Virgina

Director: Srđan Karanović

1991 / 102min / DCP

When a fourth daughter is born to a family “cursed” by superstition to bear no male heirs, the decision is made to raise the child with a boy’s name—Stevan—as well as a man’s rights and responsibilities… though as Stevan passes adolescence, first love and a brush with personal tragedy will spark rebellion in his breast. An acutely observed study of a 19th-century peasant culture steeped in misogyny, and a strikingly sensual story of self-discovery, presented in a new 2K restoration in its NYC premiere.

“I’ve gotten to do many cool and amazing things in my work over the years, but tracking down the negative of Virgina, after the director Srđan Karanović thought it had been lost in the aftermath of the Yugoslav Wars, is definitely one of the highlights of my career. Virgina is a stunning film, a complex and interesting narrative about gender, with unique pleasures for a queer audience.” —Series curator Jenni Olson, queer film historian and archivist

The new 2K restoration was completed by the Department for Digitisation and Digital Restoration of the Yugoslav Film Archive in Belgrade. The film was scanned from a 35mm internegative using an ArriscanXT scanner with archival gate overscan, with color correction by Masha Badalić under the supervision of director Srđan Karanović. Audio was sourced from the original 35mm mono sound negative and restored by the Sound Department of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad.

An Altered Innocence release

Introduction and post-screening discussion by Jenni Olson on Friday, October 23rd Introduction by Jenni Olson on Saturday, October 24th

Part of Jenni Olson Selects: Mini Masc