György Mór Kárpáti
THE FIRST WEEK OF AUGUST
An idyllic island vacation takes a tumultuous turn when a mother's sudden physical outburst towards her ten-year-old son exposes hidden tensions and lingering conflicts within the family.
SYNOPSIS
A modernist sanatorium lies isolated in a sunlit forest, its calm shattered when Ivana bursts through a window and flees into the trees in a frantic, dreamlike escape before vanishing. Morning: she awakes in her dark apartment, unharmed, her past as a respected journalist now fractured. Together with her husband Zoran and son David, she leaves for a summer holiday. At the ferry port, a tabloid exposing her downfall unsettles her further. When David provokes her, she slaps him impulsively, then urges him to keep the incident from his father. On the island, Ivana drifts through days of mounting anxiety. Compulsive swims, growing isolation, and strained ties with David reveal her instability. Encounters with the confident Vučković family deepen her unease. When David injures their son after being called “crazy,” the fracture sharpens. Soon after, David disappears, sending Ivana into a desperate nighttime search. By morning, he returns, and she holds him close, suspended between breakdown and connection.
DIRECTOR
Filip Mojzeš
WRITER
Filip Mojzeš
PRODUCER
Tamara Babun Zovko, Matija Drniković
PRODUCTION COMPANY
Wolfgang&Dolly, Black Photon
COUNTRY
Croatia, Poland
GENRE
Fiction
Filip Mojzeš
DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY
Filip Mojzeš is a Croatian filmmaker, screenwriter, and director whose work often explores themes of alienation, violence, and fractured interpersonal relationships. His films are typically minimalistic, atmosphere-driven, and focused on internal states rather than plot-heavy narratives. He was born in Zagreb in 1989 and trained in film directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, later continuing his studies at the film.factory in Sarajevo, where he was mentored by acclaimed Hungarian director Béla Tarr. His last four short fiction films premiered in competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival, marking a steady and notable presence within one of the most important regional platforms for emerging European cinema. Following their premieres, the films continued to circulate widely, screening at numerous national and international festivals.
Like my recent short films, The First Week of August explores complex family relations and the fragility of the nuclear family, influenced by Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman and John Cassavetes’s A Woman under the Influence, which inspired the “woman on the edge.” This film emerges from close collaboration with actors from the earliest writing stage. Actors become co-creators, developing roles derived from a synopsis and personal experience. I introduce autobiographical elements into a screenplay, deepening the exploration of parent-child relations. I am drawn to cinematic mystery, so Ivana’s background remains unknown, making her an enigma. Inspired by A. Weerasethakul’s description of Jessica in Memoria as “a hypothesis rather than a character,” I explore multiple readings of Ivana’s trauma and her inability to fit bourgeois “normality.” The silence around Ivana becomes, paradoxically, an expression of class belonging.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Tamara Babun
PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY
Tamara Babun Zovko was born in Zagreb in 1985. She graduated from studies in film, television, and theatre production at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in 2009. After a decade of experience in producing films, videos, and theatre, in 2017 she started her own company – Wolfgang & Dolly LLC. She took part in the Eurimages gender equality ad hoc working group in Strasbourg, has consulted for the Romedia Foundation in Budapest, and has worked on various legislative agendas as a member of the Managing Board and Supervisory Board of the Croatian Producers' Association. Zovko is a past member of the FIAPF Executive Committee. She has taken part in the Emerging Producers training, Less Is More Development Angles, Sources 2, Screen Leaders, Ex Oriente, a local EURODOC workshop, Talents Sarajevo, the IDFAcademy, BDC Discoveries, Producers on the Move, and EAVE+, and is a 2019 EAVE Producers Workshop graduate. She is the creator or co-creator of several documentary series and has projects in development, production, and post-production as producer and director.
Martija Drinković
PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY
Matija Drniković was born in Zagreb in 1993 and graduated from studies in film production from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. He worked as a junior producer at Nukleus Film and as a writer at the video game company Nanobit. He is currently a producer at Wolfgang & Dolly, where he is involved in numerous projects, many of which he initiates independently. Drniković has over eight years of experience in developing and leading film workshops for children and youth, and has also taken part in programs such as Berlinale Talents, Screen Leaders, EAVE Marketing, EAVE Ties that Bind, Rotterdam Lab, and Talents Sarajevo. He is a member of the European Film Academy. Pelican, his first feature-length fiction film as a producer, received a Special Mention at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, while his co-productions Family Therapy and The Other Side of Summer premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Production company profile
Wolfgang & Dolly is a Zagreb-based production company founded in 2017 by Tamara Babun Zovko. Led by Babun Zovko, Matija Drniković, and Aleksandar Arsovski – recognized participants of programmes such as EAVE, EURODOC, and Producers on the Move – the company produces auteur films, documentaries, and television series focused on socially relevant stories. Their projects have premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, DOK Leipzig, and the Tribeca and Sarajevo Film Festivals.
Where are we at?
TOTAL ESTIMATED BUDGET
1.147.590 €
NEEDED FOR COMPLETION
128.980 €
Looking for at CineLink?
The project has Polish co-producers involved and is financed by the Polish Film Institute. With that in mind, we're currently looking for partners to complete the financing. This includes potential pre-sales to broadcasters or interested sales agents and new co-producers who would be happy to participate in this production with a smaller share, particularly, but not exclusively, those from France, Italy and other Mediterranean countries. We are also looking for various ways to gap-finance the project and are interested in presenting the project to all who show interest and good will for the film.