The 55th International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary has just wrapped up and we are pleased and proud to announce that the film As Far As I Can Walk/Strahinja Banović has won three awards within the main competition program, including the most important one – the Crystal Globe Grand Prix for the best film.
The film’s star, Ibrahim Koma, was named the best actor of the festival, and the film’s director of photography, Jelena Stanković, received a special award from the jury. Before this, the film won two other awards in Karlovy Vary earlier in the day: the Ecumenical Jury Award and the Jury Award of the Europa Cinemas Label. With a total of five medals won, including the main one, As Far As I Can Walk/Strahinja Banović is the most successful film of the 55th International Festival in Karlovy Vary.
Arsenijević’s film competed in the main program of the Festival together with 12 other films from all over the world. “As Far As I Can Walk/Strahinja Banović is a modern adaptation of the famous folk epic song placed in the contemporary context of the refugee crisis. The main character is a young migrant from Africa who, wanting to fit in better with the new environment, takes the Serbian name Strahinja. Strahinja and his wife Ababuo live in a refugee camp in Krnjača, until a new wave of refugees from Syria, including the charismatic Ali, brings unrest into their lives…
The film is directed by Stefan Arsenijević, who worked on the script with Bojan Vuletić and Nikola Dukraj. In addition to the award-winning director of photography Jelena Stanković, the film was edited by Vanja Kovačević, the set designer is Zorana Petrov, composer Martinas Bialobžeskis, costume designer Karin Rando de Felis. Serbian actors Nebojša Dugalić and Jelena Mihajlović play small roles in the film.
As Far As I Can Walk/Strahinja Banović was co-produced by Serbia, France, Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Lithuania. The Serbian producer is Miroslav Mogorović for Art & Popcorn, in cooperation with Cinnamon Film. The film was supported by Film Center Serbia, Eurimages, the Luxembourg Film Fund, the French National Film Center, the Bulgarian National Film Center, the Lithuanian Film Center and Creative Europe – Media.
The closing ceremony and award ceremony in Karlovy Vary were attended by Johnny Depp, Ethan Hawke (who presented Arsenijević with the prestigious Crystal Globe), Jan Svjerak, as well as other famous guests from.
Congratulations to Arsenijević and the film crew on this phenomenal success!