The selection committee for the selection of the Serbian candidate for the Oscar award made the decision that the Serbian candidate for the 98th award of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – Oscar in the category for the best international film 2025, will be Sun Never Again directed by David Jovanović and produced by Pointless films and FDU.
The committee (Vladislava Vojnović, screenwriter (president of the committee), Vladan Anđelković, producer, Boban Stefanović, Cinemanetwork Serbia, Predrag Bambič, director of photography, Miroslav Lekić, director, Stefan Đelineo, director and Petar Jakonić, editor) congratulate David Jovanović and his team of collaborators!
Two films were submitted for this year’s Oscar, and according to the regulations, each member of the committee can award two points to one film and one to the other. The secret ballot ended in the first round, six members voted and one member canceled their ballot. The voting results are:
Mother-of-pearl, Milorad Milinković – 7 points
Sun never again, David Jovanović – 11 points
The committee was deciding between two film literati and two very different works that were created in different production circumstances and have different approaches to dramaturgy and film language. Also, these two films differ in genre: Milinković’s film is a historical political thriller, and Jovanović’s is an auteur film with a contemporary theme. In their discussions before casting their votes, the committee members analyzed both films in detail and mentioned all their qualities and weaknesses. Two things mostly prevailed in favor of the film Sun Never Again: the universality of the theme of the suffering of people and nature due to the greed and power of multinational mining companies all over the planet, and the coherence of the tragic story in the stylized manner of poetic naturalism.
Milinković’s film, however, has as its theme the local political turmoil in Serbia in the 19th century and the police and private investigation of two murders; if the plot of the film had been more carefully managed, and the motivations of the heroes had been more delicately implemented, perhaps a foreign audience that does not know Serbian history could see the story as a struggle between good and evil. Unfortunately, despite exceptional directorial and editing work, it is evident that the film was created from material for a TV series, and it occasionally has serious ambiguities that make it seriously difficult to follow and spoil the viewer’s pleasure.