Murina

Saturday, March 19 / 9:15pm / bytowne cinema

Sledgehammer / Murina

This program is presented by the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Canada.

Feature presentation \

tense \ family drama \ undersea

On an isolated island off the coast of Croatia, Julija spends as much time as she can underwater. Free diving to hunt eels (murina) with her father, they work as a team. Out of the water, her father keeps his family afraid of his movements, his words, his opinions. While her mother has been worn down into subservience to her abusive, controlling husband, Julija’s teenage rebellion cannot be tamed. A rich family friend comes to visit and Julija is expected to sit still and look pretty while her father impresses his friend and his colleagues, trying to sell a large area of his land. She sees Javier, her father’s friend, as a lifeline; much more kind, wise, and worldly than her father, she becomes desperate to find a way to leave with him, and her mother, if she’d come to her senses. A tense family drama, Murina keeps you on edge and eager to see how such a tenuous situation might turn out. Winning the Caméra d’Or (for best first feature) at Cannes, director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic’s debut is like the Adriatic Sea itself; a beautiful view with danger lurking beneath the surface.

- Tish Chambers

Short film \

This program is presented by the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Canada.