Croatian film “Murina” wins Best Film at Hamptons festival in America

Murina (Photo credit: Mario Topić)

Croatian film “Murina” by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović has won the Best Narrative Feature award at the Hamptons International Film Festival which ended recently in the United States. 

This is the film’s biggest achievement since winning the award for best debut feature at the Cannes Film Cannes. 

“The Hamptons gave us a very warm welcome and this is award is very important to me. I felt sincere support, the film was discussed in a very layered, yet intimate manner, and even though we were a long way from the Mediterranean, Murina was understood. I am honoured our film has received this recognition, which draws attention to Croatian cinema in general. Apart from Murina, the next project I am developing has also been awarded 80 thousand dollars of in-kind goods and service, which is the sort of support I only expected to get back home,” said director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović.   

A total of 61 films from 34 countries, 53 percent of which were directed by women directors, were screened at the 29th edition of the Hamptons IFF which was held last week. 

Murina is a psychological family drama set over the course of four days on one of the Croatian islands, largely inspired by the director’s multi-award-winning fiction short Into the Blue. The film was shot on the island of Hvar, the Kornati archipelago and the island of Koločep near Dubrovnik. 

The screenplay was co-written by Frank Graziano, the producers of the film are Danijel Pek (Antitalent) and Rodrigo Teixeira (RT Features), and the co-producers are Zdenka Gold (Spiritus movens), Jožko Rutar (SPOK Films) and Miha Černec (Staragara).

“After Toronto, where Murina made its North American debut, the award at the Hamptons is incredibly important for the film’s American distribution and will undoubtedly garner much attention in such a demanding market. The Hamptons IFF is an important festival in the United States and its selection and awards are usually an indicator in making early predictions about Oscar nominations, so it enjoys a lot of attention from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I would like to congratulate Antoneta and Murina’s entire team on yet another success,” said the film’s producer Danijel Pek (of Antitalent).

Kusijanović, who was born in Dubrovnik, completed her studies of production at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, and then in directing at Columbia University in the USA. Prior to Murina, she directed the short film Into the Blue, which won awards in Berlin and The Heart of Sarajevo and was nominated for a Student Oscar.

More information about the film is available on Murina’s official website