Dita (Anamaria Marinca, from 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) never wanted to be a mother, but circumstances compel her to raise her girlfriend’s two daughters, tiny troublemaker Mia and rebellious teen Vanesa. A battle of wills ensues as the three continue to butt heads in the midst of an extended makeshift family — a recipe for chaos, laughter and heartache, all jumbled up together.
Hot from its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, this rambunctious Eastern European comic drama is the third feature in just two years from Macedonian-born, Australian-educated writer-director Goran Stolevski, a rising star on the international film scene. The vibe here is “verité”: real locations; handheld camera; improvised, overlapping dialogue; life in flux. As Stolevski explains: “The purpose was always for the viewer to experience the story as the characters experiencing it. For the viewer to viscerally feel the panic and intensity of their plight, to get a sense of what life is like in their skin and to ultimately take part in their emotional journey.”
A fizzy, huggable portrait of a self-made, roughly blended queer family.
Hollywood Reporter
Anamaria Marinca, Alina Serban, Samson Selim, Mia Mustafi, Vladimir Tintor
Macedonia/Poland/Croatia/
Serbia/Kosovo
2023
Panorama
In Macedonian, Romani, Albanian with English subtitles
Sexual Discrimination
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits
Screenwriter
Goran Stolevski
Cinematography
Naum Doksevski
Editor
Goran Stolevski
Production Design
Anna Rzezniczek
Original Music
Alen Sinkauz, Nenad Sinkauz
Director
Goran Stolevski
Goran was born and grew up in Macedonia before migrating to Australia in his teens. His debut feature, You Won’t Be Alone, premiered in official competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, while his second, Of an Age, opened the 2022 Melbourne International Film Festival before winning the $100,000 CinefestOz prize for Best Australian Film. Both films were distributed internationally by Focus Features and Universal. Before shifting to features, Goran had made twenty-five shorts, playing over 200 festivals worldwide, with Would You Look at Her winning the jury prize for Best International Short at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and being selected for the Criterion Channel. Goran completed a Bachelor in Creative Arts at the University of Melbourne and a Masters in Film and Television at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Filmography: You Won’t Be Alone (2022); Of an Age (2022)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
No Other Land
Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.
Misericordia
Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, this film goes from drama to comedy without putting a foot wrong. Sex and murder are the subjects, and writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) mines them for suspense and outrageous laughs.
There's Still Tomorrow
A critical and box office sensation in Italy, Paola Cortellesi's triumphant directorial debut is the tale of a Roman housewife in 1946, who stands up against the routine sexist abuse she suffers. Funny, heartbreaking and inspiring.
The Way, My Way
All manner of pilgrims flock to France and Spain to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago. One such is Bill, a stroppy sexagenarian Australian filmmaker who's determined to do the Camino with minimal prep, a dickey leg, and no firm idea why.
The Stand
This rousing doc explores a 1985 dispute over logging in the Haida Gwaii. Taking us from canny retrospective commentary to the thick of the action, director Chris Auchter employs animation and a wealth of archival footage to riveting effect.
Resident Orca
Captured in Puget Sound in 1970, killer whale Lolita spent the next half century in a cramped tank in Seaquarium, Miami. The film follows a coalition of Lummi elders, animal lovers and philanthropists on a rescue mission to return her to the ocean.