Film Archive

Filmstill El Shatt – A Blueprint for Utopia

El Shatt – A Blueprint for Utopia

El Shatt – nacrt za utopiju
Ivan Ramljak
International Competition Documentary Film 2023
Documentary Film
Croatia,
Serbia
2023
96 minutes
Croatian,
Arabic
Subtitles: 
English

El Shatt in Egypt, in the middle of the desert, was both a haven and a projection. This is where in 1944, based on a deal between the Yugoslavian partisans led by Tito and the British allies, not only a refugee camp for the families of anti-fascist fighters from Dalmatia was built. This is where a model was created for the future Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – a state that was to build its founding narrative on the people’s liberation fight against fascism and declare collectively organised self-administration its social ideal.

Director Ivan Ramljak offers us multifaceted insights into this long-forgotten piece of primordial communist history spelled out in reality. After painstaking research, he combines hundreds of historical photographs and some (few) film recordings of interviews with contemporary witnesses. The lively voices of those who were children back then and are over 80 today tell their stories offscreen: of the struggle for survival, solidarity and lived ideology, in short, of a daily life that included self-organised schools, workshops, canteen kitchens, even a newspaper. Ramljak, tongue firmly in cheek, takes up the thread of history and juxtaposes his skilfully arranged archive material with staged scenes played by the ensemble of a theatre that was founded in El Shatt at the time.

Borjana Gaković

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Ivan Ramljak
Script
Ivan Ramljak
Cinematographer
Boris Poljak
Editor
Jelena Maksimović
Producer
Tibor Keser
Co-Producer
Iva Plemić Divjak, Mladen Kovačević, Sunčica Fradelić
Sound
Miloš Drndarević
Sound Design
Vladimir Živković
World Sales
Marcella Jelić
Nominated for: Prize of the Interreligious Jury, FIPRESCI Prize, MDR Film Prize
Filmstill Playing Men

Playing Men

Playing Men
Matjaž Ivanišin
Focus: Post-1991 Slovenian Documentary Films 2023
Documentary Film
Slovenia,
Croatia
2017
60 minutes
Italian,
German,
Croatian,
Slovenian
Subtitles: 
English

A film about men and games, somewhere in the Mediterranean, directed by a Slovenian master of the playful, somewhere between speculative and pseudo-documentary form. Oily bodies in a wrestling match, hooking fingers, a wheel of cheese rolled through a village – all these are archaic occupations of the utmost importance. The filmmaker meticulously captures the events until he is overcome by a major creative block. From now on, he will experience his surroundings as part of the game. Childhood memories and the footage of the unfinished film project merge seamlessly into an ode to the absurdity of the gesture.

Simon Popek

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Matjaž Ivanišin
Script
Matjaž Ivanišin
Cinematographer
Gregor Božič
Editor
Matic Drakulić
Producer
Marina Gumzi, Vanja Jambrovic, Tibor Keser
Sound Design
Borna Buljević
Filmstill The Family Portrait

The Family Portrait

Obiteljski portret
Lea Vidaković
International Competition Animated Film 2023
Animated Film
Croatia,
France,
Serbia
2023
14 minutes
without dialogue
Subtitles: 
None

András and his daughter Zsófia enjoy a relaxed Sunday in their stately city mansion, just before the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. But soon the silence in the house is disturbed by an escaped pig, closely followed by an unexpected visit: András’ brother, his large family and lots of luggage barge in through the front door. Running children and garrulous relatives bring noise and bedlam to all floors. Art objects are handled without permission, furniture is moved, objects fall to the ground. The visitors have brought chaos. Zsófia’s father and the maid try in vain to restore calm and order. Though András and his brother get closer to each other, the old house is not up to the changed circumstances. A leaking water pipe heralds a finale that at least makes them all stand still together.

Franka Sachse

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Lea Vidaković
Script
Lea Vidaković
Cinematographer
Lea Vidaković, Damien Buquen
Editor
Iva Kraljević
Producer
Draško Ivezić, Jean Francois le Corre, Nikolina Vucetic Zecevic
Sound Design
Zoran Maksimovic
Animation
Marion le Guillou, Bilitis Levillain, Violette Delvoye
Nominated for: mephisto 97.6 Audience Award
Filmstill Valerija

Valerija

Valerija
Sara Jurinčić
Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe 2023
Documentary Film
Croatia
2023
15 minutes
Croatian
Subtitles: 
English

Two women take the ferry to an island cemetery to tend to a gravesite. With the utmost care and perseverance, they remove moss and candle wax from the stone, wash and scrub every chink, trim flower arrangements and set up lights that flash in different colours at night.

It is a work of mourning under special circumstances, as Sara Jurinčić makes plain in an early shot: She edits two picture galleries next to each other, one of male, the other of female portraits. The men suddenly vanish from their photos and thus from the island. The faces of the women remain. And it is these portraits, motifs chosen by themselves for their gravestones, that dominate the film, give a face to its experimental explorations of female genealogy. Jurinčić wraps them in visual metaphors of extraordinary intricacy, sometimes literally as in the spectacular finale, when the portraits of the dead women are superimposed on the faces of the living women – with an eerie effect that is as disturbing as it is sublime.

Felix Mende

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Sara Jurinčić
Cinematographer
Ivan Slipčević
Producer
Vanja Jambolic
World Sales
Marcella Jelić
Filmstill Y

Y

Y
Matea Kovač
International Competition Animated Film 2023
Animated Film
Croatia
2023
7 minutes
Croatian
Subtitles: 
English

“Y” sensually draws the progress of a same-sex relationship from playful beginning to turbulent end. Charcoal strokes become the language in which the filmmaker tells us of the process of growing closer to and away from each other, of intimacy and estrangement. A shared chapter of life is sketched, corrected and discarded.

But the line also explores the female body. The tip of the charcoal wanders through curves, hills and valleys, circling soft flanks like a finger and gently stroking breasts and hips. In the darkness of the cinema, the eye is free to glide along the emerging and disappearing shapes. We become part of an erotic triangle and are given an intimate insight into the protean psychological and physical aspects of this partnership.

Franka Sachse

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Matea Kovač
Script
Matea Kovač, Jasna Žmak
Editor
Matea Kovač
Producer
Vinko Brešan
Sound
Vjeran Šalamon
Sound Design
Vjeran Šalamon
Animation
Matea Kovač, Darko Bakliža, Kata Gugić
World Sales
Sanja Borčić
Narrator
Jadranka Đokić
Nominated for: mephisto 97.6 Audience Award