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    • New Talents Open Call
      Eastern Neighbours Film Festival (ENFF) began in The Netherlands in 2008 with the idea to offer Dutch and international audiences a unique glimpse into the cinema of their neighbors from Eastern and Southern Europe. This annual event presents the most recent, exciting, and thought‐provoking films, from countries with small, but often powerful film industries, that… Read more: New Talents Open Call
    • ENFF 2023 On Demand!
      Unable To attend the festival in person? No problem! From November 27th to December 3rd, we’re thrilled to bring you a curated selection of this year’s films available for online viewing! Catch our captivating Opening Film Ivan’s Land, or the touching Closing Film Seventh Heaven. Or explore a collection of shorts from the New Talents Competition! Follow along… Read more: ENFF 2023 On Demand!
    • What’s up in Slovak Cinema? A conversation with Monika Lostakova
      We talked with Monika Lošťáková about contemporary Slovak cinema.
    • ENFF and the Eastern European Film Festival Network!
      The Eastern European Film Festival Network brings together five film festivals dedicated to promoting and showcasing Eastern European cinema, alongside one partner organisation.
    • Masterclasses
      Through these masterclasses we approach two memory in film from different angles: memories from a personal or collective recollection through archive material.
    • Work in Progress
      In Work in Progress, emerging filmmakers and artists will present their works in development to the audience and engage in discussions with Dutch experts.
    • Festival Timetable Available!
    • Check out the catalogue for our 2023 edition!
    • Music at ENFF
      Every year, ENFF brings special musical guests who bring beauty to the program and further represent the rich cultures of their countries to a Dutch audience.
    • Film Marathon
      Join us for the Film Marathon, a new concept in which we merge two components, Short Films, Big Stories, and New Talents Competition into a whole-day screening of short films!

Croatian dystopian thriller The Dawn is the fourth movie on our autumn On Tour list. Director Dalibor Matanic is coming to De Balie on November 4 at 19:30 hours to present the second part of his trilogy ‘’against fascism’’, which began with the film The High Sun, winner of the jury prize in the Un Certain Regard competition at Cannes. After talking with the famous director, visitors can also enjoy a festival cocktail.

Perhaps best known to the international audience as the director of The Paper, the first TV series from south-eastern Europe bought for global Netflix distribution, Matanic is one of the most lucid filmmakers of current European cinema. His latest movie deals with both personal trauma and divided and unequal societies.

Set in the near future, through the story of a family faced with the disappearance of a child in the midst of the radicalization of society, The Dawn inevitably draws a comparison with current political events.

While Matija’s family is struggling with the unhealed trauma of their child’s disappearance, the locals are fleeing the increasing radicalism that divides their community into a chosen elite and those considered inferior. Against his wife’s wishes, Matija plans to sell their home and move the family to the city. Throughout his journey from losing faith to finding his true self, he realizes that the only tools against trauma and evil are uncompromising confrontation and personal struggle.

– The trilogy of the Sun speaks about three generations of my family: my grandmother in The High Sun, my father in The Dawn, and finally me in The Sunset. Part of my family (my father’s part) were servants of the Nazi regime in WWII. With this trilogy I want to clean any roots of evil, any intolerance and hatred incorporated through the years in my family – explained Matanic about personal motives to juxtaposing intimate family relationships with public political turmoil that results in a rising neo-Nazi movement.

TICKETS: https://debalie.nl/cinema/enff-x-de-balie-the-dawn/

ZORA

Croatia, Italy | 2020 | 126 min

PRODUCTION: Ankica Juric Tilic – Kinorama; Ascent Films

CAST: Kresimir Mikic, Tihana Lazovic, Maks Kleoncic, Lara Vladovic

SCREENPLAY: Dalibor Matanic

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Marco Brdar

EDITING: Tomislav Pavlic

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION)

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2020 – Grand Prize nominee | Sofia International Film Festival 2021 | Belgrade International Film Festival 2021 | Pula Film Festival 2021 | Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2021

DIRECTOR’S BIO

Dalibor Matanić is one of the most acclaimed contemporary Croatian screenwriters and film directors. Born in 1975 in Zagreb, he graduated in film and TV directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art. He is a member of the European Film Academy (EFA) and his films have won numerous awards at national and international film festivals, among which the Jury Prize at the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for The High Sun which has initiated a trilogy. The Dawn is its second part.

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