Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #116. God Exists, Her Name is Petrunija – Teona Strugar Mitevska

God Exists, Her Name is Petrunija

Macedonia’s Teona Strugar Mitevska fifth feature is the intriguingly titled God Exists, Her Name is Petrunija. Produced by Labina Mitevska through Sisters and Brother Mitesvski Production, and co-produced by Entre Chien et Loup, Vertigo Productions and Spiritus Movens (with producers Sebastian Delloye, Marie Dubas, Zdenka Gold, Danijel Hocevar and Elie Meirovitz), Mitevska employs her I Am From Titov Veles Belgium cinematographer Virginie Saint-Martin (of Bavo Defurne’s Souvenir, 2016). Newcomer Zorica Nusheva makes her debut as Petrunija. Mitesvka’s 2004 debut How I Killed a Saint went to Rotterdam and her 2007 title I Am From Titov Veles won a Special Jury Prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival and was programmed in Berlin’s 2008 Panorama Program. Mitevska returned to the Panorama in 2012 with her Victoria Abril starrer The Woman Who Brushed Off Her Tears and in 2017 with When the Day Had No Name.

Gist: Co-written by Elma Tataragic (When the Day Had No Name, 2017), God Exists, Her Name is Petrunija is an absurdist comedy about a day in the life of the titular main character, an unemployed 31-year-old who ‘decides to do the unthinkable and intervene in the world of men.’

Release Date/Prediction: Shot on 35m, Mitevska began production in late 2017 and the project completed post-production nearly a year later. We expect Mitevska to make a return to Berlin, potentially in competition since she’s been programmed thrice in the Panorama previously.