Gvozden Ilić
Writer-director
Serbia
Gvozden Ilić (Belgrade, 1998) graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, majoring in film and TV directing.
He directed short films PROM NIGHT, FLOATING, RIBS, and HEARTBEAT, which had its world premiere at the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival. He participated at Talents Sarajevo in 2021, in the Directors summit.
He is currently in the final stages of post-production on his short film WHEN THEY BLOOM and in the initial stage of development of his debut feature film THORN, which was a part of the Pitch it programme.
Besides film he did numerous commercials, music videos, and humanitarian campaigns. He has a fascination with film capturing the essence of a place, foreign cities and silent expression.
Project
Thorn
A group of 16-year-olds, from a wealthy Belgrade neighborhood, pledge an oath never to have sex. They ditch school and run off into the forest, where they can make their world with their rules. They are obsessed with Marxism and Darwinism and contemplate ideas of capitalism, consent, marriage, family values, and come up with a theory that evolution is the new revolution! Which means that if the bourgeoisie abstains from sex and reproducing, that the upper class will eventually extinguish itself. But it seems that nature is stronger and a love triangle forms in the group. Ruža and Marko both fall in love with Nestor, the cult leader. Not knowing how to express their emotions, their suppressed sexuality is manifested in different forms of sexual deviation. As a week turns into a month of their absence from school, the, at first naive game, turns into something more malevolent.
