New East: Celts (18*) + pre-recorded ScreenTalk

It’s young Minja’s birthday party and the theme is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, all the rage in the early 1990s. While the kids party hard, the adults congregate around the house, as mother Majka (Dubravka Kovjanić) further drifts from her husband while her brother and sister bicker and battle relationship issues of their own.

While the Yugoslav wars continue in the background – the party takes place when Belgrade was under sanctions, inflation was at its height and criminals exploited the chaos – Tomović creates a brilliant, funny and sometimes shocking comedy of a complex family that recalls the best work of Mike Leigh. The film was one of the highlights at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and boasts terrific performances, particularly from Katarina Dimic as the Turtle-obsessed birthday girl.