Synopsis
“In the name of the Strawberry, the Chocolate and the Holy Spirit” is a surreal dark comedy about a priest Petar in a strictly religious village, who feels like eating ice-cream. This seemingly banal desire triggers an avalanche of resistance from the locals who fear losing their virtuous spiritual leader. The ice-cream becomes a metaphor of the forbidden lust, temptation and personal freedom. The film humorously and critically questions the boundaries of faith, authority, and the absurdity of social norms through an aesthetically suggestive and visually thoughtful approach.
details
Original title: U ime Jagode, Čokolade i Duha Svetoga
Also known as: In the name of the Strawberry, the Chocolate and the Holy Spirit
Year: 2018
Country of production: Croatia, France
Production: Dobar Film, Interfilm, Whistle Productions
Genre: comedy
Directed by: Karla Lulić
Starring: Goran Navojec, Igor Galo, Helena Minić, Vedran Živolić
Filming locations in Istria: Svetvinčenat
REVIEW
IN THE NAME OF THE STRAWBERRY, THE CHOCOLATE AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, directed by Karla Lulić, 2018
ABOUT PERSONAL PASSIONS IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD
The short film “In the Name of Strawberry, Chocolate and the Holy Spirit”, with Karla Lulić as a director and screenwriter, is a witty and satirical comedy which explores the conflict between personal desires and social expectations through a simple story about a village priest, Petar. Set in an isolated village of Christian fanatics, the film shows how a priest, extremely dedicated to his job, after a mass in the spring, when it has warmed up, craves ice cream. In doing so, he faces the opposition of a pastry chef who does not want to sell him the ice cream, but also of all the locals who find it absurd to see a priest with ice cream and want to preserve his virtue.
The plot of mainly deals with the priest's fantasies about how to get ice cream, through acquaintances and using situations, in fact, the everyday activities of his work in the Church and the village. Unable to get ice cream, while everyone around him is constantly licking some ice cream, Petar becomes so obsessed with it that he is unable to even conduct a funeral as usual, and he wakes up from a nightmare in which he cannot get it. He is so desperate to get ice-cream that he even takes off his cassock and disguises himself in a football jersey. The main role of the priest Petar is played by Goran Navojec.
The film presents an exceptionally stylized and polished visual concept, where its distinct visual language - combined with the tonal presentation of various situations - forms the foundation for questioning the absurdity of excessive moralism and rigid social norms which suppress often harmless individual desires. It examines how individual desires - deemed inappropriate by society due to the role of the person as a priest - generate guilt within him and compel him to resort to various forms of scheming and bribery in pursuit of his longed-for fulfilment. The costumes and set design are very well crafted, making a striking contribution to the film's powerful visual aesthetic. They embody the absurdity of the situation and underscore the irreconcilable conflict between external appearance and internal desire. The film was shot on location in Savičenat and Buje. Alongside Navojec, the cast features Helena Minić Matanić, Igor Galo, Vedran Živolić, as well as Prlja and Mrle from the band Let 3.
The film is produced by Dobar Film from Koprivnica, in co-production with Interfilm (Croatia) and Whistle Productions (France). The Istrian Cultural Agency supported the film's creation. It had its world premiere at SEEfest in Los Angeles in 2018, and was also shown at festivals such as the Pula Film Festival, where it became the first short film to be shown at the opening in the Arena. It won awards for best short film at the 2018 Rome Independent Film Festival and the 2019 Chain NYC Film Festival in New York.
