The film Minamata, starring Johnny Depp, is among the favorites to win a special award based on audience votes on Twitter, which the Academy is officially introducing with this year’s Oscars. The film was directed by Andrew Levitas and co-produced by Samuel Goldwyn Films and Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment, the parent company of Iervolino Studios, which runs the production of short animated series in Serbia. The segments of this film were shot in Belgrade during 2019, and Minamata was premiered in our country at FEST 2021.

Fan Favorite Award

A special category called the “Fan Favorite Award” will allow fans around the world to vote for their favorite film until March 3, on Twitter by using the hashtag #OscarsFanFavorite, or on the web page OscarsFanFavorite.com. It is possible to vote up to 20 times a day.  

Minamata is a movie based on a true story and the book of the same name by Aileen Mioko Smith and Eugene Smith. The story takes place in 1971 when Eugene Smith, a celebrated photojournalist played by Johnny Depp, receives an assignment to travel to the Japanese city of Minamata, a place ravaged by mercury poisoning. Fighting to uncover the truth and expose the country’s chemical company responsible for the disaster, he uses powerful images to share the agony of Minamata’s inhabitants with the wider world.  

Johnny Depp in Serbia

Johnny Depp was in Belgrade in October 2021 to promote Puffins Impossible, the first animated series produced entirely in Serbia, in which Depp lends the character and voice to the hero Johnny Puff.

The series was realized and developed in Serbia and created by Iervolino Studios (IES), owned by Andrea Iervolino And Lady Monika Bacardi, founders of IES’s parent company  Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment, and produced by Archangel Digital Studios (ADS) of Miloš Biković’s with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia.

Based on his participation in local projects, as well as his continuous efforts in promotion of the Serbian artistic community in the world media, Depp was awarded with the Gold Medal of Merit of the Republic of Serbia, on February 15 this year.