Jasna (Daria Lorenci) returns to her childhood home in order to care for her dying mother, Anka (Neva Rosic). Uprooted from her family life in Germany and thus unable to care for her own young children, she is called home to Croatia, where she finds herself enveloped in a very different and stifling environment. Stubborn, confrontational and perhaps even manipulative, Jasna’s mother does not make her daughter’s return easy. Jasna calls on family members, old friends and carers in an attempt to provide comfort in these final days. Instead, she realises that she must navigate a tangled web of grudges dating back to her own childhood, hoping to find some semblance of peace.

This is the plot of Jure Pavlović’s debut feature, the psychological drama Mater [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Jure Pavlović
scheda film], which is set to world-premiere at the 23^rd Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (15 November-1 December), in the First Feature Competition. Known for his acclaimed and EFA-awarded short film Picnic, the Croatian director, who also penned the script for Mater, returns to the area where he grew up and delivers a drama with strong autobiographical elements. Along with his heroine, he rediscovers some long-forgotten elements of both his and her youth.

Mater was produced by Bojan Kanjera and Jure Pavlović for Croatia’s Sekvenca, and by Biljana Tutorov (for Serbia’s Wake Up Films), along with Quentin Laurent (for France’s Les Films De L'œil Sauvage), Srđan Šarenac (for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Novi Film) and Croatian outfit Peglanje Snova. It secured support from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC), the CNC’s World Cinema Support, Film Center Serbia and the Film Fund Sarajevo. The world sales are handled by Canadian outfit Syndicado.

Check out our exclusive trailer below:

Check out our exclusive poster below: