Directed by:
Teona Strugar MitevskaCinematography:
Virginie Saint-MartinComposer:
Olivier SamouillanCast:
Zorica Nusheva, Labina Mitevska, Vladimir Tuliev, Petar Mircevski, Simeon Moni Damevski, Violeta Sapkovska, Ljiljana Bogojevic, Bajrush MjakuPlots(1)
‘Tell them you’re 24’, advises Petrunya’s mother as her daughter heads off to another interview. But Petrunya is 31; moreover, she has studied history, a subject that no one in Macedonia seems to need. So there she sits in front of her potential employer, a factory owner, who looks down on her floral dress and refuses to take her seriously. On her way home – naturally, she did not get the job – Petrunya decides to take the plunge. It is Epiphany and, like every year, the young men of the city are diving for the holy cross that the priest has thrown into the icy river. This time, Petrunya is quicker than everyone else and ends up holding the trophy aloft for the TV cameras. For one whole day and one night, she will defend the cross, accompanied by much public commotion and against the closed ranks of the male world. Teona Strugar Mitevska delivers an angry yet melancholic satire that questions the status of democratic change in Macedonian society and passes scathing judgement on representatives of the church, the judiciary and the media. The film’s sympathies are all with the determined woman who asserts herself against archaic traditions and paralysing opportunism. (Berlinale)
(more)Cast
Zorica Nusheva
Best movies:
Labina Mitevska
Yugoslavia
Best movies:
Monahikoi typoi (2000)
Before the Rain (1994)
Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)
Vladimir Tuliev
Best movies:
Punk's Not Dead (2011)
The Third Half (2012)
Dieu existe, son nom est Petrunya (2019)
Petar Mircevski
Yugoslavia
Best movies:
Black Sun (2017) (series)
Before the Rain (1994)
The Border Post (2006)
Simeon Moni Damevski
Best movies:
Before the Rain (1994)
Secret Ingredient (2017)
Dieu existe, son nom est Petrunya (2019)
Violeta Sapkovska
Best movies:
Ljiljana Bogojevic
Yugoslavia
Best movies:
Will Not End Here (2008)
Mother of Asphalt (2010)
Metastases (2009)
Bajrush Mjaku
Best movies:
Mirush (2007)
Mirage (2004)
Dieu existe, son nom est Petrunya (2019)