Murina

Tensions rise between restless teenager Julija and her oppressive father Ante when an old family friend arrives at their Croatian island home.

As Ante attempts to broker a life-changing deal, their tranquil yet isolated existence leaves Julija wanting more from this influential visitor, who provides a taste of liberation over a weekend laid bare to desire and violence.

Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic is a writer-director born in Dubrovnik and currently based in New York.

Her short Into the Blue, was nominated for a Student Academy Award, and won awards at the Berlin International Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, Oberhausen Film Festival, and the Festival de Premier Plans, Angers, among many others.

Antoneta’s first feature film Murina developed with support from the Résidence du Festival Cannes, Cinéfondation, First Films First by the Ghoethe-Institute, and Jerusalem Film Lab is produced by Martin Scorsese Sikelia, RT features and Antitalent.

Antoneta holds an MA from Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb and an MFA in screenwriting and directing from Columbia University in New York. Antoneta is an alumna of the Berlinale Talent Lab, Sarajevo Talent Lab, La Femis Producing Atelier, and the Marcie Bloom Fellowship and is a member of the Academy.

2021– Murina

2017– Into the Blue (short)

2016 – If We Must Die (short)

2015 – Christmas Tree (short)

2015 – Eye for an Eye (short)

2013 – Nonina (short)

In Murina I wanted to explore the tensions of a family invaded by a foreigner, an outsider who propels a girl’s inner power to confront the limitations of the mentality she’s known her whole life.

The story is set in stark nature - where emotions are heightened and exposed to the sea, sun, and rocks as if on a plate, burning - where the senses tempt the physical world to merge inevitably with the spiritual.

Chauvinism is so deeply rooted in our society that we often mistake it for our cultural mentality. The father implements it because it suits him, the mother supports it because she is raised to do so.

For Julija, chauvinism is an antagonistic force so present as a response to her every action that she mistakes its boundaries for her own potential, until the outsider challenges it, until the cult of the father is stripped of its powers except for violence.

Julija lives in a physical paradise on a Croatian island, but in a society obsessed with getting rich quick by selling away its own essence, where a daughter's strength is mistaken for her father's weakness, and land’s value is mistaken for profit.

Julija has an intuition for these dynamics, and for me that is a divine spark I see in young girls. She is like the murina, the moray eel, an animal that will bite its own flesh to break free from a fisherman. Her power is her faith in herself, in nature, and in the unknown. Her power is that she refuses to be silenced.

Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic

Gracija Filipović – JULIJA

Gracija Filipović is a high school graduate from Dubrovnik. She was enrolled as an actress in theatre in Dubrovnik and in 2014 she shot her first film. Her biggest success so far is her main role in the award winning short film Into the blue by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, which won an award at the prestigious Berlinale Film Festival within the Generation programme, and the Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Short Film.

She plays the main role in Murina, the debut feature by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, which will premiere in Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival 2021. Apart from acting, Gracija is a professional swimmer and tap dancer.

Danica Čurčić – NELA

Danica Čurčić is a multiple award winning actress, and graduate of the Danish School of Performing Arts (2012) and The Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theatre in Los Angeles (2007).

Čurčić has starred in several stage roles at the Danish Royal Theatre, and in 2015 she took on the Italian monoloque, “La Merda,” for which she was nominated for a Reumert – the equivalent to a Tony Award. Her strong presence in Zentropa’s feature The Absent One and Bille August’s Silent Heart led to nominations at the Danish Academy Award and the Danish Critics Awards for Best Actress.

This led to her being selected as a Shooting Star at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival in 2014. In 2017 Čurčić got the title role in Birgitte Stærmose’s feature film Darling, and for this powerful performance Danica was nominated for both A Danish Academy Award and the Danish Critics Awards. In 2019 she starred in the award winning drama Out Stealing Horses, directed by Hans Petter Moland. In 2020 Čurčić played the lead in Netflix’s Danish miniseries “Equinox” and will next be seen in another Netflix series “The Chestnut Man”. She has also just wrapped Lars von Trier’s Exodus, which will premiere in late 2022.

Leon Lučev – ANTE

Leon Lučev was born in Šibenik, Croatia in 1970. During his studies in 1994, he shot his first feature film Kako je počeo rat na mom otoku (How the war started on my island) with director Vinko Brešan, which became a fast success.

While studying, he worked with Lukas Nola, Zvonimir Jurić and Ognjen Sviličić in their early films. In 1997, after graduation from the Academy of Dramatic Art, he joined the permanent cast of the ITD Theatre. In 2003 he left the ITD Theatre and started acting exclusively in film, working with a number of current European and regional film artists including: Hans-Christian Schmidt, Jasmila Žbanić, Hrvoje Hribar, Vinko Brešan, Lukas Nola, Angelina Jolie, Zrinko Ogresta, Branko Schmidt, Janez Burger and others.

Lučev took part in regional co-productions and shoots in Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Germany and Hungary, and is currently teaching within Sarajevo Talent Campus, Academy of Arts in Split and Dr. Ante Peterlić Media Culture School.

Cliff Curtis – JAVIER

Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis is a New Zealand born actor with film credits including Once Were Warriors (1994), Three Kings (1999), Blow (2001), Training Day (2001), Whale Rider (2002), Sunshine (2007), Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and The Dark Horse (2014), for which he won the Best Performance by an Actor award at the 2014 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Curtis’ television slate includes roles on NBC's “Trauma” and ABC's “Body of Proof” and “Missing.” From 2015 to 2017, Curtis portrayed Travis Manawa on the AMC series “Fear the Walking Dead.”