14/11/2022 - Teona Strugar Mitevska’s project wins the main Development Grant at the Arras Film Festival, while Y by Alexandru Baciu and Maria Popistasu also triumphs

Surrounded by the jury, producer Labina Mitevska with the main Arras Days prize for the project Mother by her sister Teona Strugar Mitevska

At the close of an intense day of pitching, the jury (Nerina Kocjancic, Paolo Bertolin and Dominique Welinski) of the 11th edition of Arras Days, a Development Grant awarded within the 23rd Arras Film Festival, singled out two projects.

The main grant (7,500 euros, courtesy of the Arras Film Festival) went to Mother, which will be the 6th feature film by Macedonian director Teona Strugar Mitevska (selected four times for the Berlinale – three times within the Panorama line-up, and in competition in 2019 with God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Labina Mitevska
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
film profile] – and recently for Venice’s Orizzonti section via The Happiest Man in the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
film profile]). The jury described the movie as: "a powerful re-imagining of a complex female character at a crucial turning point in her life, torn between the challenge of her mission and profound ethical dilemmas."

The story in Mother revolves around three characters: a mother superior, a nun and a priest living in a convent in Kolkata. As the Bengali famine rages outside the convent walls, these three individuals are forced to contend with fundamental questions relating to existence, purpose and life. Mother is ambitious and gives herself over entirely to her life’s calling: to serve the church. Her dream is to create her own order which would serve the poorest of the poor. Agnieszka, the nun who is her designated successor, is in deep trouble, secretly pregnant with a love child, which is an unacceptable situation. Father Frederick, Mother’s confessor, is a man in love. After years of waiting, Mother receives a letter from the Vatican giving her permission to start her own religious order. This is where her dilemma arises and her doubts overwhelm her… Production is steered by Sisters and Brother Mitevski.

The second development grant (5,000 euros put forward by the Town of Arras) was scooped by Y, the first feature film project directed by Romanian screenwriter Alexandru Baciu (notably Radu Muntean’s usual writing partner) and his actress wife Maria Popistasu. The jury described the film as: "a surprising investigation into the murky past of a family and a country which stirs up thought on individual responsibility and collective hypocrisy."

The story in Y homes in on Olga, her father and her two sisters who lead a carefree life thanks to the fortune of their grandmother, a former lawyer. The sudden death of the latter upsets the family balance. The most affected member is Olga, who bears the burden of a deathbed confession made by her grandmother: the international adoption files she handled after the Romanian Revolution are riddled with mistakes and not much is known about the fate of some of the children. In order to uncover evidence which might clear Ileana’s name and her own inner conscience, Olga is forced to dig up the past and, subsequently, make peace with it… This project is steered by Tangaj Production.

(Translated from French)