After its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Aleksandar Radivojević’s debut directorial feature film Karmadonna won two awards at the Dark Nights Film Festival in Sydney – for best feature film and best screenplay.
“On behalf of all of us who created this film, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for this great recognition,” Radivojević said in a video message to the Australian audience. “We are touched by the fact that, over there on the other side of the world, you recognized something in our film that moves us on this side. I guess some situations are simply universal.”
Dark Nights is an independent film festival dedicated to horror and “dark” genres, which is held for the second time this year. Radivojević was also present at this event through the documentary film A Serbian Documentary by Steven Beer, which talks about the creation of the controversial A Serbian Film (2010), for which Radivojević wrote the screenplay.
Karmadonna is a psychedelic horror-thriller and a satirical dystopian parable about a pregnant woman who, with the help of a mysterious voice from a bluetooth headset, becomes a weapon in the war against the system that has shaped her and the world around her. The film thematizes a generation for which the telephone has become a substitute for God, and pregnancy has turned into an exceptional political act.
The cast includes Jelena Đokić, Sergej Trifunović, Milica Stefanović, Miloš Lolić, Miloš Timotijević, Petar Strugar, Branislav Jevtić and Jovo Maksić. The film was independently produced by the Digimedia company, with producer Predrag Popović, in cooperation with Miloš Đukelić. The premiere of this film in Serbia is expected at the beginning of 2026.
Photo: Andrijana Cvijanović Medigović, Digimedia