A tabloid hack, a pandemic, and a corpse—Serbia's most chaotic journalism thriller is NOT about Zoom fatigue.
Set five years on from the school days of director Stevan Filipovic's previous film Next to Me, a state of emergency exists and politicians are accused of capitalising on public anxiety around Covid-19, which makes the shocking situation that reunites the characters significantly more extreme. The story centres on Ksenija (newcomer Mina Nikolic), a driven young woman striving to move from tabloid hack to a career journalist in a world of click-bait headlines and showbiz scandals cooked up to feed the masses. Ksenija's personal and professional journey is hampered when Vera tests positive for Coronavirus and Ksenija must question how far she will bend to survive in a climate where political pressure is increasingly overt and can be said to capitalise on fear during the pandemic.
Acting
Mina Nikolic's debut is ferocious—watch her eyes go dead.
Direction
Filipović shot this IN actual lockdown. The claustrophobia is real.
Writing
Tabloid dialogue so sharp you'll check your own ethics.
Director
Stevan Filipović
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Miriam Margolyes (Granny Vera) is the only non-Serbian cast member and learned her lines phonetically. She called the experience 'terrifying and filthy, darling.'
Filipović's 2015 film Next to Me was a high-school dramedy; this sequel's pivot to pandemic thriller mirrors how Serbian millennials went from carefree to politically radicalized in five years.
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