For twenty years Vesna has been trying to forget the past which nearly destroyed her family. In a different town and under a different name she invented a new life for herself; she brought up her two children on her own and now she’s a grandmother. Then one day the phone rings and everything changes. It’s their father, a known war criminal.
Vesna works as a nurse in Zagreb where she moved with her son and daughter twenty years previously, after her husband Žarko was convicted of war crimes in The Hague. The family only just managed to escape the wrath of their neighbours in their home town, and, even years later, her husband’s name has still made things difficult for her, both at work and in her private life. It’s no surprise that Vesna changed her surname and began a new life somewhere else. Except that the past is inexorable: after two decades have passed, Vesna gets an unexpected call from Žarko. At first she tries to remain distant, yet years of loneliness induce her to give in. They have a series of late-night conversations that send Vesna’s life into a tailspin once again. This is a compelling piece, not only for the outstanding performances from Ksenija Marinković and Lazar Ristovski, but also for the film’s lensing, which allows us to intrude upon the characters’ privacy, as if we were looking in from the outside as impartial observers; the camera starts gradually to infiltrate their personal space in long, atmospheric scenes, each choreographed in a single, uninterrupted take.
Nikola Paggio
85 min / Color, DCP
Director Zrinko Ogresta
/ Screenplay Mate Matišić, Zrinko Ogresta
/ Dir. of Photography Branko Linta
/ Music Mate Matišić, Šimun Matišić
/ Editor Tomislav Pavlic
/ Art Director Tanja Lacko
/ Producer Ivan Maloča
/ Production Interfilm
/ Coproduction Zillion film
/ Cast Ksenija Marinković, Lazar Ristovski
/ Sales Cercamon
Zrinko Ogresta (b. 1958, Virovitica, Croatia), screenwriter and director, graduated in 1982 from the Department of Film and Television Direction at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb. He was already earning kudos with his short films, which received a number of awards. He debuted with his feature film Fragments (Krhotine, 1991), nominated for a European Film Award. He is a frequent festival guest and is no stranger to Karlovy Vary, either, which presented Washed Out (Isprani, 1995), Here (Tu, 2003, Special Jury Prize at KVIFF 2004), and, most recently, the psychological drama Behind the Glass (Iza stakla, 2008). His films are known for their strong visual style and well-articulated mise-en-scènes which gradually uncover the anxieties and traumas of characters hiding behind the façade of their contented middle-class existence. He currently teaches film direction at his alma mater and he is a member of the European Film Academy.
Cercamon
PO Box 417 207, 00000, Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Phone: +971 566 063 824
E-mail: [email protected]
Sébastien Chesneau
Distributor, Sales Agent
Zrinko Ogresta
Film Director, Film Director
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