CZECH REPUBLIC: Film "The Priest's Children" by Croatian director Vinko Bresan competes at Karlovy Vary film festival

Record ID: 174029

  • Title: CZECH REPUBLIC: Film "The Priest's Children" by Croatian director Vinko Bresan competes at Karlovy Vary film festival
  • Date: 4th July 2013
  • Summary: KARLOVY VARY, CZECH REPUBLIC (JULY 3, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS MARIJA SKARICIC SAYING: "It was as different as any other film. For me every time it's different. I mean it depends on the director, on the script, on everything. So I had no push or urge to be comical and my character is not, so I was just playing it very seriously and that was the major suggestion from my director, so it was a serious work."
  • Embargoed: 19th July 2013 13:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVA5PM24GFDWRE7JZ2I055645Q1X
  • Story Text: The latest film by Croatian director Vinko Bresan - "The Priest's Children" (Svecenikova Djeca) competes at the 48th International Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
    The film tells a story of a young Catholic priest Fabian who is assigned to take over from his popular predecessor in a picturesque Dalmatian village. Once he arrives there he discovers that, while there are plenty of funerals, hardly any children are being born. A confession from a local parishioner reveals the cause, and Fabian decides to try and improve the birthrate using somewhat unusual methods.
    "Screenwriter and I - we made a script for I don't know - plus-minus 4 and half month. There is lot of characters in the film, of course, but all the characters are characters I know. There are people from my home town, there are characters I know very very well. I enjoy to put them on the screen and make some combination with all of that," said Bresan at a press-conference before the film's screening.
    The film about a young priest who comes to a small island and starts poking holes in condoms in order to improve the birth rate is based on the comedy by Mate Matiic which prompted both enthusiasm and outrage on the Croatian stage in the end of last century. For its film adaptation Vinko Bresan opted for a distinctive set design and visual portrayal, which also govern the stylisation of the individual situations and the conception of the characters. The ironic perspective on the naive young priest who, with the purest of intentions, brings misfortune on several of his fellow citizens, allowed the atheist authors to criticise the Catholic church and the prejudices prevailing among the popular classes.
    For Croatian actress Marija Skaricic it was her sixth film. She has received several awards in the past, including Golden Arena for her performance in Mother of Asphalt in 2010 and Shooting Stars Award in 2011.
    "It was as different as any other film. For me every time it's different. I mean it depends on the director, on the script, on everything. So I had no push or urge to be comical and my character is not, so I was just playing it very seriously and that was the major suggestion from my director, so it was a serious work," said Marija Skaricic.
    In order to be close to the reality the film crew used the advise of the people closely connected with the Catholic church.
    "Actually we had two ex-priests as consultants on film, am I right? Yes (Voice saying "Two ex") Two ex-priests. One of them is actually an actor so the communication was really easy. They knew what is going on in the script, there were no problems there," said actor Kresimir Mikic.
    The comedy was co-produced by Croatia's Interfilm and Serbia's Zillion Film.
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