GOD EXISTS, HER NAME IS PETRUNYA
O.V in Macedonian subtitled in English and Spanish
January, day of the Epiphany. In an Balkan town an orthodox priest throws a cross into the river: the man who’s able to find it will be lucky all year long. But there is no such man this year, the lucky one is a woman named Petrunya, a 32 year-old, who has a higher education, is unemployed and lives with her parents. Scandal, sacrilege and outrageous provocation. What would Petrunya do against in such a testosterone driven world? A film based on real events that received the Guild and Ecumenical Jury awards at the Berlinale.
Direction: Teona Strugar Mitevska
Script: Elma Tataragic, Teona Strugar Mitevska
Cinematography: Virginie Saint Martin
Editing: Marie-Hélène Dozo
Music: Olivier Samouillan
Sound: Ingrid Simon, Thomas Gauder, Hrvoje Petek
Cast: Zorica Nusheva , Labina Mitevska , Simeon Moni Damevski , Suad Begovski , Violeta Shapkovska , Stefan Vujisic
Production: Labina Mitevska
Production Company: Sisters and Brother Mitevski
TEONA STRUGAR MITEVSKA
Macedonia, 1974. She started as a child actor, trained as a painter and a graphic designer and later studied at MFA program in film at the Tisch School of Arts, New York University. She made her debut as short film director in 2001 with Veta (Special Jury Prize, Berlinale 2002). Her film How I Killed a Saint was in the Tiger Awards Competition in 2004 in Rotterdam. Her next feature film, I Am From Titov Veles, received the Special Jury Prize at Sarajevo in 2007 and was in Toronto, Berlin (Panorama) and Cannes (ACID). Her feature film The Woman Who Brushed Off Her Tears premiered at 2012 in Berlin and in 2013 she directed and edited the film Teresa and I. Her feature film When The Day Had No Name premiered in the Panorama Special in Berlin in 2017, while her latest feature film God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya, won the Guild Film and the Ecumenical Jury Prizes in that festival. Her production company Sisters and Brother Mitevski has co-produced several feature films, among them The Wild Pear Tree by Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Sierranevada by Christi Puiu.