Goran Stanković's Our Father wins big at the Herceg Novi Film Festival
- Black Trumpet, 17, 3 Weeks After, Hidden People and Honey Bunny have also emerged among the award winners at the Montenegrin gathering
On the evening of Friday 28 August, the 39th edition of the Herceg Novi Film Festival (recently re-branded as the Montenegro Film Festival) came to a close with its awards ceremony, which took place at the festival’s most charming venue – the summer stage at the Kanli Kula Ottoman fortress. The festival officially concluded with a screening of the lauded documentary To Hold a Mountain, directed by Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić, which was shown out of competition.
As for the awards, the biggest winner was Goran Stanković’s debut feature, Our Father. Stanković’s rendering of a true story from the recent past impressed multiple juries for various reasons, as it scooped the Grand Golden Mimosa, the Zoran Živković Plaque and the FEDEORA Award from the critics’ jury, all acknowledging it as the best film. On top of that, the movie’s lead actor, Vučić Perović, scooped the Golden Mimosa in his category, while Stanković also shared the Award for Best Director with 17’s Kosara Mitić.
The only other film to enjoy multiple recognitions at the festival was the domestic favourite Black Trumpet, which snagged the Živko Nikolić Award and the Special Mention of the FEDEORA jury. Miha Hočevar and the late Srđan Koljević, of Hidden People, and Vladimir Arsenijević, of 3 Weeks After, shared the Golden Mimosa for Best Script, while Snježana Sinovčić Šiškov was rewarded for her role in Igor Jelinović’s Honey Bunny.
Documentaries and student films were also rewarded in their respective competitions. The festival ran from 22-28 August at four venues in the Montenegrin coastal town.
Here is the full list of award winners:
Golden Mimosa Awards
Fiction Feature Competition
Grand Prix – Grand Golden Mimosa for Best Film
Our Father – Goran Stanković (Serbia/Italy/Croatia/Montenegro/North Macedonia/Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Zoran Živković Plaque for Best Film
Our Father – Goran Stanković
Golden Mimosa for Best Director (ex aequo)
Goran Stanković – Our Father
Kosara Mitić – 17 (North Macedonia/Serbia/Slovenia)
Golden Mimosa for Best Script (ex aequo)
Miha Hočevar, Srđan Koljević – Hidden People (Slovenia/Iceland/Serbia)
Vladimir Arsenijević – 3 Weeks After (Serbia/Bulgaria/Croatia/Italy/Luxembourg)
Golden Mimosa for Best Actress
Snježana Sinovčić Šiškov – Honey Bunny (Croatia/Serbia)
Golden Mimosa for Best Actor
Vučić Perović – Our Father
Documentary Competition
Golden Mimosa for Best Documentary
Memories of a Window – Mehraneh Salimian, Amin Pakparvar (Iran/USA/Germany – short film)
Special Mentions
Intersecting Memories – Shayma’ Awawdeh (France/Palestine – short film)
The Right to Forget – Liza Mazenauer (Switzerland – short film)
Student Film Competition
Golden Mimosa for Best Student Film
Tarik – Adem Tutić (Serbia – short film)
Special Mentions
Existence Is Coincidence – Veljko Petrović (Serbia – short film)
Everything I Have Ever Wanted to Hear – Ema Paš (Slovenia – short film)
Živko Nikolić Award for Exceptional Contribution to Cinematic Expression
Black Trumpet – Bojan Stijović (Montenegro)
Special Mentions
Mother – Teona Strugar Mitevska (Belgium/North Macedonia/Sweden/Denmark/Bosnia and Herzegovina/India)
Skateboarding Is Not for Girls – Dina Duma (North Macedonia/Belgium/Croatia/Slovenia)
Other awards
FEDEORA Award
Our Father – Goran Stanković
Special Mention
Black Trumpet – Bojan Stijović
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