The national premiere of the film The Tower of Strength by Montenegrin director Nikola Vukčević, created in a Serbian minority co-production, took place as part of the competitive selection for best feature film, at the Herceg Novi Film Festival.
The Tower of Strengthis not only a story about one man, but also about what binds us all – to preserve humanity in difficult times, to protect the weak and to witness how we as humans can be heroic”, said Vukčević after the screening of the film.
The Tower of Strength had its world premiere in November at the Film Festival in Cottbus, Germany. After that, it was shown at the renowned Cairo International Film Festival, the oldest and most important festival in the Arab world and Africa, as well as at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, one of the leading festivals of the Asian continent. In January of this year, it was included in the Cinema of the World selection at the 23rd Dhaka International Film Festival, and soon after at the 17th Jaipur International Film Festival, where, among eighty feature films of all categories, director of photography Đorđe Stojiljković was awarded the award for best cinematography. At the Saraqusta International Film Festival in Zaragoza, in May, the film won two awards – for direction and screenplay.
The cast consists of regional and international artists. The main character is played by Edon Rizvanolli from the Netherlands, while Nikola Ristanovski (North Macedonia), Igor Benčina (Serbia), Alban Ukaj (Bosnia and Herzegovina), as well as Selman Jusufi and Xhejlane Terbunja (Kosovo) are part of the supporting cast. Actors Aleksandar Radulović, Branimir Popović, Ana Vučković and Zef Bato Dedivanović, who died shortly after the end of filming, come from Montenegro. Elez Adžović, Vuk Bulajić, Merisa Adžović and Hana Pavlović appear in children’s roles.
The inspiration for the film comes from the anthology short story “Face (Legend of Nur Doki)” by writer and academician Zuvdija Hodžić. The screenplay was written by Ana Vujadinović (Montenegro) and Melina Pote, while director Nikola Vukčević was a collaborator on the screenplay.
The visual identity of the film was created by director of photography Đorđe Stojiljković (Serbia), set designer was the late Stanislav Nikičević (Montenegro), and Lidija Jovanović (Serbia) was in charge of costumes. The music is composed by Dušan Maksimovski (Croatia/Montenegro). The editing was done by Olga Toni (Slovenia), while the visual effects were created by Đuro Mihaljević (Montenegro) and Đorđe Stojiljković (Serbia). Igor Vujović (Montenegro) and his colleague Dario Domitrović (Croatia) were in charge of sound design and mixing.
The executive producers are Milorad Radenović and Jelena Filipović, while Nevena Savić and Ivica Vidanović from Belgrade’s “Cinnamon Films”, Dario Domitrović from Zagreb’s “Embrio” are listed as co-producers, while Christoph Thoke (Mogador Film, Germany) and Boris Raonić as associate producers on behalf of RTVCG.
The project was realized with the financial support of the Film Center of Montenegro, Film Center Serbia, the Croatian Audiovisual Center, the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro, RTVCG and CEKUM. At the co-production competition in Serbia in November 2020, this film took first place among fifty submitted projects, which secured support from Serbian public funds in the amount of around 60,000 euros.
Photo: HN Film Festival