Srbenka
DIRECTOR(S): Nebojša Slijepčević COUNTRY: Croatia YEAR: 2018 LANGUAGE(S): Croatian SUBTITLES: English RUNNING TIME: 72 min
SECTION: International Forum 2019
SCREENINGS Friday, 04.10., 1.30 pm, kinoeins
Tuesday, 08.10., 6.30 pm, kinoeins
SYNOPSIS
During the winter of 1991, Croatia defended itself against the military aggression of neighboring Serbia. Among the innocent victims of this conflict was Aleksandra Zec, a teenager of Serbian origin, who was hatefully lynched in Zagreb. A generation later, while in Croatian schools, Serbian pupils continue to be taken for the “enemies” of yesterday, Oliver Frljić adapts “the Zec affair” at the theatre, with Nina, a Serbian, born in 2001, in the title role.
In front of Nebojša Slijepčević’s camera, the troupe’s rehearsals turn into collective psychotherapy, interspersed by shots of an empty stage haunted by personal accounts that build up in voiceover. Through skillful metatheatre that involves both the troupe’s acting and sense of self as they work on their own memories, distanced by the theatrical device, Srbenka delineates a public space likely to break the cycle of vengeance. Slijepčević’s film also constitutes a powerful reflection on one of the possible functions of art: to dry out, meter by meter, the cesspool of hatred fed by the entrepreneurs of ethnic cleansing who continue to act today.
Nebojša Slijepčević
Nebojša Slijepčević was born in 1973 in Zagreb, Croatia. In 2005, he graduated in Film Directing from the Academy of Drama and Art in Zagreb. Nebojša has directed numerous creative documentaries that were widely shown and awarded multiple times at many international festivals. For his TV documentaries he was nominated three times for the Prix Europa Award. His first documentary feature, the international co-production Gangster of Love, premiered at Hot Docs Karlovy Vary and was one of the biggest box-office successes in Croatia. Slijepčević is also an educator as well as mentoring and lecturing at Restart’s School of Documentary Film in Zagreb.
FILMOGRAPHY
Gangster of Love (2013), Srbenka (2018)
SCRIPT: Nebojša Slijepčević PRODUCER: Vanja Jambrovic CAMERA: Nebojša Slijepčević, Bojan Mrđenović, Iva Kraljević EDITOR: Tomislav Stojanović
PRODUCTION: Restart WORLD SALES: Vanja Jambrovic, Restart