The 29th Sarajevo Film Festival concluded with the awards ceremony. The young Serbian actor Jovan Ginić won the “Heart of Sarajevo” award for best actor for his role in the film “Lost Country”, while the “Heart of Sarajevo” award for the best documentary film went to Serbian director Nemanja Vojinović for directing the film “Bottlemen”. Both award-winning productions were supported by the Film Center of Serbia.
The Serbian-Slovenian co-production, the documentary western drama “Bottlemen” directed by Nemanja Vojinović, had its world premiere at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival, in the documentary competition program. “Bottlemen” was produced by RT Dobre Nade, Set Sail Films and URGH!
The film crew consists of director Nemanja Vojinović, producer Marija Stojnić, co-producer Viva Videnović, editor Dragan von Petrović, director of photography Igor Marović, sound designer Boštjan Kačičnik, composer Predrag Adamović. The film was supported by Film Center Serbia and TV Slovenia.
Vojinović’s film tells the story of collectors of plastic bottles, better known as “bottlemen”. Not far from Belgrade, on the former archaeological site of the ancient Vinča civilization, sits one of the largest landfills in Europe. The coming modernization brings new challenges for this colorful community and each of its individuals. Bottlemen struggle to survive in the post-apocalyptic landscape of this landfill.
“Lost Country” was produced by Serbia and France, with the co-production support of Luxembourg and Croatia. The film was produced by Omar El Kadi and Nađa Turincev (Easy Riders Films, France), Vladimir Perišić (Trilema, Serbia) and Janja Kralj (KinoElektron, France), co-produced by Red Lion, Luxembourg and Kinorama, Croatia. The film was supported by Film Center Serbia, CNC, Arte France Cinema, Luxembourg film fund and the Croatian Audiovisual Center.
The film “Lost Country”, directed by Vladimir Perišić, had an exceptional reception at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, both with the audience and critics. On that occasion, Jovan Ginić was awarded the prestigious “Rising Star” award.
The film is set in Belgrade in 1996, when during the student demonstrations against the Milošević regime, fifteen-year-old Stefan goes through his own revolution and faces the fact that his mother is an accomplice of the corrupt government. The role of the mother is played by prominent Serbian actress Jasna Đuričić.