WHEN DAY BREAKS (2012)

Original title: Kad svane dan

Produced by: Nova film (Serbia), Intermedia Network (Serbia), Zepter International (Serbia), Maxima Film (Croatia), Arsam Film (France), Wanda Vision (Spain)
Director: Goran Paskaljević
Screenplay: Filip David and Goran Paskaljević
Director of photography: Milan Spasić
Music: Vlatko Stefanovski
Production designer: Milenko Jeremić
Costumes: Marina Medenica
Editor: Kristina Pozenel
Cast: Mustafa Nadarević, Predrag Ejdus, Nebojša Glogovac, Meto Jovanovski, Zafir Hadžimanov, Nada Šargin, Ana Stefanović, Olga Odanović-Petrović, Toma Jovanović, Rade Kojadinović, Mira Banjac
Running time: 90mins
Format: 35mm / color
Sound: Dolby Digital
Release date: December 24th, 2012
Genre: Drama

SYNOPSIS:

The story of a retired music professor, Misha Brankov, who under unusual circumstances discovers his true origins. At the place where once stood a Nazi concentration camp for Jews during World War II, a metal box filled with documents is found. An inmate, Isaac Weiss, buried it in the year 1941. The professor finds out that his real parents, the Weiss’s, gave him away to their friends, the Brankovs, just before they were taken into the camp. Inside the box there is an unfinished musical score called “When day breaks”, composed by the inmate Isaac Weiss. Searching for the truth about himself and his origins, Misha discovers the little-known truth about Judenlager Semlin camp, one of the worst Nazi execution sites in the heart of contemporary Belgrade. At the same time, the professor’s obsession is to complete the composition, started by his father, and to perform it on the site of the former camp… that he, after many vicissitudes, finally accomplishes.

This touching and compassionate tale had its’ world premiere at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival in September where it had two sold out screenings as part of the festival’s most reputable selection, “Masters”, alongside films by Bertolucci, Haneke, Kim Ki-Duke, Kiarostami, Manuel de Olivera and others.

The film has been selected as the Serbian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards.