Ivona Juka

Director

Ivona Juka is the author of award-winning short films "Garbage" and "Editing", which were selected in the Official competition of numerous A festivals in the USA. As a student, she was selected by the European Film Academy as one of five European students to make a short film for the awards ceremony in Berlin and presented at the EFA conference «Cinema of Tomorrow» in Warsaw as one of the most prosperous young directors in Europe. Her feature documentary film "Facing the Day", about prisoners in the most strict prison, Lepoglava, has garnered international acclaim. It won the Grand Prix – Best Film of the Festival at the goEast Film Festival, Wiesbaden, Germany, and it was the first documentary film that won Heart of Sarajevo at the Sarajevo Film Festival. "Facing the Day" was in the official competition of numerous international film festivals, including the Montreal World Festival, the Sao Paolo International Film Festival, the International Sofia Film Festival, the Calcutta International Film Festival, and many more. "Facing the Day", success extended beyond the festival circuit with a successful theatrical distribution. Ivona Juka's feature fiction film "You Carry Me" had its international premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival; it has been invited to more than 20 film festivals worldwide and won 17 international awards. The film was nominated by the European Film Academy for Best European Film and at the 88th Academy Awards® for Best Foreign Language Film. "You Carry Me" was praised by Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, which led Netflix to notice the remarkable "You Carry Me" and buy worldwide rights. Her recent feature fiction film „Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day“ is a candidate for the Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards® and for the prestigious GOYA Award, by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain.