“Some Other Stories”, omnibus comprised of five stories by young women directors from ex-YU countries will premiere within competition selection National Class at Cinema City Festival in Novi Sad. Young female directors from five ex-YU countries participated in accomplishing this intriguing project, which explores new generations’ way of life and their perception of history, generations which were once part of one country. They are: Ana Maria Rossi from Serbia, Hanna Slak from Slovenia, Ivona Juka from Croatia, Ines Tanovic from BiH and Maria Dzidzeva from Macedonia.Film deals with five dramatic storylines on motherhood among young women in a country formerly known as Yugoslavia. A pregnant woman in a hospital meets a man who killed her husband. Another hides her pregnancy from her boyfriend knowing her job will take her far away from him. A woman expecting twins deals with a horrendous choice when one fetus is diagnosed with Down’s syndrome. Having just given birth, a drug-addicted woman is left without her baby who is given up for adoption. A young nun becomes pregnant… These are everyday stories from Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Slovenia. Shot from different angles, stories deal with consequences of war and ask a question: What does it mean to give life after so much death?
“A country we were born in doesn’t exist for quite some time now, but various memories of it still exist. This film is not a nostalgic narrative but an attempt to create artistic picture of us, as we are today and to show from a new perspective our ways of dealing with each other.”, says Ana Maria Rossi, director from Serbia.
“Some Other Stories was set to be a joint project where all authors and producers would be equally invested in all stages of production. In that sense, this is the first joint cooperation in creating and producing by all ex-YU cinematographies. Fully aware and intentionally engaging young women directors, I wanted to indicate two things: that women’s perspective at looking at reality possesses a certain special, peculiar dimension and that in this region we have some truly talented young women film directors, professionals who have a lot to show for themselves…” said Nenad Dukic, art director and film’s chief producer.
In Serbian part of omnibus cast is comprised of famous domestic actors Sergej Trifunovic, Natasa Ninkovic, Gordan Kicic and Svetlana Bojkovic. Also starring are Lucija Serbedzija, Nera Stipicevic, Goran Bogdan, Nina Violic, Fedja Stukan and Iva Zendelska.
Behind this project is production company SEE Film Pro from Belgrade while the whole film was produced in collaboration with production companies Studio Maj from Ljubljana, 4Film from Zagreb, Document from Sarajevo and Macedonian Skopje Film Studio, and with significant support from Octagon Film and DIG Productions from Ireland. Film was also supported by Council of Europe's Eurimages Fund for co-production, which was a result of the need for a cultural reanimation of former Yugoslavia.
“National Class” is one of three main competition selections at Cinema City Film and Media Festival which will present exclusive premieres and films made by domestic authors in 2009 and 2010. In 2008 award for best domestic feature went to “Love and Other Crimes” by Stefan Arsenijevic and to “Ordinary People” by Vladimir Perisic in 2009.
