Mrs J., a former administrative clerk, decides to complete
all her tasks: she washes a sink full of dishes, goes to the
store, and digs up an old family pistol. It is her late husband’s
pistol. She is determined to kill herself with the gun on the
anniversary of her husband’s death in a week’s time.
Mrs J. decides to go to a stonemason and hire him to place
her picture on the tombstone, next to her husband’s. Afterwards,
she goes to church for confession before Easter and
returns a borrowed chair to her neighbor on the first floor.
Mrs J. decides to make peace with her pregnant older daughter
Ana. For the first time, she visits Ana at the hypermarket.
She confronts Ana’s boyfriend to tell him what it means to
be a man in the house.
Mrs J. decides to collect her severance pay from the bankrupt
factory where she spent half her life working. She collects
her life insurance, and corrects a typo in her name on her
birth certificate.
She is prepared to finish all private and administrative details
so that she may commit suicide her way. In order to begin
the process, she needs just one thing: a certificate about
her employment over the past 20 years. In a country that
is going through social transition, this will be highly complicated.
Because living in transition is complicated. To die
is even more complicated.

Direction: Bojan Vuletić

Script: Bojan Vuletić

Production: Nenad Dukić, Nenad Dukić

Cinematography: Jelena Stanković

Editing: Vladimir Pavlovski

Production Design: Zorana Petrov

Costume Design: Lana Pavlović

Make-Up: Jasmina Lilić

Sound: Boris Trayanov

Cast: Mirjana Karanović, Jovana Gavrilović, Danica Nedeljković, Vučić Perović

Original Title: REKVIJEM ZA GOSPOĐU J.

Original Language: Serbian

Film Production Countries: Serbia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Russia, France

Website: http://soulfoodfilms.com/

Social Media: /

Statement of the Director/s
The idea for the story of REQUIEM FOR Mrs. J originates from the intimate acquaintance with a woman who, it seems, embodies a typical victim of the transition process in Serbia. She is a modest, quiet woman, who avoids interacting with people.

Mrs J. Is feeling hopeless without a job or redundancy pay, without a husband and has no desire to leave her apartment. She is perplexed by the strange occurrence at the parking lot in front of her apartment building. Feeling unwanted and rejected by her family, Mrs. J finds parts of an old family gun and decides to assemble it.

The film deals with one of the painful and unavoidable issues in Eastern Europe – social transition and economic crisis. The new political and economic system is altering the old face of socialism, bringing big changes in the value system, which inevitably leads, as in this case, to total identity crisis.

REQUIEM FOR MRS. J is a dark comedy about the transition which eats its own children,. People have always worked hard and yet failed to cope with the age of transition, where corruption, bureaucracy and double moral standards rule. After 20 years in an economically and morally devastated post-war Serbia, these people have no hope left. They have lost the will to adjust, only to be lest confused and drained. The only transition they perceive as salvation is the one to the “other world”.

However, in Serbia bureaucracy and corruption make not only life difficult, but also death. as well, Given this, transition to the other world is slow and unknown; just like searching for a lost document lost at the administration system counter. This topic is universal, as well as the destiny of Mrs. J, which can easily be experienced in other countries affected by the global economic crisis.

This gives the film a much broader dimension.

This is a satirical black comedy on the subject of the difficult social and psychological state of the people in Serbia today. Their lives are often tragi-comic and absurd. While living in a time of social transition and economic crisis is complicated dying is even more complicated.

Biography of the Director/s
Born in Belgrade in 1977. MA in film and TV directing from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade.

As a co-writer, he has collaborated with Stefan Arsenijević on the omnibus „Lost and Found“ (Serbian story) and feature „Love and Other Crimes“, premiered at 58th Berlinale in selection Panorama Special, for which he was two times granted a best script award at the national festivals.

His first feature film “Practical Guide to Belgrade with Singing and Crying” premiered at Karlovy Vary Film Festival in East of the West competition. It won several national and international awards such as: FEDEORA Critic Award at Pula Film Festival, FIPRESCI Award at Cinema City Film Festival, and Special jury prize in Jeonju, South Korea FF.
His second feature “Requiem for Mrs. J.” had its world premiere at 67th Berlinale in selection Panorama Special.

Filmography of the Director/s
Director’s filmography

2017
Requiem for Mrs. J
(director and writer)

2011
Practical Guide to Belgrade with Singing and Crying
(director and writer)

2008
Love and Other Crimes
(co-writer)

2006
My Heart and I, short fiction
(director and writer)

2005
Lost and Found – omnibus film
(idea for Serbian story)

2004
Tapestry in Serbo-Croatian, documentary
(director)

Awards Won
Golden Lily
goEast Film Festival (Wiesbaden, Germany)

FIPRESCI
Sofia IFF (Sofia, Bulgaria)

The Best Screenplay Award for Bojan Vuletić
45th FEST – Belgrade International Film Festival (Belgrade, Serbia)

The Best Director Award for Bojan Vuletić
45th FEST – Belgrade International Film Festival (Belgrade, Serbia)

The Best Actress Award for Mirjana Karanović
45th FEST – Belgrade International Film Festival (Belgrade, Serbia)

Belgrade Victor for the best film in the national selection
45th FEST – Belgrade International Film Festival (Belgrade, Serbia)

World Sales:
Soul Food
Tijana Višnjić
Majke Jevrosime 39
Belgrade, 11000, Serbia
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: +381 11 2672 004
Website: http://soulfoodfilms.com/