Coming from a rural working class family, Julija feels trapped, and is desperately looking for an escape - not just from her father, but from the dead-end town. It’s a stark contrast to the harsh, hot prison that is her home in an island village in Croatia, where her father regularly literally keeps her under lock and key. By introducing us to this foreign underwater world from the start, Kusijanovic establishes the film as one that is also working on a metaphorical level, even as it has some social realist approaches and preoccupations.Īs Kusijanovic puts it, Julija is a “person of the sea,” never happier than when she’s diving in the vast, cool blue water. It’s a bold sequence that takes its time, letting us revel in the rhythms of the sea before we even see any humans. The film opens underwater, where seventeen-year-old Julija (the very talented newcomer Gracija Filipovic), and her abusive father, Ante (Leon Lucev), are hunting eels. Kim Masters discusses with guest-host Lucas Shaw from Bloomberg.Get the free chapter! At Seventh Row, we pride ourselves on seeking out the best hidden gems that nobody’s talking about to ensure that our readers never miss a great film again.Ĭlick here to sign up for regular streaming recommendations of the best under-the-radar films.Īntoneta Alamat Kusijanovic’s debut film, Murina, is a gorgeous, thoughtful exploration of teenage girlhood, abuse, and finding your own way out of oppression. Plus, former Disney executive John Lasseter returns. Now, Kusijanovic discusses her love for theater and the path that took her to co-writing and directing the coming-of-age drama “Murina.”īut first, movie theaters will start to feel the summer cool-off, with moviegoers banking on streaming services’ shows, including the first $1-billion series.
“Everybody already knew me, how I am in business, so I was already familiar to all of these people that were involved in the project,” she says.
Kusijanovic had worked at different film companies and affirms those connections helped her finance the 2017 short film “Into the Blue.” The path to fund “Murina,'' she says, seemed easier, as she presented RT Features with only a letter of intent. When something happens “out of the blue and overnight, it's actually ten years of work behind it,” she explains.
Though it may seem like a story of instant success, the Croatian director says she spent years educating and establishing herself. Filmmaker Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic’s debut feature “Murina” won best first film at Cannes last year.
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