At the 78th Locarno Film Festival, which will take place from August 6th to August 16th 2025, four films produced by Serbia will have their world premieres.
As part of the main competition program – Concorso Internazionale – seventeen films from around the world will compete for the “Golden Leopard” award, two of which are Serbian feature films: Sorella di Clausura, directed and produced by Ivana Mladenović, and Lines of Desire, directed by Dane Komljen.
In the competition program of short films – Pardi di domani – Concorso Corti d’autore, the short feature film by directors Matija Gluščević and Dušan Zorić Hysterical Fit of Laughter will be shown, as well as the experimental film SLET 1988 by director Marta Popivoda.
Sorella di Clausura is the third feature film by director Ivana Mladenović, an empathetic parody of romantic melodramas. The film is based on a script inspired by a true story that Ivana Mladenović wrote in collaboration with Adrian Siop and Momir Milošević.
The film is about a passion that grows into an obsession. Stela, a young woman from Timișoara in Romania, graduates in philology, but is unable to find a job, her place and purpose in society. Years ago, she was in love with a Balkan musician whom she once saw on TV, and she hopes that Vera, a singer who is rumored to know him well, will help her realize her dream and escape from the poverty in which she lives.
The film stars: Katia Pascariu, Miodrag Mladenović and Cendana Trifan. The camera is handled by Marius Panduru and the editor of the film is Vanja Kovačević.
The film was realized as a Serbian-Romanian-Spanish-Italian co-production signed by Dunav 84 (Ivana Mladenović), microFILM (Ada Solomon), Boogaloo Films (Bernat Manzano Vall) and Nightswim (Ines Vasiljević), but it is supported by Film Center Serbia, the Romanian Film Center, the Catalan Institute for Cultural Production, the Ministry of Culture of Italy and the European fund EURIMAGES.
Ivan Čuić, Branka Katic, Petja Golec Horvat and Rok Juričić play the main roles in Lines of Desire, directed by Dane Komljen.
Branko lives on the margins of society. He suffers from insomnia and loneliness. He does not talk to anyone. His only obsession seems to be his younger brother, whose muddy shoes, bloody sheets, and mysterious presence cause unrest. Branko follows his brother’s every step, through dark alleways, bushes in parks and a brutalist landscape, puzzled by his behavior. As the paranoia grows, Branko begins to realize that it is not his brother who is different, rather, it is him. An unexpected call from a forgotten childhood friend sets Branko on a journey, off the beaten path and outside the city — to the mountains, where every being, human or not, has its own story.
In addition to the film’s director and screenwriter Dane Komljen, the creative team includes co-screenwriter Tanja Šljivar, directors of photography Ivan Marković and Jenny Lou Ziegel, editor Marko Ferković, composer and sound designer Jakov Munižaba, stage designers Dragana Baćović and Ana Ivanišević and costume designer Strahinja Tabaković.
The producers of the film are Vladimir Vidić and Nataša Damnjanović (Dart film & Video), Mark Telosen (seriousFilm, The Netherlands), Dane Komljen (Mak Film, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Armin Hadžić (Marletti, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Miljenka Čogelja (Pipser, Croatia), Suzana Kirali (Flaneur Films, Germany).
The film was supported by Film Center Serbia, the Croatian Audiovisual Center – HAVC, the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Canton of Sarajevo, the Audiovisual Center of Republika Srpska, the Dutch Film Fund, as well as the Hubert Bals Fund, the MEDIA Program of Creative Europe, EURIMAGES.
Hysterical Fit of Laughter follows Sneža, a woman who enjoys rough games with different men, while her son tries to spoil her fun.
The main role in the film is played by Snježana Sinovčić-Šiškov, while Momir Milošević, Radivoj Knežević, Alex Elektra, Strahinja Marković and Bojana Lazić appear in supporting roles.
Dušan Zorić and Matija Gluščević jointly wrote the screenplay and directed the film. The director of photography is Aleksa Radunović. The editing is by Olga Košarić, the costume designerer is Kristina Savić, and the scenography was done by Milena Grošin. The producers of the film are Čarna Vučinić and Damjan Knežević for the production company NAKED, while the co-producer is Tena Gojić (DINARIDI FILM). The film is supported by Film Center Serbia and the Croatian Audiovisual Center – HAVC.
Also, as part of the Locarno Residency program, which focuses on the development and presentation of film ideas, the debut film of director Luka Papić, currently in development and tentatively titled Knight’s Business will be presented. The project has received the support of Film Center Serbia in the script development competition.
PHOTO: Dunav 84, Dart Film & Video, NAKED