16-08-2022

Juraj Lerotić’s Safe Place Wins Big in Locarno and Heads to Sarajevo

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    Safe Place by Juraj Lerotić Safe Place by Juraj Lerotić credit: Pipser

    SARAJEVO: Juraj Lerotić’s debut feature Safe Place / Sigurno mjesto will have its regional premiere in the main competition of the Sarajevo Film Festival on 18 August 2022. The film won three prizes at the Locarno Film Festival: a Leopard for best emerging director and best actor (Goran Marković), as well as the Swatch First Feature Award.

    "We were finishing the film a few weeks ago, so what happened came quickly and very intensely. The warmth and understanding of the film by the festival audience, festival selectors and jury, the interest in the film and the emotions they poured out to us after the premiere in Locarno impressed me deeply. Then the joy and support of colleagues after the awards ceremony. And three Leopards from two different juries, three awards at a festival that is considered the central place of auteur film”, producer Miljenka Čogelja from Pipser told FNE.

    Safe Place deals with a suicide attempt that creates a rift in the everyday life of a family. The source of the story is autobiographical, and it is addressed and highlighted by the fact that the writer/director plays himself.

    The film is produced by Croatia’s Pipser and coproduced by Croatia’s Zelena zraka in collaboration with Slovenia’s December.

    The budget is 526,000 EUR, including 470,000 EUR from the Croatian Audiovisual Center, 20,000 EUR from the Eurimages development award, and 10,000 EUR from the Slovenian cash rebate. The Croatian Radiotelevision bought the film in the pre-sales for 26,000 EUR.

    While in the development stage, the project was presented at the CineLink Co-production Market of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

    No sales agent is attached to the project yet.

    Production Information:

    Producer:
    Pipser (Croatia)
    Miljenka Čogelja: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

    Coproducer:
    Zelena zraka (Croatia)

    Credits:
    Director: Juraj Lerotić
    Scriptwriter: Juraj Lerotić
    DOP: Marko Brdar
    Editor: Marko Ferković
    Cast: Snježana Sinovčić Šiškov, Goran Marković, Juraj Lerotić