Karlovy Vary, 5 July – Director Ivona Juka’s feature debut You Carry Me had its international premiere at the packed city theatre. The film screened in the East of the West competition, of the 50th edition of the prestigious Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and the emotional audience applauded it.
Ahead of the premiere, the numerous audience was greeted by the film cast and crew: director Ivona Juka, producer Anita Juka, and actors Lana Barić, Vojislav Brajović and Damir Markovina. Everyone present, next to the East of the West programmer Lenka Tyrpakova, was greeted by the director, who expressed her pleasure for being part of the festival's anniversary edition. The winner will be made known at the end of KVIFF, which closes on 11 July.
The film You Carry Me is a family tale about three protagonists fighting for acceptance, redemption and second chances. Dora is a neglected little girl fantasising of becoming a football manager. Her father suddenly comes back to her life and they establish a close connection. Ives, a soap opera director, takes care of her father who has Alzheimer’s. Losing her father, she starts to lose solid ground. Nataša, a successful soap opera producer, is expecting a child. When her problems are topped up by even more severe ones, she wishes to confront her father whom she broke up all connections with.
The film was directed and written by Ivona Juka. Anita Juka is the film’s producer. The film stars Lana Barić, Nataša Janjić, Nataša Dorčić, Helena Beljan, Vojislav Brajović, Sebastian Cavazza, Vedran Mlikota and many others. The cinematographer was Mario Oljača, editor Vladimir Gojun, music composer Teho Teardo, set designer Ivan Ivan, and costume designer Ivana Zozoli Vargović. The film was produced by 4Film, in co-production with the Slovenian Vertigo/Emotionfilm, Montenegrin Galileo Production and Serbian Sloan Film Production, with the support of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Slovenian Film centre, Eurimages, FS Viba Film, Republic of Serbia Ministry of Culture, Croatian Radiotelevision, City of Zagreb Tourist Board and City of Split.