cinematography
Damjan Radovanović
editing
Ian Degrassi
music
Michele Braga
sound
Filip Popadić
production design
Dragana Baćović
costumes
Maria Letizia Della Felice

cast
Matilda De Angelis (Greta)
Babak Karimi (Nazar)
Ivar Wafaei (Jalil)
Giovanni Toscano (Edoardo)

productions
Nightswim
Wildside
co-productions
This and That Productions
ANTITALENT
producers
Ines Vasiljević
Stefano Sardo
Sonia Rovai
Ludovica Damiani
co-producers
Snežana van Houwelingen
Katarina Prpic
Danijel Pek

associated productions
M74
Nieminen Film
associated producers
Monica Galantucci
Andrea Italia
Matilda De Angelis
with the support of
Lazio Innova – Lazio Cinema International
Film Center Serbia

Italian press office
Nightswim
Noemi Chianese
distribuzione@nightswim.it
Bartolomeo Golia
info@nightswim.it

Wildside
Daniela D’Antonio
daniela.dantonio@fremantle.com
Martina Prosperi
martina.prosperi@fremantle.com
Serena Catalano
s.catalano@fremantle.com

This and That Productions
Tasa Prosen
office@thisandthat.rs
Milica Putnik Lukovac
milica@thisandthat.rs

Music has been banned in Afghanistan, and now an orchestra conductor and his son, a tuba player, attempt to start over by emigrating along the Balkan route. During their flight, seemingly endless, they cross paths with an Italian woman, a doctor. This encounter will change the two refugees’ lives and that of the young woman as well.

2026 Balcanica
2025 A Minute History (doc)
2024 La confessione (short)
2019 Ape Regina (short)
2017 Moby Dick (short)

“My grandmother fought for our freedom in the 1940s. I grew up with her, and her stories of freedom denied have always fueled my imagination. In part, Balcanica grew out of this feeling of anger at those who practice interruption, denial, coercion, and censorship. Although I was very young when music was outlawed in Afghanistan, the news sowed its seeds in me for years, until Andrea Brusa and I decided to tell the story of the journey of Nazar and Jalil – Afghans, father and son, both musicians – bringing to the tale a western gaze, in the person of Greta, a character who expresses our point of view. The human body is an essential component of Balcanica, the sole vehicle of the journey itself. It walks; it holds out against the cold, the heat, and fear. Crossing borders, it becomes a repository of the violence, abuse, and rejection endured.” (Nicola Sorcinelli)

Nicola Sorcinelli discovered cinema while still in school, and right after that he went to work on film sets, on BTS shoots and as an AD to leading filmmakers. At the same time, he made short films selected for an array of international festivals, winning awards and making the Academy Awards Qualifying roster. Moby Dick earned him a Silver Ribbon and his next short, Ape Regina, was created with the collaboration of the NGO Emergency. Sorcinelli went on to make La confessione, nominated for both a Silver Ribbon and a David di Donatello in the same year. He also directed several episodes of the TV series Briganti e In utero. Balcanica is his first feature-length film.