The film follows Vladica, a professional karate fighter and a charming bon vivant, who once was a great talent, but hasn’t made it big due to his penchant for fun and nightlife. After his career implodes, he returns to his hometown and falls in love with Snežana, also getting attached to her son, Vukašin. Vladica wants to take care of them, but soon realises that karate is the only thing he knows. His search for a job that would enable him to look after them puts him in a series of comic situations.
The main characters are played by Petar Strugar, Hristina Popović, Nikola Kojo and Sergej Trifunović.
Shooting started in November 2015 and was divided into three stages, production resuming in April 2016 and then in July-August 2016. All 46 shooting days were spent on location in Serbia. The film was shot in cooperation with the Serbian Institute of Sport, the Karate Federation of Serbia, the Faculty of Sport and the Anti-doping Agency of Serbia. Marko Paljić, who worked with Bećković on his 2015 hit film Little Buddho / Mali Budo, produced through Serbia’s Gargantua Films in coproduction with Mali Budo and Cine Planet. Film Center Serbia and the Ministry of Youth and Sports supported the film.
The film was released in Serbia by Taramount on 3 October 2016. The Samurai in Autumn / Jesen Samuraja was released in Croatia by Blitz Film & Video on 24 November 2016. The film was also released in Macedonia on 10 November 2016, Austria on 25 November 2016 and in Switzerland on 18 December 2016. At the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, the producers signed a contract with France’s Wide Management for further international distribution, representation, commercial placement and festival strategy.
Danilo Bećković studied film directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade and world literature at the Faculty of Philology, also in Belgrade. His debut feature Little Buddho / Mali Budo is one of Serbia’s most commercial films of 2014. He also co-wrote several short films with Dimitrije Vojnov, the scriptwriter of The Samurai in Autumn / Jesen Samuraja, directed twenty-six episodes of the TV series Andrija i Anđelija and is currently co-directing the TV series Senke nad Balkanom produced by RTS.
Production Information:
Gargantua Films
www.gargantuafilms.com
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Cine Planet
www.cineplanet.tv
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Credits:
Director: Danilo Bećković
Scriptwriter: Dimitrije Vojnov
DOP: Bojana Andrić
Cast: Petar Strugar, Hristina Popović, Nikola Kojo, Sergej Trifunović, Andrija Milošević, Vesna Trivalić, Katarina Žutić, Miodrag Miki Krstović, Tihomir Stanić, Vlado Ivanovski, Miloš Samolov
