Silent Sonata and 72 Days go for Oscars

by Vladan Petković

30/09/2011 - Slovenia has chosen Janez Burger’s Silent Sonata (pictured) as its Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award candidate, and Croatia has selected Danilo Šerbedžija’s 72 Days [trailer].

Silent Sonata is an allegory set after an unidentified war in an unidentified territory. The film has no dialogue and is visually impressive, with pitch-perfect technical credits. At the Festival of Slovenian Film last year it won eight awards, including best film and best director. Silent Sonata played at Rotterdam, Goteborg, Sofia and Dublin and is among 45 films the European Film Academy selected for the 2011 Awards. It stars Croatia’s Leon Lučev and was co-produced by Slovenia’s Staragara, Slovenian National Television, Ireland’s Fastnet Films, Finland’s Cineworks LTD and Sweden’s The Chimney Pot, with support from the Slovenian Film Fund, Irish Film Board, Finnish Film Foundation, Sweden’s Film i Väst, and Eurimages and MEDIA Programme.

Croatia's submission 72 Days is a rural comedy about a feuding family in a war-ravaged village in Lika in Croatia and stars the director's father Rade Šerbedžija, internationally best known for his roles in Hollywood films such as X-Men: First Class, Quarantine and Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. Šerbedžija won Best Actor for his role at the Pula Film Festival last year, and regional star Bogdan Diklić from Serbia won Best Supporting Actor. The film also won the audience award. It was produced by Interfilm, Lijeni Film and Croatian national broadcaster HRT.