Berlin Film Festival 2019 - Panorama
Europa Cinema Label
Berlin Panorama Audience Award runner-up
Based on true events.
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Based on true events, STITCHES takes place in contemporary Belgrade, 18 years after a young seamstress was coldly informed of her newborn's sudden death. She still believes the infant was stolen from her. Dismissed by others as paranoid and with a mother’s determination she summons the strength for one last battle against the police, the hospital bureaucracy and even her own family to uncover the truth.
Cast Snezana Bogdanovic, Marko Bacovic, Jovana Stojiljkovic, Vesna
Trivalic, Dragana Varagic, Pavle Cemerikic
Crew Director Miroslav Terzić
Screenwriter Elma Tataragić
Producers Uliks Fehmiu, Milena Trobozić Garfield
Co-Producers Darko Vinkl, Alen Vitezić, Zdenka Gold, Amra Baksić
Camo, Adis Ðapo
Cinematographer Damjan Radovanović SAS
Editor Milena Z. Petrović
Make Up Artist Dusica Vuksanović
Composer Aleksandra Kovač
Production Designer Ana Buljan
Costume Designer Zora Mojsilović
Original Title Savovi
Language Serbian
Subtitles avail English, French, Spanish, Romanian
Genre Drama
Tags PANORAMA - PERFORMANCE - TRUE
EVENTS - EMOTIONAL
Length 97 mins
Format DCP | Colour | 1:2.39 I Cinemascope
- 5.1
Year 2019
Berlin Film Festival 2019 (Panorama Audience Award runner-up, Europa Cinema label Germany)/ FEST (Best Actress, Serbia)/ Festival del Cinema Europeo - Lecce (Italy - Best Screenplay)/ Las Palmas de Grand Canaria International Film Festival (Best Actress award, Audience award, Spain)/ Jeonju International Film Festival (World Cinemascape, South Korea)/ Festival International de La Rochelle (France)/ Melbourne International Film Festival (Australia)/ Film Festival Kitzbühel (Austria)/ Sakhalin International Film Festival (Russia)/ Timisoara Central European Film Festival (Romania)/ Athens International Film Festival (Greece)/ Five Lake Film Festival (Germany)/ Helsinki International Film Festival - Love & Anarchy (Finland)/ Vancouver International Film Festival (Contemporary World Cinema, Canada)/ Zurich Film Festival (International Competition, Switzerland)/ CINEAST (Competition, Luxembourg)/ Zinexit Human Rights Film Festival (Spain)/ Cambridge Film Festival (UK), ARTEKINO (Europe)/ CINEMED (Antigone d'or, France)/ Leiden International Film Festival (Panorama, Netherlands)/ Vancouver Serbian FilmFest (Canada)/ Eastern Neighbours Film Festival (Netherlands)/ Toronto Serbian Film Festival (Canada)/ Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (Panorama, Taiwan)/ Arras Film Festival (Visions de l'Est, France)/ Serbian Film Festival (Opening Film, Australia)/ Terre des Femmes (Germany)/ International Crime and Punishment Film Festival (Turkey)/ Seville European Film Festival (Selección EFA, Spain)/ Cinemamed (Competition, Belgium)/ Les Arcs Film Festival (Hauteur, France)
Coming soon
Director Miroslav Terzić was born in Belgrade in 1969. He graduated in International Law and attended post graduate studies at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at the University of Belgrade. His first feature film with the heart of Sarajevo for Best Actor Uliks Fehmiu as well as Best Debut Film at FilmFestival Cottbus. REDEMPTION STREET (2012) premiered at Sarajevo Film Festival and was awarded with the heart of Sarajevo for Best Actor Uliks Fehmiu as well as Best Debut Film at FilmFestival Cottbus.
Coming soon
"Featuring an expressive performance from the female lead and a moving screenplay, Miroslav Terzić’s film carefully unfolds a story of loss and hope." Berlinale
"Based on true events from Serbia’s recent history, Stitches is a riveting psychological portrait of a woman trying to heal a life that has been shredded by lies and corruption. Concerned more with the impact of this gaslighting on Ana’s wounded mind than on the investigative process, this sensitive, compelling film avoids melodrama as it sews together its mysterious and unsettling pieces." Melbourne International Film Festival
"A multi-layered and brilliantly performed psychological drama which combines the existential suspense of Cristian Mungiu films with the elements of a slow-burn thriller. The film touchingly deals with the huge wave of infant trafficking that plagued Serbia in the 90s." Athens International Film Festival
"Stitches, the second feature by Miroslav Terzić (Redemption Street), is probably the most accomplished narrative film to come out of Serbia since Srdan Golubović’s Circles (2013). Inspired by
true events, and written by Elma Tataragić, Stitches is a psychological drama de luxe, with a Polanski-like thriller undercurrent." Helsinki International Film Festival - Love & Anarchy
"Bogdanović, nominated as best actress by the European Academy for her first feature role (Kuduz) in 1989, emigrated to the US after protesting Serbian nationalism during the Yugoslav Wars, leaving her acting career behind. In her return to film, she gives nothing less than a major performance." Vancouver International Film Festival
"Carried by the outstanding leading actress Snežana Bogdanović, STITCHES tells, in elegant imagery, of a fate that is not an isolated case in Serbia. These illegal adoptions conducted in the 1990s have only now partially come to light. Director Miroslav Terzić has created an intense film about the power of obsession and the unwavering quest for truth." Zurich Film Festival
"A compelling take on oppression, motherhood, and a personal quest for truth and justice, the film offers a sophisticated and convincing character study with moments of high tension. Inspired by true events, Stitches combines elements of a thriller and a drama to tell the powerful story of a heroic woman who fights alone against a cruel and oppressive system." Cineast
"Director Miroslav Terzić has created an intense film about the power of obsession and the unwavering quest for truth." Leiden International Film Festival
"An emotional story of one of a hundred families who have suffered the same fate in Serbia, featuring Snezana Bogdanovic, one of the most prominent actresses from former Yugoslavia." Eastern Neighbours Film Festival
"Un saisissant drame intime mêlé de thriller qui s’inspire de faits véridiques." Arras Film Festival
"In Spain we know a lot about children stolen from maternity hospitals, something that was also common in Serbia at the time, theme in which this multi-award winning film focuses, specifically on a true story. Although Anne was told 18 years ago that her son was a stillborn, something inside her tells her that she has been deceived. Facing the wall of unanswered questions from her doctor and the hospital, she embarks on a silent and tenacious quest in a film that blends deep humanity with an elegant thriller-style portrayal." Seville Film Festival
“An elegant hybrid of true-story exposé and slow-moving arthouse thriller … Stitches takes a familiar idea – a lone crusader taking on a corrupt system in pursuit of the truth — but delivers an unusually thoughtful, psychologically compelling character study.” Variety
"Bogdanović’s is one of those performances - like Maria Onetto in Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman - where a female lead’s seemingly placid, opaque exterior conceals inextinguishable storms." Screen
"Miroslav Terzić's second feature is an accomplished psychological drama with strong thriller elements that should play equally well to regular audiences and discerning cinephiles" Cineuropa
NOVEMBER
Tuesday 5 at 6:30pm (Vancouver Serbian FilmFest)
Friday 8 at 5pm (Toronto Serbian Film Festival)
Saturday 9 at 9:15pm (Eastern Neighbours Film Fest)
Monday 11 at 7pm (Arras Film Festival)
Monday 11 at 7:45pm (Seville European Film Festival)
Monday 11 at 9:30pm (Taipei Golden Horse FF)
Wednesday 13 at 12pm (Seville European Film Festival)
Thursday 14 at 11:30am (Arras Film Festival)
Thursday 14 at 6:45pm (Serbian Film Fest - Australia)
Friday 15 at 8pm (Seville European Film Festival)
Sunday 17 at 4:30pm (Serbian Film Festival - Australia)
Monday 18 at 11:20am (Taipei Golden Horse FF)
Friday 22 at 8:30pm (Terre des Femmes - Germany)
Saturday 23 at 10:50am (Taipei Golden Horse FF)
Saturday 23 at 4:30pm (Serbian Film Fest - Australia)
Saturday 23 at 6pm (Terre des Femmes - Germany)
Tuesday 26 at 11am (Serbian Film Fest - Australia)
TBA (Int'l Crime & Punishment Film Festival)
DECEMBER
Sunday 1 at 3:30pm(Norrköping Film Festival)
Monday 2 at 7:30pm (Cinemamed)
Tuesday 3 at 9:30pm (Cinemamed)
TBA (Les Arcs Film Festival)