God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya

11 yrs 100 minutes • 2019 • 6.8

In January every year, it is tradition that the priest drops a wooden cross in the river that runs through the small northern Macedonian town of Stip. The man who catches the cross is guaranteed happiness and prosperity in the coming year. But the order is overthrown when depressed 32-year-old Petrunya jumps into the river and catches the cross, because no woman has ever participated in this game. The reactions do not wait long to come and Petrunya gets to defend her actions. Why should she return the cross? "The film is based on a true story, and the female filmmakers with director Teona Strugar Mitevska at the front, want to show how late the Northern Macedonia is in the area of equality, and how corrupt a society is where the law and the church sit in each other’s lap" writes Sylvia Balac in Aftonbladet. In DN, Jane Magnusson writes that the film is a feminist brand of fire and a kind of romantic comedy in one.