Klemen is a 15-year-old boy living with his older brother Peter and single mother in a small town deep in the countryside. His familiar daily life, which Klemen loves to spend with his beloved brother at a tennis court or by the nearby river, is shaken up by Peter’s sudden passionate romance with a pretty girl named Sonja. This leaves Klemen overwhelmed by a rush of conflicting emotions.
"I wanted to show the difficult years of adolescence through the eyes of a 15-year-old, that time full of senseless outbursts, clumsy confusion, unflinching arrogance, but above all the fear of losing the person that means the most to you at that moment," says director Martin Turk.
Newcomer Matija Valant won the role of Klemen over 200 other young actors. Peter is played by Tine Ugrin, who appeared in Nika (Nora Production Group, 2016) directed by Slobodan Maksimović, and the role of Sonja went to Klara Kuk, an acting student at AGRFT.
Don't Forget To Breathe was produced by Ida Weiss through Slovenian Bela Film in coproduction with Marta Zaccaron through Quasar (Italy), Darija Kulenović Gudan and Marina Andree Škop through Studio Dim (Croatia), RTV Slovenija and RAI Cinema (Italy). The film was supported by the Slovenian Film Center with 455,000 EUR, FVG Fondo Audiovisivo with 86,400 EUR, Croatian Audiovisual Center with 54.000 EUR and in-kind technical facilities of film studio Viba film in the amount of 165,000 EUR. Significant financial support came during development from the Creative Europe - Media Programme (MEDIA) and the RE-ACT development scheme, as well as from the Italian-based world sales agent Intramovies.
"The total budget is 1,157,000 EUR. Bela Film contributed 58% of the budget, RTV Slovenija 12%, Quasar and Rai Cinema 20% together, and Studio Dim 10%," producer Ida Weiss told FNE.
The seven-week shoot took place in Slovenia and Croatia from June to August 2018.
The domestic cinema release, scheduled for the end of February 2020, was interrupted due to COVID.
Production Information:
Producers:
Bela Film (Slovenia)
Coproduceers:
Quasar Multimedia (Italy)
Studio Dim (Croatia)
RTV Slovenija (Slovenia)
RAI Cinema (Italy)
Credits:
Director: Martin Turk
Screenwriters: Martin Turk, Gorazd Trušnovec
DoP: Radislav Jovanov - Gonzo
Editor: Beppe Leonetti
Production Designer: Marco Juratovec
Costume Designer: Emil Cerar
Make-Up Artist: Mojca Gorogranc Petrushevska
Composer: Teho Teardo
Sound Designer: Riccardo Spagnol
Cast: Matija Valant, Tine Ugrin, Iva Krajnc Bagola, Klara Kuk, Ronja Matijevec Jerman, Nikola Đuričko, Jakob Cilenšek, Miha Rodman
