Karlovy Vary 2024: Celebration (by Bruno Anković) | Review
An impressive impressionist debut feature from Bruno Anković saw its premiere at the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival before coming home to Pula Film Festival, in Croatia.
Competing in the Crystal Globe Competition in Karlovy Vary, Celebration (Proslava, 2024) is a masterful interpretation of a celebrated novel by Damir Karakaš that observes the lives of villagers in the mountainous areas of Lika before, during and after the Second World War. This is a contested moment of Croatian history as in the years prior and after the creation of the so-called ‘Independent’ State of Croatia the country was part of different Yugoslavian incarnations. But the often idealised independence between 1941 and 1945 was under the Nazi regime, a fact that some would rather sweep under the carpet while others celebrate as part of a nationalist past.
Both the original text and Bruno Anković’s creation are intelligent enough not to pontificate about the good or bad guys. Which is not the same as not taking sides. Celebration makes an exceptional impact on the viewer through the intimate memories of the protagonist Mijo (Bernard Tomić). We are introduced to him in the autumn of 1945 and it is at first unclear why he is hiding in the forest. He observes his house from afar as soldiers routinely search the haystacks and barns for runaways with dogs and bayonets. He gets to see his loving wife Drenka only when she manages to sneak off into the woods to bring him some food and much needed human interaction. She naively wants him to surrender in the hope of having a normal life with him in the future.
But Mijo is unconvinced. Instead, he tries to wait out the radical punishments of the now ruling partisans in the forest that formed his life. His memories go back to the other three years that make up the film – the summer of 1933, the winter of 1926 and the spring of 1941. These are moments that scarred and elevated his soul. Although we are shown moments of extreme poverty and life ending hunger, they don’t play out as cheap melodrama. There is delicate intimacy between characters as when siblings try to trick one another to take their eyes off their food so the other can have more for themselves or in moments of rest from field work that show how love forms between Mijo and Drenka.
Anković shows confidence and conviction in how he films Celebration. He isn’t afraid of slow and peaceful images that allow the story to breathe and the viewers to put the pieces together on their own. He easily avoids politics because he focuses on the individual. None of the characters are brutal even though life has unfairly hardened them. His shots are infused with the unspoken and he relies on the actors and the scenery to reveal the unsaid. It makes a loud statement nevertheless.The end result is a lyrical achievement much lacking in Croatian filmography. An unpretentious and uninhibited work of art that can stand shoulder to shoulder with contemporary European works. Interestingly enough, in the time of writing Celebration is the lowest ranked according to audience vote at the 71st Pula Film Festival. Whether this is indeed due to artistic merit or political undercurrent, time will tell.
We were delighted to be covering the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on the ground. Explore our coverage here.
