Film Archive

You Carry Me

East of the West - Competition 2015 / Ti mene nosiš / Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro 2015

Dora would like to become a football manager. During a tough period growing up she draws closer to her dad, who is in trouble with the law. A young woman named Ives nurses her ailing father. This exhausting stage of her life makes her aware that as she gradually loses him, the weaker she herself becomes. Nataša, a successful middle-aged producer, is pregnant and the problems associated with her condition lead to her decision to confront her estranged father. In her latest feature Ivona Juka constructs a mosaic of stories whose common denominator is the fight for survival, forgiveness, and new opportunities.

Synopsis

Three daughters, three fathers, three generations, three perspectives on a relationship that may take on a variety of forms. Dora is not like other girls her age. She is neglected at home and no one even cares about her dream of becoming a football manager. On account of his long absence, her father is a big unknown, yet she still instinctively tries to protect him from the consequences of a life spent sidestepping the law. Reconciliation is complicated. Ives is already an adult and to her a father is someone to be taken care of. The onset of Alzheimer’s cannot be prevented and the young woman discovers that breaking bonds is no easy task. On the contrary, the more she tries, the weaker she herself becomes. No longer young, successful Natasha is pregnant, but given the circumstances her condition is rather joyless. Her long-estranged father, however, may provide a solution to her troubles. Ivona Juka’s film spins a web of stories whose common denominator is the fight for survival, forgiveness, and new opportunities.

Anna Kořínek

About the film

155 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Ivona Juka / Screenplay Ivona Juka / Dir. of Photography Mario Oljača / Music Teho Teardo / Editor Vladimir Gojun / Art Director Vladimir Đurović, Ivan Ivan / Producer Anita Juka / Production 4 film / Coproduction Vertigo - Zavod za kulturne dejavnosti, Sloane Film Production Doo Beograd / Cast Lana Barić, Vojislav Brajović, Helena Beljan, Nataša Janjić, Goran Hajduković, Juraj Dabić, Nataša Dorčić, Sebastian Cavazza, Filip Křižan / Contact 4 Film
www: www.youcarryme.com

About the director

Ivona Juka (b. 1976), who earned a degree in film directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, is a Croatian creator of the acclaimed short movies Garbage (Smeće, 2003) and Editing (2006 – selected for the official competitions of several US festivals). She was one of the five European students chosen to make a short film to be presented at the EFA awards ceremony in Berlin; she also took part in the “Cinema Tomorrow” conference in Warsaw organized by the EFA. Her short film View from a Well (Pogled iz bunara, 2010) took Best Film and Best Director at the American International Film Festival. The feature-length, writer-director documentary Facing the Day (Što sa sobom preko dana, 2006) became Croatia’s most awarded documentary; it received awards at the goEast festival in Wiesbaden, at Sarajevo, and at many other fests. Beyond its festival successes, it proved a winner in domestic distribution as well.