* Majka Mara/Mother Mara at Zurich Film Festival 2024 *

Paglalarawan

In the October 2024 and February 2025 editions of Gimme a Beat, I reviewed the 20th edition of Zurich Film Festival.As many of the listeners of Gimme a Beat know, I have been exploring the female factor of the Zurich Film Festival for several years now. In 2024, similar to 2023, I had a chance to get together with so many female filmmakers and actresses that I decided to (again) breakdown my review of the ZFF into several shows. Since I am adapting the timing of the shows to Swiss(-German) screenings of movies, and most of them are happening this year, more shows are coming.I saw almost 35 movies, so I will not be able to review all of them, instead, I am focusing on the highlights only. To find them, you should follow the search with the following hashtags: #zff #zff2024 #highlight #gimmeabeat.In tonight's Gimme A Beat, I will be focusing on Majka Mara / Mother Mara, the movie directed and co-written by Mirjana Karanović, who also plays the lead role.The movie will have its official Swiss release on March 20 in several Swiss cinemas across the Swiss-German part of Switzerland. For Zurich, you can check RiffRaff/Houdini for screening times. Starting March 27, it will also be available in Swiss-French cinemas. The movie already had its pre-premiere in Zurich on March 10 at RiffRaff/Houdini and in Bern on March 11 at Rex.As listeners of Gimme a Beat know, I grew up in Novi Sad, ex-Yugoslavia, now Serbia, but what many may not know, I grew up watching Mirjana Karanović movies. The incredible talent of her generation and the high quality of Yugoslavian cinema, along with the variety of international films - both mainstream and alternative - that I was exposed to, is why I the movies. Growing up in Yugoslavia, I was also surrounded by strong women, inside and outside of my family, who carried themselves with grace, integrity, with a powerful, but kind attitude, and complexity, which only people who led a life with challenges have. Those were and still are my role models. Mirjana Karanović represented women like that,