The short feature film "The Sea Between Us" by Luv Sevnik, which was realized in co-production with the Croatian Association Sensoria (Ira Cecić and Tonči Bakotin), won the PAG Jury Award. The film "Between Revolutions" by Vlad Petri (co-production of Restart, Oliver Sertić) won the award of the media platform OBC Transeuropa for the best documentary title. In addition, actor Jovan Ginić received a special award for his role in the minority Croatian co-production "Lost Country" (Kinorama, Ankica Jurić Tilić).
"A short, intense film that captures the viewer's soul with its profound perspective and, in its stunning climax, shows a conflicted paternal relationship, in the silence of abuse that is too often drowned in the sea," explained his award to the jury of the youth platform PAG (Progetto Area Giovani del Comune di Trieste), who named the minority Croatian co-production Sea among us by Slovenian director Luna Sevnik as the best short film. It is a Slovenian-Croatian-Czech co-production.
In the film, which is shot entirely on the island of Pag, the main roles are played by Leon Lučev and Bruno Mihanović. The producers of the film are Rok Biček from Cvinger Film, Ira Cecić and Tonči Bakotin from Sensoria Association, Radovan Sibrt and Karel Poupe from Pink Productions and Ondrej Šejnoha from FAMU. The film had its world premiere in Trieste, and it was presented to the audience there by a team led by director Sevnik, producer Biček and the Croatian part of the team, co-producer Cecić and actor Bruno Mihanović.
The award in Trieste was also won by Vlad Petri's feature-length documentary Between Revolutions. This is the award of the OBC Transeuropa (Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa) media platform/portal for the best documentary film of the festival. In its explanation, the jury pointed out that it is an intimate and political documentary that intertwines the history of two countries that are rarely united and the lives of two women who resist oppressive regimes.
"By combining unusual archival images from two distant political and cultural contexts, the film brings the exciting moments of courage and fear, hope and disillusionment that accompany revolutions closer to the viewer, and places Eastern Europe and the Middle East at the center of the great events that marked the 20th century," the jury concluded.
The film was produced by the Romanian company Activ Docs, in co-production with the Croatian Restart and the Iranian company Undisclosed. The Croatian co-producer is Oliver Sertić.
In addition, Serbian actor Jovan Ginić won a special award from the jury of the main competition program for his role in the feature film Lost Country directed by Vladimir Perišić. The Croatian co-producer of the film is Ankica Jurić Tilić (Kinorama).
In the industrial part of the festival, the project Dad's Lullaby by the Ukrainian author Lesia Diak, which is a co-production of the Ukrainian company DramaFree, Romanian Filmways and Croatian Fifteenth Art, was crowned with a prize.
This year's 25th edition of the Trieste Film Festival took place from January 19 to 27th.
Source: HAVC
