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Film Archive

The High Sun

Horizons 2015 / Zvizdan / Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia 2015

Ivan and Jelena (1991), Nataša and Ante (2001), Luka and Marija (2011) – three different decades, three stories. He’s a Croat and she’s from a Serbian family. Using the same actors in each case (Tihana Lazović and Goran Marković) and aided by Marko Brdar’s captivating lensing, Matanić tells three tales of fragile love in an environment beset by ethnic intolerance. Un Certain Regard Jury Prize, Cannes 2015.

The High Sun The High Sun

Synopsis

“As long as she isn’t one of them,” the director’s grandmother used to say. She meant that, as a Croat, he should be careful not to fall in love with a Serbian girl. This random comment from someone close to him, which the filmmaker found difficult to comprehend, was the inspiration for this ambitious cinematic project. Ivan and Jelena, Nataša and Ante, Luka and Marija – three decades, three stories in which he is a Croat and she comes from a Serbian family. 1991 – ethnic tensions are rising and the lovers want to escape to the calmer climate of Zagreb. 2001 – the same village, but now bearing the visible scars of war. Nataša keeps the trauma bottled up inside her, while her mother, in an attempt to move forward, hires a Croatian handyman called Ante. 2011 – Luka is a university student forced to return to his home village where he will inevitably run into the woman he left at a critical moment in their lives. Aided by Marko Brdar’s captivating lensing and using the same actors in each case (the outstanding Tihana Lazović and Goran Marković), Matanić tells three tales of fragile love in an environment beset by ethnic intolerance.

Karel Och

About the film

123 min / Color, DCP

Director Dalibor Matanić / Screenplay Dalibor Matanić / Dir. of Photography Marko Brdar / Music Alen Sinkauz, Nenad Sinkauz / Editor Tomislav Pavlic / Art Director Mladen Ožbolt / Producer Ankica Jurić Tilić / Production Kinorama / Coproduction Gustav film, See Film Pro / Cast Tihana Lazović, Goran Marković, Nives Ivanković / Sales Cercamon
www: www.zvizdan.com

About the director

Dalibor Matanić

Dalibor Matanić (b. 1975, Zagreb, Yugoslavia) studied film and television directing at his hometown’s Academy of Dramatic Arts. He debuted in 2000 with the award-winning Cashier Wants to Go to the Seaside (Blagajnica hoće ići na more). Two years later, he won numerous domestic awards for his second film Fine Dead Girls (Fine mrtve djevojke). Other films include 100 Minutes of Glory (100 minuta slave, 2004), The Lika Cinema (Kino Lika, 2008), Mother of Asphalt (Majka asfalta, 2010), Daddy (Ćaća, 2011) and the short Tulum (2009), which won 18 awards after being shown at Cannes. The High Sun was shown as part of this year’s Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize.

Contacts

Cercamon
PO Box 417 207, 00000, Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Phone: +971 566 063 824
E-mail: [email protected]

Guests

Dalibor Matanić

Ankica Jurić Tilić
Producer

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