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Short Film Profile

Amor Fati

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Synopsis

Nenad, a shy young guy of Montenegrin origin, living in Germany is getting married to Sanja, Branko's daughter. Branko is a loud and proud man of traditional Balkan backgrounds. After the wedding he insists on driving the young couple home and eventually causes a car accident, in which his daughter Sanja, Nenad's bride is killed.

With Sanja's sudden death, Nenad finds himself confronted with a side of the Balkans he can't identify himself with. Branko claims destiny to be the cause of his daughter's death. At the funeral in the Montenegrin mountains Nenad is faced with the whole family accusing fate rather than Branko. To Nenad's eyes the funeral ceremony appears to be an unbearable theatrical farce. The loud shouts of grief, the monotone songs of sorrow; but above all the guilty one himself giving this boastingly grieving performance of wanting to jump into his daughter's grave out of sorrow and despair for his lost and only one. In Nenad's understanding of sorrow, guilt and responsibility this behavior is not tolerable. In a sudden reaction of anger he challenges Branko to go on and jump then! With this he interrupts the ceremony for a split second, but Branko truly jumps.

On their way back to Germany there is nothing but cold silence between them. Claiming to be taking the short cut Branko navigates the two with their little car onto snowier and snowier serpentine roads, until eventually the path becomes impassable. The car starts skidding, dangerously getting closer and closer to the edge of the narow street in the Montenegrin mountains. They have to repeatedly push the car back onto the safe middle of the road. Branko finally gets himself into an inescapable situation and Nenad suddenly seems to have Branko's life on the palm of his hand. He challenges destiny to force him a confession of his guilt.

Filmmaker Notes

Director's note: Amor Fati is a parable about a culture-clash, about the harsh contrast between "the Balkans"' way of surrendering to fate and living in the moment and the western sense of personal responsibility and its tendency to asign guilt. A conflict I grew up with and couldn't come up with easy solutions for. However telling a story about it seemed to be a step into the right direction.

Amor Fati was finaced by the 2005 Promotional Prize for Joint Film Productions by young German and Eastern / South Eastern European filmmakers, sponsored by Robert Bosch Stiftung Germany.

Awards

Audience Award - National

18^th Filmfest Dresden: International Festival for Animation and Short Films, 2006

NOMINATION
Short and Animation Films - up to 25 min

First Steps Awards, 2006

Previous Screenings

2005

13^th Camerimage: International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography

26 Nov – 4 Dec | Lódz, Poland

2006

6^th Festival des mittel- und osteuropäischen Films

goEast Festival of Central and Eastern European Film

5 Apr – 11 Apr | Wiesbaden, Germany

18^th Filmfest Dresden: Internationales Kurzfilmfestival

Filmfest Dresden: International Festival for Animation and Short Films

18 Apr – 23 Apr | Dresden, Germany

29^th Grenzland Filmtage

Borderland Cinematic Festival

19 Apr – 23 Apr | Selb, Germany

35^th Internationales Studentfilmfestival sehsüchte

International Student Film Festival sehsüchte

25 Apr – 30 Apr | Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany

16^th Cologne Conference - Fernseh & Film Festival

Cologne Conference - TV & Film Festival

18 May – 24 May | Cologne, Germany

11^th International Student Film Festival Tel Aviv

3 Jun – 10 Jun | Tel Aviv, Israel

14^th Arcipelago Festival Internazionale di Cortometraggi e Nuove Immagini

Arcipelago International Festival of Short Films and New Images

16 Jun – 22 Jun | Rome, Italy

21^st Festival Internacional de Cine Cinema Jove

Cinema Jove International Film Festival

17 Jun – 24 Jun | Valencia, Spain

59^th Festival Internazionale del Film Locarno

Locarno International Film Festival

2 Aug – 12 Aug | Locarno, Switzerland

First Steps Awards

22 Aug | Berlin, Germany

13^th Internationales Filmfest Oldenburg

Oldenburg International Film Festival

6 Sep – 10 Sep | Oldenburg, Germany

1^st Vilnius Film Shorts: International Young Filmmakers Short Film Festival

14 Sep – 17 Sep | Vilnius, Lithuania

11^th Bar International TV Festival

16 Oct – 19 Oct | Bar, Montenegro

8^th Medunarodni Festival Studentskog Filma

International Festival of Student Film Belgrade

20 Oct – 23 Oct | Belgrade, Serbia

28^th Festival International Cinema Méditerannéen Montpellier

Cinemed: Montpellier International Mediterranean Film Festival

27 Oct – 5 Nov | Montpellier, France

12^th Cinema Tout Ecran

30 Oct – 5 Nov | Switzerland

32^nd Filmets: Festival Internacional de Filmets de Badalona

Filmets: Badalona International Short Film Festival

17 Nov – 25 Nov | Badalona, Spain

19^th Exground Filmfest

17 Nov – 26 Nov | Wiesbaden, Germany

26^th Internationales Festival der Film Hochschulen München

Munich International Festival of Film Schools

19 Nov – 26 Nov | Munich, Germany

4^th Tirana International Film Festival

4 Dec – 10 Dec | Tirana, Albania

11^th International Film Festival of Kerala

8 Dec – 15 Dec | Kerala, India

2007

16^th Flickerfest

5 Jan – 14 Jan | Sydney, Australia

17^th Bamberger Kurzfilmtage

Bamberg Short Film Festival

10 Jan – 14 Jan | Bamberg, Germany

6^th Emirates Film Competition

7 Mar – 13 Mar | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

12^th Filmfestival Türkei/Deutschland

8 Mar – 18 Mar | Nürnberg, Germany

8^th Landshuter Kurzfilmfestival

Landshut Short Film Festival

22 Mar – 25 Mar | Landshut, Germany

15^th Larissa Mediterranean Festival of New Filmmakers

26 Mar – 1 Apr | Larissa, Greece

7^th Festival des mittel- und osteuropäischen Films

goEast Festival of Central and Eastern European Film

28 Mar – 3 Apr | Wiesbaden, Germany

19^th Filmfest Dresden: Internationales Kurzfilmfestival

Filmfest Dresden: International Festival for Animation and Short Films

17 Apr – 22 Apr | Dresden, Germany

6^th Tekfestival

4 May – 9 May | Rome, Italy

3^rd AsterFest: International Film Festival

31 May – 4 Jun | Strumica, Macedonia

8^th Europäische Kurzfilmbiennale Ludwigsburg

Ludwigsburg European Short Film Biennale

5 Jul – 9 Jul | Ludwigsburg, Germany

Seoul International Family Film Festival

18 Oct – 23 Oct | Seoul, South Korea

2008

10^th Napoli Film Festival

9 Jun – 16 Jun | Naples, Italy

Filmmakers

Director

Producer

Screenwriters

Cinematographer

Editor

Production Designer

Costume Designers

Sound Designer

Cast

Actors

Pedja Bjelac

Branko Tomovic

Sandra Kouba

Companies

Production

Amor Fati Filmproduktion

IFS: Internationale Filmschule Köln

FH Dortmund, University of Applied Sciences

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Production Countries

Germany

Serbia

Completion Date

October 2005

Running Time

15 min 50 s

Dialogue Languages

German

Serbian

Subtitle Languages

German

English

Picture

Color

Aspect Ratio

1.85:1

Production Formats

35 mm

Updated: 26 Dec 2008

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Information on this profile is provided by the film owner and/or compiled from available sources.