel of the World by contemporary Macedonian writer Venko Andonovski, is his feature film debut. The film clearly revives the poetic quality of the so-called “Black Wave” in Yugoslav film during the 1960s, which closely examined the afflictions of society’s “other face” and the fatal dimensions of human existence.
DOEST IT HURT? The First Balkan Dogma (IN FOCUS MACEDONIA) 8th November 17:00 LHC 4
Original title: Boli li? - Prvata balkanska Dogma
Country: Netherlands/Macedonia
Year: 2007
Genre: Drama
Format: 35mm
Run time: 100’
Language: Macedonian with English subtitles
Director: Aneta Lesnikovska
Script: Aneta Lesnikovska
Cinematographer: Lennert Hillege
Editor: Igor Andreevski
Sound: Braco, Slobodan Pajic, Editson Ranko Paukovic
Produced by: Biljana Stanoevska
Production: AKA Film - Makedonija, Concordia Pictures, NFI Productions
Cast: Irena Ristik, Igor Dzambazov, Dejan Lilik, Visar Vishka
For a change, a true film about a fictional event, instead of the other way round. Young Macedonian-Dutch filmmaker lies to her best friends and in this way makes the first Balkan (and Dutch) Dogma film.
Synopsis: Reality is based on fiction and vice versa. The director translates her own life and that of her friends to a fictional situation. Most of her friends are actors and film makers who do everything but act and make films. There is no money, no fund that makes film making possible in a country like Macedonia, so she sets to work according to the rules of Dogma.
Not just to help her friends find some work, but also to fulfil her own desire: to make her first full-length film. She lies to her friends that she has found foreign producers who are willing to finance the film. They have to wait for the Danish producers, who never come. In the meantime, she keeps researching and asks all her friends to tell their life stories. The whole process is filmed and what was once intended as preparation turns into the film itself. The distinction between fiction and reality is impossible to define in the end.Does It Hurt? is the first Balkan film shot according to the rules of Dogma, made to mark the 10th anniversary of the Dogma manifesto. And maybe even more than a formal Dogma drama, Does It Hurt? is a personal, refreshing and amusing document about the film maker and her friends. (SdH) Source: International Film Festival Rotterdam
Director: Aneta LESNIKOVSKA comes from Skopje, Macedonia, where she studied the history of art and archaeology. In 1992 she came to study at the audiovisual art department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. After her graduation in 1996 she had numerous expositions of her video and new media work. In the last few years she has been actively involved in many Macedonian films, including How I Killed a Saint that was screened in Rotterdam in 2004. Does It Hurt? - The First Balkan Dogma is her feature debut as director.
Ms. Lesnikovska will be present during the screening and Q&A
PLASTIC JESUS (FORBIDDEN FILM) 8th November 15:00 LHC 4
Original title: PLASTIČNI ISUS
Country: Yugoslavia
Year: 1971
Genre: Docu-Fiction
Runtime: 76’
Format: 35mm
Language: Serbo-Croatian with English subtitles.
Director: Lazar Stojanovic
Cast: Tomislav Gotovac, Svetlana Gligorijevic, Vukica Djilas
Synopsis: Tom, from Zagreb, not provided for life, is trying to make a movie in Belgrade. He survives somehow with different women taking him in. He doesn’t believe in anything, doesn't respect anyone, he is sensitive to order and force, to leaders and ideologies, and constantly in conflict with common law. Since some crazy American woman left him, Tom binds himself to a woman whose husband is abroad. When she throws him out, he goes to her sister's husband, who murders him out of jealousy in the end.
Produced in 1971 and immediately labeled subversive with the director Lazar Stojanovic arrested and jailed. This was the only case in the history of the former Yugoslavia that a film maker has been imprisoned because of his work. Only after 20 years was the film publicly screened at home and abroad at the film festival in Montreal in 1991 and awarded by the FIPRESCI jury.
About director: Lazar Stojanović was born in Belgrade in 1944. He is directing, writing and teaching.
He directed a number of short feature and documentary films, TV shows and theatrical plays. He also wrote a number of screenplays for film and television, as well as theatrical texts, essays, and articles of various genres. He published two books and founded an entire theater. He gave lectures in film. He was engaged in journalism. He was graduated in film directing. He lives in USA.
Procedeed with Q&A with Mr. Vanja Valtrovic, expert on Black Wave movement in Yugoslavian cinematography.
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (OLD HIT) 7th November 16:15 LHC 4
Original title: Moskva Slezam ne verit
Country: Soviet Union
Year: 1980
Genre: Drama
Format: DVD
Run time: 150’
Language: Russian with English subtitles
Director: Vladimir Menshov
Script: Valentin Chernykh
Cinematographer: Igor Slabnevich
Music: Sergej Nikitin
Art Director: Said Menyalcshikov
Lyrics: Dmitry Sukharev, Yurij Vizbor
Sound producer: Mark Bronshtejn
Production: Ruscico, Mosfilm
Cast: Zoya Fedorova, Viktor Uralskij, Liya Akhedzhakova, Aleksey Batalov, Vera Alentova, Irina Muravieva, Aleksandr Fatyushin, Raisa Ryazanova, Boris Smorchkov, Yurij Vasilev, Natalya Vavilova, Evgeniya Khanaeva, Innokentij Smoktunovskij, Valentina Ushakova, Oleg Tabakov, Leonid Kharitonov, Viktor Lazarev
An Oscar winner for “best foreign film”. This is a melodrama about the life stories of the three girls. Three friends, Antonina, Liudmila and Yekaterina, come to Moscow in search of their dream. Sharing a hostel room, they work and play together. Antonina soon marries a good man and settles down to raise a family. For Liudmila, Moscow is a sort of lottery, in which you have to pick the lucky ticket. She attempts to conquer the big city, but ends up a loser. The life of the third girl, Yekaterina, is a contemporary Cinderella story. She had her share of disappointments, but did not despair. In twenty years she built up a career and became the director of a big enterprise. A single parent of a daughter, she finally meets the right man and, after long and bitter years of loneliness, finds true happiness…
Awards: Grand Prize at the IFF in Portugal, 1980; Oscar for Best Foreign Film, 1980; Saint-Michel Prize for best Actress (Vera Alentova) at the Brussels IFF, 1981
With special thanking to Mosfilm, Mr. K.G Shakhnazarov, Mr. L.V. Vainer and Mr. S. Sergey in granting us the permission to show the film and Mr. Alexey Chemodanov for his assistance.