Croatian Feature Documentaries Retrospective

Blockade

Igor Bezinović
Screening time  
27.02. / Thursday, 17:00 - 19:00 Theatre 3  
"Blockade" is an original creative portrayal of the most numerous, longest, and politically most significant student protest in these areas, the blockade of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in April and May of 2009.

The film is a chronological account of the preparatory meetings of a group of students who planned to occupy their faculty’s building for a week to raise public awareness about the issues related to the right to free education in Croatia. The film shows how they occupied the building and tried to establish a dialogue with the authorities (professors, the government and the media). At the beginning of the protest the blockade became larger than itself and the method of blocking classes spread on to 20 universities in the country, lasted for 34 days and reached the headlines in Croatia. The film follows the protagonists’ lives during the blockade and finally reaching the decision to terminate the blockade and continue their mission via different actions.

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Igor Bezinović

Igor Bezinović is a filmmaker born in Rijeka, which is now part of Croatia, but at that time belonged to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, before that partly the Kingdom of Italy and partly the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (and before that the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes), before that the Free State of Fiume, before that the Italian Regency of Carnaro, before that Austria-Hungary… His films include The Blockade (Oktavijan prize for best Croatian documentary in 2012), Veruda (Oktavijan prize for best Croatian documentary in 2015) and A Brief Excursion (Big Golden Arena prize for best Croatian feature in 2017), along with many shorts of all shapes and sizes. His work has been shown internationally at events including IFF Rotterdam, DOK Leipzig, IDFF Jihlava, CPH:DOX, Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, Venice Biennale of Architecture (with Hrvoslava Brkušić for Pulska grupa), Museum of the Moving Image and the Guanajuato IFF. He graduated in film directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb and in Philosophy, Sociology and Comparative Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. He is a member of The Croatian Film Directors’ Guild and the judo club Black Belt.

General sponsor

Blokada

Croatia
2012, 92', video

Directed by:
Igor Bezinović

Screenplay by:
Igor Bezinović

Cinematography:
Đuro Gavran, Eva Kraljević, Igor Bezinović, Haris Berbić

Edited by:
Hrvoslava Brkušić, Maida Srabović, Miro Manojlović

Music:
Zli bubnjari, Antenat, Ibrica Jusić, Naš mali Afro bend, Tigrova mast, Idoli

Producers:
Nenad Puhovski, Oliver Sertić

Produced by:
Factum, Restart

Festivals & Awards:

Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival 2012 – Special Mention; Underhillfest International Film Festival 2012 – Jury Special Mention; Days of Croatian Film 2012– Oktavijan Critics’ Award for Best Documentary; Audience Award; DOK Leipzig 2012; Free Zone 2012; Mediterranean Film Festival – Široki Brijeg 2013; MEDFILM Festival 2013; Cinema City 2013