The story focuses on two estranged half-sisters from Izola, who are forced by the circumstances to share a small apartment in Ljubljana.
“I have always been fascinated with people who, because of their feelings or beliefs, are ready to let go of everything and start a new life from scratch. Sometimes things don’t work out the way we had hoped or wanted”, says Kozole.
The screenplay was written by Damjan Kozole, Urša Menart and Ognjen Sviličić, and the DoP is Miladin Čolaković, Kozole's associate. The film, starring Urša Menart and Liza Marijina, also features Peter Musevski, Jurij Drevenšek and Macedonian actress/producer Labina Mitevska, among others.
The film was produced by Danijel Hočevar through Vertigo in coproduction with RTV Slovenia, Macedonian Sisters and Brother Mitevski and Serbian Film House Baš Čelik. The project was supported by the Slovenian Film Centre (with 20,000 EUR for development and 450,000 EUR for production), Film Center Serbia with 47,200 EUR, North Macedonian Film Agency with 97,560 EUR, Creative Europa MEDIA with 50,000 EUR, while Studio Viba Film provided additional technical support in the amount of 160,000 EUR. The film has also received the Eurimages coproduction development support in the amount of 20,000 EUR as well as the RE-ACT award of 10,000 EUR. "The total budget is estimated at 1.03 m EUR", producer Danijel Hočevar told FNE.
The 31-day shoot took place in Ljubljana and Izola from October to December 2018.
Half-Sister is scheduled for cinema release in January 2020, although the distributor is yet unknown.
The respected Slovenian filmmaker Damjan Kozole (1964) is co-founder of the production company Emotionfilm/Vertigo. His directing credits include, among others, the critically-acclaimed Spare Parts (2003, Emotion/Vertigo), Slovenian Girl (2009, Vertigo), which is the first Slovenian film bought by Netflix, and Nightlife (2016, Vertigo), which won best director at the 51st Karlovy Vary IFF.
Production Information:
Producer:
Vertigo (Slovenia)
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Coproducers:
RTV Slovenia (Slovenia)
Sisters and Brother Mitevski (North Macedonia)
Film House Baš Čelik (Serbia)
Credits:
Director: Damjan Kozole
Assistant director: Irena Gatej
Screenwriters: Damjan Kozole, Urša Menart, Ognjen Sviličić
DoP: Miladin Čolaković
Editors: Jurij Moškon, Atanas Gerogiev
Production designer: Neža Zinajić
Costume designer: Katja Hrobat
Makeup artist: Mojca Gorogranc Petrushevska
Sound designer: Julij Zornik
Cast: Urša Menart, Liza Marija Grašič, Peter Musevski, Jurij Drevenšek, Urška Hlebec, Damjana Černe, Anja Novak, Labina Mitevska
