First Cut Lab 2019

After the Winter
Posle zime

Countries: Montenegro, Serbia
Directed by: Ivan Bakrac
Producer: Ivan Djuroivić
Release date: 20/02/2020

Film synopsis

Five childhood friends in their late twenties, scattered all across the remains of former Yugoslavia, try to cherish their friendship despite being miles away from one another. They all live against patriarchal heritage, ignoring the consequences of war and the poor economic environment. Over the course of one year, from spring to winter, they are taken by surprise when their careless youth, conditioned by escapism, suddenly ends. After the winter, each of them has to build their own new world.

Director’s filmography

Ivan Bakrač (1987, Montenegro) graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Design in Belgrade (Serbia) with an MA degree in film directing. He has written and directed short and medium length films that have taken part in many international festivals and won awards. He has participated in various programs, such as Berlinale Talents, Talents Sarajevo, or ZurichFF MasterClass. He is a programmer at Free Zone Film Festival in Belgrade. His first feature After the Winter was chosen for Berlinale Script Station 2017.

Films:

Wars, 2013 (Athens IFVF; Zlín FF; Kustendorf IFF); Our Skin is Going to Gray, 2014 (BFI London FF; Belo Horizonte ISFF); Malesh, 2016 (Drama ISFF; Torino FF; New Orleans FF).

Producer’s filmography

Ivan Đurović (1974) is a founder of Artikulacija Film, the first independent film production in Montenegro. He produced and co-produced feature films, documentaries, shorts and television series. He is a founder of Montenegro Film Forum, co-author of the Montenegrin Cinematography Act, and the first President of the Association of Producers and Directors of Montenegro. He was selected for the Cannes Producers on the Move 2014.

Films:

Hourglass, 2007 (Thessaloniki FF); The Ascent, 2011 (Sarajevo FF); Holidays in the Sun, 2014 (Transilvania IFF); The Kids from the Marx and Engels Street, 2014 (Raindance); Life is a Trumpet, 2015 (Warsaw FF); Neverending Past, 2018 (Montreal WFF); Peloid, 2018 (Sarajevo; Palm Springs).

Contact / Presenters

ARTikulacija
Gavra Vukovica 1/21, 81 000 Podgorica, 81000, Podgorica, Montenegro
Email: info@artikulacija.co.me
www www.artikulacija.me

Ivan Bakrac | Director, Writer
Email: ivan.bakrac@gmail.com
Mobile: +381 631 611 000

Ivan Djurović | Producer
Email: ivandjurovic@artikulacija.co.me
Mobile: +38 268 240 440

January
Yanuari

Countries: Bulgaria, Portugal
Directed by: Andrey Paounov
Producer: Vanya Rainova
Release date: February 2020

Film synopsis

The scary and surreal tale of five men, trapped by a snowstorm, who try to resolve a mystery as it slowly devours them.

Director’s filmography

Andrey Paounov graduated from the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2000, and started working on what would become an award-winning creative non-fiction trilogy on the absurdities of the post-totalitarian transition. His first documentary feature, Georgi and the Butterflies, won the Silver Wolf at IDFA in 2004. The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories - his second documentary feature, was included in the 46th International Critics' Week of the Cannes Film Festival 2007. The Boy Who Was a King (2011), Andrey's third full-length documentary, premiered at Toronto International Film Festival. Andrey’s live action/animation film Three Sisters and Andrey won the Best German Short of the Month Award and the Bulgarian Film Academy Award for Best Animation. Andrey’s latest film, Walking on Water (2018), a documentary on Christo, premiered at Locarno Film Festival in 2018 and was released theatrically in Germany, the United States, Italy and on other markets. January will mark his fiction feature directorial debut.

Producer’s filmography

Vanya Rainova is an award-winning writer and producer who is a managing partner at the Sofia-based independent film production company Portokal.

In 2014, she co-wrote and produced PRIDE (drama, 30'), which won the Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival, was nominated to the European Film Awards, and received 15 other international recognitions. Vanya is also a co-author and screenwriter of the award-winning THE LAST BLACK SEA PIRATES (creative documentary, 72'), directed by Svetoslav Stoyanov.

She has a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ithaca College. Her story “Trampoline” was published in the Best New American Voices anthology (Jane Smiley, ed.).