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BERLINALE 2019 EFM

Pyramide International's line-up includes a film in the running for the Golden Bear

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- The French sales company's line-up includes God Exists, Her Name is Petrunija by the Macedonian director Teona Strugar Mitevska, which is due to be screened in competition

Pyramide International's line-up includes a film in the running for the Golden Bear
God Exists, Her Name is Petrunija by Teona Strugar Mitevska

Four years after The Pearl Button [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, the French sales company Pyramide International (run by Eric Lagesse) will be showcasing a film in official competition at the Berlinale (69th edition from 7 to 17 February) with God Exists, Her Name is Petrunija, [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Labina Mitevska
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
film profile
]
the 5th feature by the Macedonian director Teona Strugar Mitevska, whose three previous films have all been presented in the Panorama section at the German event  (I Am from Titov Veles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
film profile
]
in 2007, The Woman Who Brushed Off Her Tears in 2012 and When the Day Had No Name [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
film profile
]
in 2017).

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Written by the director with Elma Tataragič, the 2019 Golden Bear candidate's screenplay is set in Stip, a small town in Macedonia. Every year in January, the parish priest throws a wooden cross into the river and hundreds of men dive in to catch it. Happiness and prosperity are guaranteed to those who succeed. But this time, Petrunya (Zorica Nusheva) decides to dive into the water on a whim and manages to grab the cross before anyone else. Her competitors are furious – how dare a woman take part in their ritual? All hell breaks loose, but Petrunya stands her ground. She won the cross fair and square and she will not give it up. Her competitors are furious that a woman dared to participate in the ritual. War is declared but Petrunija holds out: she won her cross, and she will not surrender it...

The film, which is due to be screened on Sunday, 10 February was produced by Labina Mitevska (who is also in the cast) for the Macedonian company Sisters and Brothers Mitevski and was co-produced by Belgium (Entre Chien et Loup), Slovenia (Vertigo), Croatia (Spiritus Movens Production) and France (Deuxième Ligne Films et EZ Films), with support from Eurimages.

Pyramide International will also be launching sales on two new titles currently in post-production at the European Film Market: Scents and Senses [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Grégory Magne
film profile
]
 by the French director Grégory Magne and the documentary The Cordillera of Dreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Patricio Guzmán, which was produced by the Parisian company Atacama Productions (with Chili and Switzerland) and is the third instalment in a trilogy consisting of Nostalgia for the Light (special event at Cannes in 2010) and The Pearl Button (Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at Berlin in 2015). Also in the line-up is Simple Passion [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danielle Arbid
film profile
]
 by Danielle Arbid (starring Laetitia Dosch – filming is imminent). 

Rounding off the market line-up is A Clever Crook [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Lucas Bernard (starring Swann Arlaud and Charles Berling), without forgetting, the super hush-hush title currently in post-production, Fire Will Come [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Óliver Laxe
film profile
]
by the French-Spanish director Oliver Laxe.

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(Translated from French)

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