Regional Competition

Happy Ever After Land

Goran Dević

We follow preparations, journey and the arrival of the two busses to the final destination. The first bus (from Rijeka to Kumrovec) whose ‘victorious’ passengers are to commemorate and celebrate Tito’s birthday by visiting Tito’s birth house; and the second bus (from Zadar to Bleiburg) which ‘ships’ elderly and ‘defeated’ ones as well as the youngsters of the ideology to the place of defeat. Though, what was going on there, in the two busses, has been an expression of the opposite ideo-logical positioning, for author it was something more. Being an outsider and observer, he was caught by the ways these events manifested themselves in dramatic and emotional ‘sameness’. What appeared to be the most important thing was that the passengers in both busses lived in the past. This living in the past could have been perceived as ‘normal’ and reasonable if the passengers in the busses were the eyewitnesses and participators of the Second World War. The point was that there was a gap of a few generations between the Great War generation and the majority of passengers in both busses. Still, the past has bridged the gap and the memory of it became trans-generational heritage.

Goran_devic

Goran Dević

Goran Dević was born in Sisak in 1971. He graduated in Film and TV Directing from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, where he currently works as docent in the Film and TV Directing BA and MA programs. He is the author of award-winning documentary films: On the Water (2018), The Steel Mill Café (2017), 65+ (2016), Two Furnaces for Udarnik Josip Trojko (2012), Don Juan: Excuse Me, Miss (2010), The Flood (2010), Happy Land (2009), Three (2008), I Have Nothing Nice to Say to You (2005), Imported Crows (2004) and others. He is the co-director and co-screenwriter of feature film The Blacks (2009), which won several awards: Grand Prix at Ljubljana International Film Festival 2009, Grand Prix at Auteur Film Festival Serbia 2009, FIPRESCI Award and Special Award for Directing at FilmFestival Cottbus 2009, and Golden Arena for Directing at Pula Film Festival 2009. Retrospectives of his documentaries were screened at Arsenal Berlin and Crossing Europe Filmfestival Linz.

General sponsor

Sretna zemlja

Croatia
2008, 50', color, video

Directed by:
Goran Dević

Screenplay by:
Goran Dević

Cinematography:
Almir Fakić, Jure Černec, Mario Oljača, Tamara Cesarec

Edited by:
Vanja Siruček

Music:
Svadbas

Producer:
Vanja Jambrović

Produced by:
Petnaesta umjetnost, WHW