Under the theme of ’courage’, the fiery and highly current actress and director Marijana Jankovic presents a programme with roots in her personal cultural heritage and a love for diversity as the central points of rotation.

Every year, OFF – Odense International Film Festival is a creative collaboration with one or more artists, filmmakers or industry people; a collaboration that contributes to the artistic direction of the festival. In 2019, the title as artistic profile rests with actress Marijana Jankovic. Recently returned from New York City with yet another award for her directoral debut, the autofictional short film ‘Maja’, she is more keen than ever on sharing her most important stories with the world – those stories that come straight from the heart.

Putting yourself out there – and being true to yourself

“Ever since I thought of the idea to write ‘Maja’, I’ve wanted to use my background as a strength and tell the stories that live in my heart. The sense of lonelyness and feeling misunderstood and foreign should not be covered up, it should be brought out into the light. We must work towards the good and not least important stories with no fear of exposing ourselves or failing,” says Marijana Jankovic.

Thanks to her having roots in both Montenegro and Denmark, she is familiar with the sense of feeling torn when growing up somewhere between two cultures.

“I choose to be proud of how far I’ve come from the point of departure I had back when as child I left my childhood home to take my first steps on Danish ground. First as an immigrant, then as a Dane with two cultures, two passions and a heart full of love for the imperfect, the foreign and not least film.”

The motivation for the collaboration with OFF is particularly due to Marijana’s love for diversity:

“I sincerely wish for my role as artistic profile to inspire others with backgrounds similar to mine to dream big and use their voices. That’s what the world needs. People come in all shapes and colours, nothing is right or wrong, no skin colour is right or wrong, no story is trivial or unimportant as long as it comes from the right place.”

Marijana Jankovic – Biography

Danish actress, born April 7, 1982 in Montenegro. Graduated at 24 from the Danish National School of Performing Arts in Aarhus and debuted in 2008 in the film ‘Dancers’. Among other things, Marijana Jankovic appeared in the Oscar-winning Danish short film ‘Helium’ (2013), the TV series ‘Norskov’ (2015-2017), ‘The House That Jack Built’ (2018) by Lars von Trier and og the major Danish drama series ‘Follow the Money’ (2016-2019). In 2018, she debuted as director and writer with the short film ‘Maja’ which was inspired by her own life. ‘Maja’ has won several awards including Best Danish Short Film at OFF18, the award for Best Short Fiction at the Robert Awards (the Danish equivalent to The Academy Awards) in 2019 and an international award for Best Narrative Short at Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.