Female directors in Croatian documentary production

Straight A's

Dana Budisavljević

Lidija is 37, she was born in a small town on the Croatian coast. At the age of 19 she left for Amsterdam, where she was promised a waitressing job, but she ended up in the Red Light District. After 15 years, she returns to her hometown to turn a new page and become a mother. In the film she speaks up for the first time about leaving and returning to a conservative community, everything she experienced in between and describes Amsterdam’s windows, porn sets, Playboy covers.

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Dana Budisavljević

Dana Budisavljević was born in 1975 in Zagreb, where she graduated from the Film and TV Editing Department of the Academy of Dramatic Arts. She worked as a film editor, production assistant and organizer of film festivals. Her directorial debut was the documentary Straight A’s! (2004), after which she went on to win wide acclaim with Family Meals (2012). With Hulahop, a production company she founded with Olinka Vištica in 2006, she produced documentary series Slumbering Concrete by Saša Ban, as well as films I Like That Super Most the Best by Eva Kraljević, Then I See Tanja by Juraj Lerotić, and others. The Diary of Diana B. (2019) is her debut feature-length film. It premiered at the 2019 Pula Film Festival, where it won six awards, after which it was screened and awarded at international festivals.

General sponsor

Sve 5!

Croatia
2004, 45'

Directed by:
Dana Budisavljević

Screenplay by:
Dana Budisavljević

Cinematography:
Dana Boo, Andrej Korovljev, Anne Marie Boorsboom

Edited by:
Tomislav Pavlic

Producer:
Nenad Puhovski

Produced by:
Factum

Festivals & Awards:

Croatian Film days 2005 – Grand Prix, Best Production 
Dubrovnik Film Festival 2005 – Best Documentary, Audience Award
Liburnia Film Festival 2005 – Audience Award
Sarajevo Film Festival 2005 – Special Jury Mention Human Rights Award
IDFA 2004
ZagrebDox 2005
Zagreb Film Festival 2004
East Silver 2005
Pärnu Film Festival 2005
Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2005
Balkan Black Box 2005
DokMa 2005
Pool Film Festival 2005

Contact:

FACTUM
Nova Ves 18
10000 Zagreb, Croatia
T. +38514854821
E. info@factum.com.hr