EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based Totem Films has taken on international sales for North Macedonian director and screenwriter Kosara Mitic’s 17, which world premieres next month in the Berlinale’s Perspectives section.
The film stars Eva Kostić as 17-year-old Sara who hides a secret on a school trip. When the trip spirals out of control and Sara witnesses a classmate’s sexual assault, she and the girl seal a bond that will last forever.
Mitic’s debut feature film, 17 was developed at Midpoint Feature Launch and received an award last summer at the CineLink Work in Progress at Sarajevo Film Festival. She is also an alumna of Berlinale Talents.
Mitic said: “The film exposes a rotten society that is only seemingly harmonious. Using fierce realism, the film asks questions that are usually kept behind closed doors. At 17, trauma is never an exception. It is carried quietly, gnawing at bones and minds, until silence itself becomes a weapon, leaving wounds that refuse to heal.”
17 is produced by Tomi Salkovski of North Macedonia’s Black Cat production, Vlado Bulajić and Lija Pogačnik of Slovenia’s December, and Miroslav Mogorović of Serbia’s Art and Popcorn.
Totem CEO Bérénice Vincent said: “The film sparked a passionate discussion among our feminist team. With infinite empathy for her protagonist, Kosara plunges us into the brutality of being 17.”
Totem is heading to Berlin with Anna Roller’s Allegro Pastell and Mahnaz Mohammadi’s Roya, which are both set to premiere in the Panorama section. It will also accompany Anna Roller’s in-development third feature Manatee, which will participate in the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
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