Tijana Višnjić of Serbian Soul Food, the Serbian sales agent that acquired the film ahead of its world premiere in Karlovy Vary, told FNE that the film has already been invited to other festivals and sent to potential buyers.
As Far as I Can Walk / Strahinja Banović took no less then five awards at the 2021 KVIFF: the Crystal Globe Grand Prix, Best Actor (Ibrahim Koma) and a Special Mention for Best Cinematography (Jelena Stankovic), as well as the Ecumenical Jury Award and Europa Cinema Label Award.
“It’s been just overwhelming and surreal! It’s been a privilege to be able to see our film in a big cinema together with the audience in these pandemic times. Our film is a love story, so we were all eager to feel the audience's reactions, see whether the emotion from the screen will resonate with the audience. And the reactions were so very emotional. It was a very moving premiere”, Arsenijević told FNE.
As Far as I Can Walk is reimagining the medieval Serbian epic poem Banovich Strahinya with contemporary African migrants taking the place of Serbian national heroes. The story written by Arsenijević along with his frequent collaborator Bojan Vuletić and Nicolas Ducray follows Strahinya and his wife Ababuo, both 28, who left Ghana at the beginning of the migrant crisis and who, after managing to reach Germany, were deported back to Belgrade.
The main roles are played by Ibrahim Koma, Nancy Mensah-Offei, Maxim Khalil, Rami Farah and Nebojša Dugalić.
The film was produced by Serbia’s Art & Popcorn and coproduced by Lithuania's Artbox, France’s Surprise Alley, Luxembourg’s Les Films Fauves and Bulgaria’s Chouchkov Brothers.
It was supported by Film Center Serbia, the Lithuanian Film Centre, as well as by France’s CNC, Film Fund Luxembourg, the Bulgarian National Film Center, and Eurimages. MEDIA - Creative Europe also gave it a development grant.
The film was shot on location in Belgrade and the vicinity, and also in Lithuania for a day. The shooting wrapped on 14 December 2018. The reported budget is 1.2 m EUR.
Production Information:
Producer:
Art & Popcorn (Serbia)
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Coproducers:
Artbox (Lithuania)
Surprise Alley (France)
Les Films Fauves (Luxembourg)
Chouchkov Brothers (Bulgaria)
Credits:
Director: Stefan Arsenijević
Scriptwriters: Stefan Arsenijević, Bojan Vuletić, Nicolas Ducray
DoP: Jelena Stankovic
Cast: Ibrahim Koma, Nancy Mensah-Offei, Maxim Khalil, Rami Farah, Nebojša Dugalić
