Serbia’s Jovan Ginic Wins Cannes Rising Star Award

Serbian actor Jovan Ginic has won the Rising Star Award from the Louis Roederer Foundation at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which is presented to the best young actor, the Film Center of Serbia announced.

Ginic won the award for his lead role in Vladimir Perisic's film Lost Country.

Ginic plays Stefan, a 15-year-old high school pupil who in 1996, during the student demonstrations against Slobodan Milosevic's regime, realizes that his mother is an accomplice of the corrupt government.

Director Vladimir Perisic told Film Center Serbia that Ginic's commitment to the film was exceptional and that his role will be talked about for a long time.

"He is at the very heart of the events of my new film, and before him is a very difficult struggle: to accept the unacceptable and face the reality of the world he comes from, which is all the more difficult because it is about his mother. That is the essence of the story I wanted to tell with my new film," he said.

Lost Country is a co-production of France, Serbia, Luxembourg and Croatia, and the only film from this part of Europe at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

The award presented to Ginic was introduced six years ago to encourage young acting talent and is the first Cannes award for a Serbian film after many years, Film Center Serbia added.