#Jovana Gjorgjiovska

[festivalists]

Innocence Un/Protected

Innocence Un/Protected – quite a motto for the 13th Talents Sarajevo! Yet during the seven years of our partnership with the Talent Press initiative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we can assure you that passion, vigor, and inspiration have stayed intact ♥

In line with the commemorative 25th edition of Sarajevo Film Festival, this year's schedule was packed with masterclasses and noteworthy events featuring high-profile guests. We, too, had two special appearances – the prominent Romanian translator / critic / programmer / CHUCK NORRIS VS COMMUNISM's star Irina Nistor for THE VOICE, THE FILM CRITIC, THE LEGEND and fellow Festivalists contributor / Jugend ohne Film founder / writer / filmmaker / curator Patrick Holzapfel for NOBODY JUST WRITES (ABOUT CINEMA).

And indeed, as you may recall from last year, nobody at Sarajevo Talent Press just writes about cinema. This time Dana Linssen offered an experimental talk or mind walk titled INNOCENCE RE/PROTECTED, in which she touched upon the poetics and politics of images 2.0, also based on her experience as IFFR Critics' Choice co-conspirator. As for our editor Yoana Pavlova – inspired by Dušan Makavejev's 1968 classic, she proposed the (RE)COLLECTION BY OTHER MEANS challenge, the results of which you can see below.

But the SFF film reviews are here as well! Written by five talented youngsters from Southeast Europe and the Southern Caucasus, these texts offer a rich and nuanced insight into the cinema from the region, as well as (hopefully) a glimpse into our critical discussions in Sarajevo that we already miss dearly...

Alexander Gabelia, Georgia

Exchange of opinions and experience as well as critical analysis of different themes – that’s what I’m interested in.

SPIT (2019) dir. Neven Samardžić & Carolina Markowicz – SEE FACTORY → ROUNDS / V KRUG (2019) dir. Stephan Komandarev – Competition Features →

Călin Boto, Romania

As a freelance film critic, I follow the festival circuit closely and do try to understand as much as possible of the apparatus that’s behind it, especially in terms of curating.

THE RIGHT ONE (2019) dir. Urška Djukić & Gabriel Tzafka – SEE FACTORY → DAD (2019) dir. Vladimir Bilenjki – BH Film →

Jovana Gjorgjiovska, North Macedonia

The past year I have been completely devoted to developing Gledaj.mkc.mk and some of the milestones include securing institutional support, publishing our work in major print publications in North Macedonia and getting elected as a jury member for the Best Film Critic contest at the European Film Festival Cinedays 2018.

IN YOUR HANDS (2019) dir. Maša Šarović & Sharon Angelhart – SEE FACTORY → ROUNDS / V KRUG (2019) dir. Stephan Komandarev – Competition Features →

Milica Joksimović, Serbia

I have realized that film criticism has an essential role in the evolution of film as art and I like to think that in my articles I have raised some valid points and also inspired some of the people reading them to give them some thought.

THE SIGN (2019) dir. Eleonora Veninova & Yona Rozenkier – SEE FACTORY → TAKE ME SOMEWHERE NICE (2019) dir. Ena Sendijarević – Competition Features →

Sezen Sayinalp, Turkey

My pieces are generally about characters’ conditions in the society and society’s changes. This is also about past and future relationships, because I try to show that meaning of representation within social structures.

THE PACKAGE (2019) dir. Dušan Kasalica & Teodora Ana Mihai – SEE FACTORY → THE SON / SIN (2019) dir. Ines Tanović – Competition Features →

[fareastfilm]

REVIEW: DYING TO SURVIVE

By Jovana Gjorgjiovska

Dying to Survive: a poignant Chinese comedy-drama where social issues and complex moral questions are presented with a sprinkle of humour.

Wen Muye’s feature film debut Dying to Survive tells the story of Cheng Yong (Zheng Xu), a businessman-turned-philanthropist who smuggles cheap cancer medicine from India into China for patients who can’t afford the expensive original medicine.

Early in the movie, Yong becomes the head of a smuggling group and gets help from cancer patient Lv Shouyi (Chuan-jun Wang), the admin of cancer patient groups who has a sick daughter Liu Sihui (Zhuo Tan), the English-speaking priest Liu (Xinming Yang) and the most tragic gang member and a modern Robin Hood, Yellow Hair (Yu Zhang). Parallel to the main narrative, the police officer Cao Bin (Yiwei Zhou) is torn between his task to crack down on the illegal medicine trade and his own humanistic values.

Wen lays the groundwork for Dying to Survive by following the five unlikely smugglers through their initial struggles to establish the business. While the tone is comical, the editing cuts through most of their less relevant steps to success and gives the audience a tightly woven story about Yong’s endeavours to find balance between his profit-oriented mindset and the genuine worry about Chinese cancer patients, among whom is his father. Halfway through the movie, Yong decides to “go clean” and start a legitimate textile business, selling the illicit trade network to a more experienced dealer and cutting ties with his fellow smugglers. Coherent with the compact story-telling at the beginning, Dying to Surviveonce again zooms in to the crux of the characters’ arcs. The authorities are slowly closing in on the medicine smugglers,Lv’s condition is exacerbated and Yong is called back in to save the hopes of many devastated families. The flashiness of the gang’s success in the first part rivals the complexity of the moral dilemmas they are all facing during the wind-down, without making the whole narrative appear artificial.

Based on a real-life story, Dying to Survive convincingly presents universally relevant socio-economical questions without wandering off into political topics. Its multi-dimensional characters are well developed and believable, allowing both domestic and international audiences to feel a powerful connection with their inner lives. Despite the mid-movie genre change, the consistent editing and masterful acting of its cast - especially Zheng’s authenticity as the gang leader Yong - make the movie a harmonious realistic account focused on the contemporary problems of patients too poor to afford their medicine. Director Wen’s mature storytelling was not only awarded by a great success at the box office -Dying to Survive earned US$450 million in China - but it also managed to make a real-life impact: the Chinese authorities included the low-cost medicine in the list of those approved by the healthcare administration.

[fareastfilm]

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FEFF CAMPUS 2019 - JOVANA GJORGJIOVSKA (MACEDONIA)