CELEBRATION
Special Features: U.S. Premiere | Special Presentation | Q&A with director Bruno Anković on Dec. 15
[PROSLAVA]
Set between 1926 and 1945, though its nonlinear narrative moves backwards and forwards through time, director Bruno Anković’s feature debut is an inspired piece of filmmaking that explores the circumstances that lead a young Croatian villager, Mijo, to join the fascist Ustashe movement that ruled the Independent State of Croatia, an Axis puppet state, during the Second World War. Beginning in 1945, just after the war ends, Mijo hides in the woods surrounding his impoverished village, promising to surrender once tensions die down. A series of flashbacks to key moments throughout his childhood — the forced abandonment of his beloved dog to wolves following an incident with a local gendarmerie, or his father’s awful decision to reduce the number of mouths he has to feed — paint a portrait of a boy whose life of hardship was rife for exploitation. With the rise of far-right movements across the world today, CELEBRATION is a poignant reminder that progress is an ongoing struggle, and that the disappearance of basic empathy is the first step toward a dark and hateful era. –Javier Chavez
Official Selection, 2024 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. DIR Bruno Anković; SCR Jelena Paljan, from the novel by Damir Karakaš; PROD Rea Rajcic, Tina Tisljar. Croatia/Qatar, 2024, color, 86 min. In Croatian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Run Time: 86 Minutes
Opening Date: Sunday, December 15, 2024
Genre: Drama
