SNAJKA
Croatia, Italy, Kosovo I 90 min
Director: Tea Vidović Dalipi
Producer: Oliver Sertić
Editor: Jelena Maksimović
Production company: Restart
Co-existence on the front of family expectations!
TEA and MIRSAD married only 6 months into their relationship. Two completely different cultures, with their traditions and long-built expectations of what a spouse should be like, thus met in an uncharted territory. Contrary to the customary patriarchal traditions, where the bride usually enters the groom’s family home and becomes dependent on them, Mirsad, after moving to Croatia, was in fact the one to claim this position of snajka. Just when Tea finally found a compromise with Mirsad’s family’s wishes and he started to make money, their daughter FRIDA was born, a dark-skinned girl with a catchy smile. In both countries, the Roma are second-grade citizens, and Frida is a child who is neither a Croat nor a Roma. She simultaneously belongs to everyone. And no one.
TEA VIDOVIĆ DALIPI / IMDB
TEA VIDOVIĆ DALIPI has graduated sociology from the Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. She has contributed to the local newspaper, organized exhibitions and collaborated on research for the documentary films. She is currently employed at the Centre for Peace Studies, working on migrant issues and their integration. In 2013, she finished the School of Documentary Film, where she started developing ideas for her first documentary film.
Director’s statement
This film is a very personal story about me, my husband MIRSAD and our daughter FRIDA, as well as the way our families are coping with an unexpected marriage, and the child they are now claiming and trying to shape according to their cultural patterns. Their traditions run deep and I might even agree with some of them, although I dislike them. The same goes for Mirsad, not only in his attitude towards his parents, but also in the context of Croatian society, full of openly expressed prejudices. This immediacy, without acting, is the backbone of our film; our daily life, conflicts, dramas, decisions, disagreements and reconciliations; it looks raw and real. While making this film, I became aware of my own deeply rooted stereotypes, and Mirsad’s behavior tells me that he too has become more critical of his culture. Although we are speaking about important, personal, and sometimes even unpleasant topics, the tone of the film is cheerful. We are both optimistic and trying to laugh at it all.
OLIVER SERTIĆ / IMDB
OLIVER SERTIĆ is a documentary producer and festival programmer from Zagreb. He has produced around 30 films, including features, short documentaries and experimental films. Oliver has worked for 18 years as a journalist and editor-in-chief in different media and has organized different cultural events. He is the founder of organization RESTART (2007) where he established Restart Laboratory, Dokukino and Restart Label. Additionally, he has cooperated with numerous film festivals as a PR, programmer, producer and advisor. From 2007, he worked as a selector and later programming director of Liburnia Film Festival, where he previously served 10 years as a director.
Where are we at?
Production budget: 180.000,00 EUR
Needed for completion: 59.250,00 EUR
Territories: World, except ex-Yu and Italy
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Production company profile
RESTART is an organization focusing on production, education, distribution and exhibition of mainly creative documentary films. Restart has produced more than 40 feature and short documentary and experimental films, screened at more than 400 international festivals. Through Restart Label, we have so far distributed more than 120 feature documentaries on the territory of ex-Yugoslavia. In 2009, we founded Dokukino, a cinema specializing in documentaries, and since 2011, we have been organizing the School of Documentary Film. Restart is the co-organizer of the Liburnia Film Festival.