SCREENINGS & AWARDS

World Premiere: Sheffield DocFest 2024 – International Competition

2024 Dokufest
2024 Sarajevo Film Festival
2024 Makedox
2024 Mediterranean Film Festival Široki Brijeg
2024 Verzio Film Festival
2024 European Film Forum SCANORAMA
2024 Inward Eye Film Festival
2024 Aesthetica Film Festival
2024 IDA FallDocs
2024 Kendal Mountain Film Festival
2024 Eastern Neighbours Film Festival
2024 Iran International Documentary Film Festival, Cinema Verite
2025 Trieste Film Festival
2025 FIPADOC
2025 Santa Barbara IFF
2025 ZagrebDox
2025 Stockfish
2025 Festival cinema du monde de Sherbrooke
2025 GoEast Film Festival
2025 Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival New York
2025 Trento Film Festival
2025 SEEfest
2025 ZagrebDox
2025 DOK.fest München
2025 Beldocs
2025 UnderHill International Film Festival
2025 Nuovi Mondi Festival
2025 Flickers Rhode Island Film Festival
2025 Zemun Fest
2025 Cinema Parallels
2025 Five Lakes film Festival
2025 Alpin Film Festival
2025 Pančevo Film Festival
2025 DOKUDOC International Documentary Film Festival, Maribor
2025 Crested Butte Film Festival
2025 Ulju Mountain Film Festival – UMFF
2025 DokuBaku International Documentary Film Festival

Upcoming: Festival Cámara Lúcida – Encuentros Cinematográficos (Oct. 16-25)

AWARDS

• Grand Jury Award in International Competition at Sheffield DocFest 2024

“With cinematic excellence the director slowly reveals a story of isolation and trauma in a landscape of beauty yet deep historial scars. An emerging director to watch.” 

Jury Statement, Grand Jury Award in International Competition at Sheffield DocFest 2024

• Special mention at Mediterranean Film Festival Široki Brijeg 2024

A visually appealing and aesthetically appealing work that, in its meditativeness, has the power to grab the viewer and draw them into a magical world, not only of the landscape that is cinematic in itself, but also in the inner world of the protagonist Emin. This is a film that takes sadness, loneliness and solitude as a motif and presents them as companions whom one can’t do without. Novaković simply managed to make them not only tangible but also – beautiful.

• Best Documentary Feature Award at Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2024
• Best Documentary Film at SEEfest 2025

“How can a film with hardly any plot or dialogue grab you by the lapels and not let go? See this film and find out! An old man and his horse share an intense bond as they survive the cold and lonely winter in the snowy Bosnian countryside. Each exquisite frame is like a painting. We’re still thinking about it weeks later. It was our favorite film.”

Jury Statement, Best Documentary Film at SEEfest 2025

• Best Cinematography in Documentary Film at SEEfest 2025

“In AT THE DOOR OF THE HOUSE WHO WILL COME KNOCKING, isolation is skillfully portrayed through an atmospheric setting, giving the story a captivating, dreamlike quality reminiscent of a folktale. The narrative unfolds and evolves over time, steadily peeling away psychological layers and adding depth through creative additions. Director Maja Novakovic strikes a balance between restraint and gentle nudging, allowing the story to breathe while occasionally adding subtle touches to coax it forward. Her very intimate use of the camera added by a relentless patience gives the film a meditational feeling that ultimately works beyond mere and vain life philosophy.”

Jury Statement, Best Cinematography in Documentary Film at SEEfest 2025

• Special Mention in the Regional Competition at ZagrebDox 2025

“This film shows us the beauty of paying attention, as the main protagonist observes: “While you are looking, you must hear and understand.” Through carefully composed, picturesque images, the viewer becomes immersed in the environment and its soundscape, gaining a valuable opportunity to reflect deeply on the basics of our existence.”

Jury Statement, Special Mention in the Regional Competition at ZagrebDox 2025

• Jury Prize at Alpin Film Festival 2025

“This film, born out of simplicity of means but richness of vision, affirms the power of cinema as an art of patience and tenderness. Alone behind her camera, Maja Novaković captures Emin in his isolation and reveals a world where every detail becomes a symbol: the fire in the stove, the breath of the mountains, the playful kitten, the loyal dog, and above all the horse, his surrogate brother. Emin speaks to him gently, entrusts him with his silences, and offers what he holds most precious: a beautiful carpet, kept not for his dilapidated room but for the back of his companion. In this profoundly noble gesture lies an entire life of solitude and discreet love. As in the verses of Jules Supervielle — “This horse had kept such long watch, had suffered so much from its freedom, that it had a human voice” — the animal becomes our mirror. And in the austerity of this work, we recognize the grandeur of masters such as Parajanov and Tarkovsky. Yet here, everything was born from one person alone, with only a dog as assistant. This film is an act of faith in both cinema and humanity.”

Jury Statement, Jury Prize at Alpin Film Festival 2025

• Main DokuTam Award at DokuBaku International Documentary Film Festival 2025

The jury unanimously agreed on a film that stands out as truly unique in today’s documentary landscape. It unfolds slowly, with images of extraordinary beauty that resemble paintings. At its center is a lonely soul and his horse, yet beneath the surface lies another layer — a vision embedded in the old man’s inner world, as he waits or dreams about what may come.
The Main Prize of the DokuTam category goes to: At the Door of the House, Who Will Come Knocking by Maja Novakovic.

Main DokuTam Award at DokuBaku International Documentary Film Festival 2025

PRESS

Reviews: Vreme, Télérama, Gazettely, ICSfilm The Film Verdict, Screen Daily  En Primera Fila, Film Carnage, Film Fest Report, Cineuropa, Sight and Sound, High on Films, Deadline – Acquisition Announcement
Interviews: Verzio, IDA FallDocs Q&A, FestivalDaily30.SarajevoFF, Fetch London,Cineuropa,Business Doc Europe

***

“Bosnian filmmaker Maja Novaković’s first feature-length documentary tells a cryptic story of loss, grief and loneliness through gorgeously depicted natural elements” …

“Some shots are as beautifully composed as masterworks of painting.”

Vladan Petkovic, Cineuropa

*

“There’s a definite sense of a painter with images finding her voice in this intriguing work.”

Sight & Sound Bulletin

*

“At the Door of the House, Who Will Come Knocking” is a meditative, hypnotic film (…) Maja Novaković has crafted a visually rich film that is compelling in unusual ways.”

Debanjan Dhar, High on Films

*

“A quietly devastating and profoundly soul-stirring visual essay that captures the raw essence of what it means to be alive in a manner truly spellbinding and most unconventional.”

Matthew Joseph Jenner, ICSfilm

*

“Finding universal emotion in a singular case study, Maja Novakovic’s painterly debut feature is a hauntingly beautiful meditation on loss and loneliness.”

Stephen Dalton, The Film Verdict

*

“At the Door of the House presents a unique brand of cinematic intimacy. It invites absorbing another’s perspective at their own thoughtful pace, uncovering layers of empathy, memory, and the resilient human spirit beneath outward solitude. Novaković’s debut marks her as a director attuned to cinema’s potential to unveil delicately shining glimpses of the intangibly profound.”

Naser Nahandian, Gazettely