The story begins two days before a wedding, when the bride decides she wants out. The groom’s father pushes her to accept a deal: go through with the wedding and leave the next day. She accepts, but they forget to tell the groom, who thinks it’s a real marriage. When he learns the truth, he attempts to ruin the wedding with a suicidal move that ironically earns him the admiration of his bride. The director described the film as “a sad comedy” inspired by the absurdity of early Milos Foreman films, but with a rural Balkan aesthetic.

The film is produced by Montenegro’s Adriatic Western and Serbia’s SENSE Production. It has received development and production support from the Film Centre of Montenegro and development support from Creative Europe MEDIA. The estimated budget is 823,000 EUR, with 335,000 EUR in place. The producers are seeking additional coproducers from France, Germany, CEE territories and Scandinavia. Forever Hold Your Peace is a winner of XIII Krzysztof Kieslowski ScripTeast Award.

Forever Hold Your Peace is Marinovic’s second film. Stojanovic worked on his debut film The Black Pin, which was also produced by Adriatic Western.

Production is scheduled for the spring of 2021.

Production information:

Producer:
Adriatic Western (Montenegro)

Coproducer:
SENSE Production (Serbia)

Supported by Film Centre of Montenegro

Credits:
Director: Ivan Marinovic
Writer Ivan Marinovic
Producer: Marija Stojanovic