Factumentaries at ZagrebDox!

Nikola Strašek, a younger director and writer, with his new film Čedo remains faithful to portraying marginalised individuals, proving a point that our treatment of these people reflects a ‘diagnosis’ of an entire society. Čedo is 45, he is homeless, addicted to alcohol and drugs and coming from a mixed marriage: his mother is Croatian and his father Montenegrin. Čedo Šaraba granted the film crew access to private space and, with some of his cronies, told them his story.

Kristina Leko found the protagonists for her film – at the greenmarket. The author working in the fields of experimental video art and documentary film portrays Zagreb’s milkmaids in her 40-minute film essay Cheese and Cream, indirectly touching on the subject of deep crisis in political will and national identity which greatly influence these women’s status. Economic restructuring of our transitional society jeopardises their work and survival and threatens them with extinction. Their method of production and sale of dairy does not comply with European standards. Can the milkmaids and their cheese and cream join the EU and how? And who are these milkmaids, the women we often consider one of the trademarks of Zagreb? A story coming directly from the city’s belly.