ENFF On Tour: The Dawn, a Croatian Dystopian Thriller Comes to Amsterdam
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.