The Cinematheque

Vancouver Premiere

“Filmmaking of the highest order—intimate and gripping.”

Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

Winner of the Caméra d’Or at Cannes 2021, Croatian-born writer-director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s debut feature is one of the most riveting and lusciously realized coming-of-age films in recent memory. A war-of-wills drama set on (and in the waters encircling) a paradisal Croatian island, Murina follows fiery 17-year-old Julija (astonishing newcomer Gracija Filipović) in her efforts to wrestle control of her life away from her overbearing father Ante (Leon Lučev). Julija’s mother (Danica Čurčić), meanwhile, suffers a similarly stifled existence. When Ante’s former friend and employer (Māori actor Cliff Curtis) arrives on business, old wounds are reopened and nasty jealousies take hold—and Julija discovers, perhaps, a means of escape. Rapturously shot by French cinematographer Hélène Louvart, past collaborator of Agnès Varda, Claire Denis, and Alice Rohrwacher, this sun-soaked, rage-against-the-patriarch picture, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, signals Kusijanović as a distinctive new cinematic voice. In Croatian and Spanish with English subtitles.

“An exceptional debut … If Patricia Highsmith had ever written a coming-of-age story set on the rocky, clear-watered Croatian coastline, it might have looked a lot like Kusijanović’s bright, brooding debut … A dazzling sunshine noir.”

Jessica Kiang, Variety

“One of the great directorial debuts this year … A gripping coming-of-age tale stunningly lensed by Hélène Louvart with her expert eye for texture and sensuality.”

Jordan Raup, The Film Stage