The Croatian minority co-production film Stitches has already received awards and the audiences have accepted it nicely. The film is now going on an abundant festival path.
As director Miroslav Terzić said at the press conference, the film was inspired by a true story. “There are more than 500 cases of babies being kidnapped in Serbia, which I learned about 18 years ago. I read in the paper about the fate of mothers who believed their babies were alive even though they had been told they died suddenly at the maternity ward. That got me interested in the story, and I started collecting material, researching the archive, etc.”, said Terzić. That is how he met Drinka Radonjić, whose story is the basis of the film, with the story also being partly fictional.
They started gathering funds for the film in 2015, and in 2017 started filming. Terzić knew from the very start that the main character is going to be played by Snežana Bogdanović, who said that Drinka Radonjić was an inspiration to all of them. I play the role of Ana, a very emotional character; and I primarily thought of the story as a mother, not an actress”, Bogdanović said. She built the character from Drinka’s angle, not her own; and emphasised that her role is what it is thanks to this strong woman. She also said she had spent a lot of time with her and immersed herself in her world.
Pavle Čemerikić plays the role of her son, and says the work on the film was not easy for him, and that without Terzić and Snežana Bogdanović, as well as the rest of the crew, it would have been impossible.
Producer Uliks Fehmiu said it was exciting to be a part of this project and that financing the film was relatively easy and was done in a rather short time frame. The film is a co-production of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia. The film includes the role of Croatian actress Ksenija Marinković and the theme song by singer Gabi Novak. We went into the film with the utmost responsibility”, emphasised Fehmiu and added that they knew they had done a good job, but were still surprised by so many positive reactions.
The film has won the Europa Cinemas Label as the Best European Film in the Panorama Section at the Berlin International Film Festival, and after Pula, it will move to festivals in Motovun, Herceg Novi, Athens, and then Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands, France, and Canada. The film has already been sold in Brazil, Argentina, China, and Slovakia.
