VENICE - A love story set against the backdrop of political upheaval is heading to the big screen this winter, and the first trailer has just landed here at the Venice Film Festival. Until the Day Ends, the latest feature from Serbian director Jelena Maksimović, follows two teenagers who are forced to run for their lives after participating in protests against government repression. Their only possessions, according to the film’s official synopsis, are their feelings for each other and a dog.
The film, which is slated for a December 28, 2026 release, marks a deeply personal project for Maksimović, who has built a reputation for intimate character studies against larger social backdrops. In Until the Day Ends, she trains her lens on Lena and Stefan, two young people from opposite sides of a fractured society who find common ground in a moment of crisis. The trailer, unveiled exclusively to attendees at this year’s festival, leans heavily on the tension between youthful idealism and the harsh realities that force the pair into hiding.
Lena Trifunović stars as Lena, a teenager whose life is upended when her involvement in the demonstrations makes her a target. Opposite her, Andrija Krivokapić plays Stefan, a young man whose own circumstances force him to choose a side he never anticipated. The trailer’s key moments suggest a romance that blooms in the margins of chaos, with the pair’s bond tested not just by the authorities pursuing them but by the ideological rifts that define their communities. Miodrag Dragičević appears as Milan, a figure who seems to represent the older generation’s complicated legacy, while Irina Hotomski, Stefan Tarabić, Raško Milatović, Milica Institucija, and Marina Fartzova round out the supporting cast.
What stands out in the footage is the film’s refusal to paint its world in simple strokes. The two leads are not merely star-crossed lovers from rival families; they are citizens of a society where protest has become a survival instinct, and where loyalty is measured in what you are willing to abandon. The dog, a scrappy presence in the trailer, becomes a quiet symbol of the innocence the teenagers are fighting to preserve amid the sirens and shattered glass.
Maksimović, who wrote the screenplay as well, has described the project in festival materials as an exploration of “the price of conscience.” The dialogue in the trailer, entirely in Serbian, is subtitled for international audiences, and the emotional beats come through clearly: a whispered promise in a dim stairwell, a desperate run through rain-slicked streets, a shared glance that says more than the words around it.
A Story Rooted in Contemporary Fears
The Venice presentation frames Until the Day Ends as a drama that speaks to current anxieties about authoritarian overreach and the personal costs of resistance. While the film is not explicitly set in a specific real-world conflict, its imagery of tear gas, barricades, and young people clutching phones as evidence will resonate with anyone who has followed recent protest movements across Europe and beyond. The director’s approach is less about polemic than about the human scale of history, focusing on how grand political forces compress into the daily choices of people who just want to live their lives.
For Trifunović and Krivokapić, both emerging talents in Serbian cinema, the roles represent a significant leap. Their chemistry in the trailer is palpable, grounding the film’s heavier themes in something tactile and believable. Krivokapić’s Stefan is particularly intriguing because his arc appears to involve a reckoning with his own family’s politics, a thread that the trailer hints at without fully resolving. Dragičević, a veteran actor, anchors the adult perspective, offering a counterpoint to the teenagers’ urgency.
The film’s release date at the very end of 2026 positions it as a late-year awards contender, though the Venice premiere suggests the festival circuit is already embracing it. The question of runtime remains unanswered in official materials, but the trailer’s pacing suggests a tight, propulsive narrative rather than a sprawling epic. That focus aligns with Maksimović’s previous work, which has favored emotional precision over spectacle.
A Dog, A Love Story, A Reckoning
The most striking image in the trailer may be the dog - unnamed in the materials but central to the pair’s flight. It is a choice that risks sentimentality, but the footage suggests Maksimović uses the animal as a measure of the characters’ humanity. When the teenagers are at their most desperate, the dog is there, unjudging, forcing them to keep moving. It’s a subtle storytelling device that elevates the romance beyond mere circumstance.
Until the Day Ends arrives at a moment when stories about divided societies are in high demand, but it distinguishes itself by refusing easy binaries. Neither Lena nor Stefan is a pure hero; both are products of their environments, struggling to imagine a future that their communities have told them is impossible. The title itself carries a note of melancholy, hinting at an ending that may not be clean.
As the festival buzz builds, the film’s team is expected to release a full trailer to the public in the coming weeks. For now, the exclusive Venice glimpse has set expectations high. With a compelling premise, a strong cast, and a director known for her restraint, Until the Day Ends looks poised to be one of the more talked-about dramas of the season - a quiet, urgent story about what we carry when everything else is stripped away.
Source: Hollywood Reporter