The Thing to Be Done

Filmstill The Thing to Be Done

The Thing to Be Done

Ono što treba činiti
Srđan Kovačević
International Competition Documentary Film 2025
Documentary Film
Croatia,
Serbia,
Slovenia
2025
88 minutes
Slovenian,
Bosnian,
Croatian,
Serbian
Subtitles: 
English

A map of Europe is marked with numbers, their values rising from south to north, east to west. These are the gross minimum wages of each nation – 281 euros in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 842 euros in Slovenia, 1,498 euros in Germany and 1,613 euros in Ireland. Director Srđan Kovačević is committed to transparency. But he is not the only one: The office of workers’ rights “Delavska svetovalnica” in Slovenian Ljubljana bases its activities on enlightenment and transparency. It is approached by workers who are exploited and cheated by companies, who get neither employment contracts nor wages. Many of them do not have Slovenian citizenship, and a legal situation fraught with pitfalls makes them vulnerable and mute. Goran Zrnić, a former electrician turned lawyer, Goran Lukić, staunch union activist, and social worker Laura Orel raise their voices for them, counsel amid piles of paper and permanently ringing phones. Kovačević’s camera matches the speed of the dynamic situation and captures the well-nigh incredible. “The Thing to Be Done” brings together moments of exhaustion and triumph, making us angry and hopeful in turns, combining direct cinema and class struggle into an, in the best sense, inflammatory power.

Carolin Weidner

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Srđan Kovačević
Cinematographer
Srđan Kovačević
Editor
Klara Šovagović
Producer
Sabina Krešić
Co-Producer
Viva Videnović, Marta Popivoda, Jelena Angelovski
Sound Design
Julij Zornik
Nominated for: Silver Dove, FIPRESCI Prize, Prize of the Interreligious Jury, MDR Film Prize
Winner of: Prize of the Interreligious Jury