Branko, a devoted father and professor, begins his Sunday routine in a peaceful environment, but his idyll is disrupted by the violent behavior of a drunken man who verbally abuses a young couple on the tram. Initially confused, Branko feels the need to intervene, believing he is doing the right thing. What begins as an act of justice spirals into an unsettling moment of violence, leaving Branko to return to his family, unchanged yet irrevocably altered.
Original Title Borovnice Year of production 2026 Length 15' Country Serbia Shooting Format 4K Aspect Ratio 16:9 Dialogue Serbian
Director Isidora Veselinovic ProductionSense Production Producers Marija Stojanovic, Vera Radnic Writer Isidora Veselinovic Director of PhotographyAleksa Radunovic EditorOlga Kosaric Production Designer Dragana Bacovic Costume Designer Suna Kazic Make-up & Hair Designer Visnja Karaulic SoundDesigners Luka Cvetko, Ivan Rajninger Cast Dragan Micanovic, Milan Cucilovic
Festival selections Tirana International Film Festival 2026, Albania - World Premiere Director's Statement MOTIVATION My dad once told me how he saw a drunkard on the bus verbally abusing a young couple. He never really liked stories about aggressive behavior, nor has he ever had ambitions of bringing justice to the streets. He was on his way home from grocery shopping, and as much as he was disturbed and angered, he did not enter into the conflict. But after the drunkard got off, my dad followed him. He didn't know why, only that he couldn’t just let him leave. In the end, he went home and told me about it much later. I started to wonder—what would have happened if he had caught up with him? In what way would my warm and kind-hearted dad punish a man who abuses kids, even verbally? I tried to imagine the scene, and images of brutal torture appeared in my mind. Those images are mine, but I know they come from a dark place we all have inside us. THEME/IDEA We all think we are good people, but under the right circumstances, we would do terrible things. The times we live in have blurred the line between good and evil. When evil has a face, like a murderer or a rapist, we know where to direct our anger. In this case, our inner beast is accepted, even desired. If we look at people’s comments under news of an arrested pedophile, we see incredibly creative and morbid ideas for punishment. These are comments of ordinary people, people like you and me. If one of them were given a free hand, how quickly would they lose their last shred of humanity? A person who has moral justification for aggression enjoys the position of power and begins to enjoy the violence. Even if their motivation was to punish evil, they can become worse than the evil they are punishing. Where do we draw the line? And if we cross it, can we ever come back?
