Special Events 2024

MOGUĆNOST RAJA
POSSIBILITY OF PARADISE

by Mladen Kovačević
Serbia, 2024, 75', color
Screenplay: Mladen Kovačević
LE DATE SARANNO PRESTO DISPONIBILI

cinematography
Marko Milovanović
editing
Jelena Maksimović
music
Rebekka Karijord
sound
Jakov Munižaba

with
Ivana Sahami
Dino Magnatta
Ling Lai
Shinta Sukmawati
Mcintosh Cooey
Kieran Cooey
Anna Kadek
Branko Milovanović

producers
Iva Plemić Divjak
Mladen Kovačević
co-producer
Elin Lilleman Eriksson
production
Horopter Film Production
co-production
MDEMC Produktion
with the support of
Film Center Serbia

Schoolkids living on the top of the paradise island wait for the rain to stop. A former advertising executive is closing a land deal for her new villa. An entrepreneur battles nature while building a resort in the jungle. A veterinarian works cleaning snakes from the gardens of the foreigners. An influencer, disillusioned with love, recovers from losing everything overnight. A father and son prepare to leave for good, not knowing where. A dancer adopts a new identity, distancing herself from everything she’s ever known. Divers venture into uncharted waters, risking their lives for the challenge of conquest. The tensions between life’s possibilities revolve around the question of what life one should be living, with every decision leading to a different version of oneself. And while the earthly paradise might be nothing more than an ideal of imagination, humanity’s relentless pursuit for happiness persists.

2024 Mogućnost raja (doc)
2022 Another Spring (doc)
2020 Merry Christmas, Yiwu (doc)
2018 4 Years in 10 Minutes (doc)
2016 Wall of Death, and All That (doc)
2013 Unplugged (doc)

“Through the simplicity of realism, Possibility of Paradise attempts to evade forced meanings, allowing the direct experience of the character’s lives to prevail, each narrative fragment a new possibility. I drew subtle inspiration from the verse “And now the little vessel of my mind, sets sail across the better waves, leaving a sea of cruelty behind”, from Dante’s Purgatory, and the film’s setting is deliberately reminiscent of the hilly island with the Garden of Eden on its summit. However, adorned with palm trees and occupied by foreigners, the paradise setting reverberates with colonial imagery; the old quest for God, gold, and glory has now become a quest for happiness. This is where film’s protagonists have come to seek a good life, outside of familiar societies and ideologies, far removed from all they have ever known.” (Mladen Kovačević)

Mladen Kovačević is a film director and writer based in Belgrade. His films Unplugged (2013), Wall of Death and All That (2016), 4 Years in 10 Minutes (2018), Merry Christmas, Yiwu (2020), and Another Spring (2022) have been selected for festivals such as Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary, Visions du Réel, IDFA, Hot Docs, CPH:DOX, FIDMarseille. Among others, winning numerous awards, and screening at prestigious venues like the Barbican and the Pompidou. He is currently shooting the docu-fiction Koryo and developing the fiction feature “Behind the Curtains, Behind the Trees.”

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