CAMERA AND BODY
CAMERA AND BODY
I dedicated my video to the camera and the body. I tried to tell my own story about a body trapped in chaos, silence, pain and helplessness. And about a camera that helped me free my body and find my authentic language.
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Andrejka SkračićDirector
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Andrejka SkračićWriter
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Andrejka SkračićProducer
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VanaKey Cast
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Andrejka SkračićChoreography
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Vana SkračićChoreography
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Andrejka SkračićEditor
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Andrejka SkračićSound
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freesound.orgSound
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Project Type:Documentary, Experimental, Short
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Runtime:3 minutes 43 seconds
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Completion Date:July 10, 2021
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Production Budget:100 USD
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Country of Origin:Slovenia
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Country of Filming:Croatia
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Language:Croatian
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Shooting Format:Digital - HDV
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Athens International Monthly Art Film FestivalAthens
Greece
HONORABLE MENTION 2022 -
OTB | Only The Best Film AwardsMIAMI, FLORIDA
United States
OFFICIAL SELECTION 2022 -
LOGIHQ International Happiness Film Festival & Exhibition, liHfe-2021 New DelhiNew Delhi
India
OFFICIAL SELECTION 2023 -
Busan New Wave Short Film FestivalBusan
Korea, Republic of
WINNER - September 2022 -
Anatolia International Film Festival IstanbulIstanbul Turkey
Turkey
OFFICIAL SELECTION 2022 -
KOREA INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVALSeoul
Korea, Republic of
FINALIST - October 2022 -
Rudis FestivalRome
Italy
OFFICIAL SELECTION 2022 -
New York Istanbul Short Film FestivalNew York
United States
OFFICIAL SELECTION 2022 -
Cinematic European Film FestivalCraiova
Romania
OFFICIAL SELECTION 2023 -
Best International Film FestivalBucharest
Romania
HONORABLE MENTION 2023 -
Nassau Film FestivalPrinceton, New Jersey
United States
HONORABLE MENTION 2023 -
Chandigarh University International Film FestivalPunjab, Mampur
India
OFFICIAL SELECTION 2023 -
Close Film FestivalTabriz
Iran, Islamic Republic of
WINNER May 2023 -
Kurdistan International Independent Film FestivalErbil
Iraq
OFFICIAL SELECTION 2023 -
The Gladiator Film FestivalBalat İstanbul
Turkey
WINNER June 2023 -
GOLDEN WHEAT AWARDSİstanbul
Turkey
WINNER July 2023 -
Golden Laurel International Film FestivalAthens
Greece
HONORABLE MENTION 2023 -
Tabriz Cinema Awardsİstanbul
Turkey
WINNER September 2023 -
Aasha international film festivalNashik, Abhiyanta Nagar
India
WINNER 2023 -
Golden Lion International Film Festival (GLIFF)KOLKATA, West Bengal
India
Best international short film 2023 - critic's choise award -
Golden Lion International Film Festival (GLIFF)KOLKATA, West Bengal
India
WINNER 2023 - Best Silent Short Film -
Muzzle
OFFICIAL SELECTION 2023 -
Golden Bridge İstanbul Short Film Festivalİstanbul
Turkey
OFFICIAL SELECTION AUTUMN 2023 - Best Female Director -
Golden Bridge İstanbul Short Film Festivalİstanbul
Turkey
OFFICIAL SELECTION AUTUMN 2023 - Best Short Film -
David Film Festivalİstanbul
Turkey
WINNER October 2023 -
Venus Community Awardsİstanbul, Balat
Turkey
WINNER november 2023 -
Himalaya International Film Festival
WINNER November 2023 -
Dona Paula International Film AwardsDona Paula Beach, North Goa
India
WINNER December 2023 -
Rhythm International Film Festival
WINNER November 2023 -
Rohip International Film FestivalChennai, Tamil Nadu
India
SPECIAL JURY AWARD -
Rooster International Film FestivalAnnamalai Nagar Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu
India
WINNER November 2023 -
SWEDISH ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE AWARDSAlstermo
Sweden
FINALIST December 2023 -
BHUTAN INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
Bhutan
WINNER 2024 -
The King Review FestivalNungapakkam, Chennai
India
OFFICIAL SELECTION 2024 -
Great Arabian International Movie AwardsManama
Bahrain
WINNER 2024 -
C L I M A XMadrid
Spain
SEMI-FINALIST spring 2024
» I was born on 22nd July 1967. in Šempeter pri Gorici, Slovenia. After graduating from Tolmin High School in 1986, I moved to Ljubljana. I became engaged in professional mountain climbing and took part in the expeditions to Patagonia (twice) and Yosemite Park, USA, where I started to film and edit documentary materials.
» From autumn 1994 to spring 1995 I attended the Film and Video Seminar / Laboratory organised by ZKOS (Alliance of Slovenia’s cultural associations). I participated in a number of documentary projects as a screenwriter, camerawoman, editor and director. Since 2001 I have been living in Split, Croatia, with my husband Mislav and daughter Vana.
» When I was young I thought that I would dedicate my life to literature – the only world of art that was available to me at the time. By the end of my high school days I fell in love with mountain climbing and had the opportunity to explore some of the most amazing scenery of our Blue Planet. It was the period when I searched for freedom and the meaning of life, when I encountered inspiring people, love, as well as difficult challenges and ordeal. I was not sure whether I should write, climb, make photographs... until I found myself in film. Actually, I could say that the film found me as I never thought I would start writing screenplays, learn how to use the camera, do the editing, become a director. It was a perfect twist of fate because making films has turned out to be the best way to express ideas and tell the stories that haunt me. I truly believe that the art of film can considerably contribute to the development of society and a better world.
» I am engaged in independent film and video projects.
» I like photography, writing poetry, mountain climbing and hiking, traveling...
CAMERA AND BODY
As the title suggests, I dedicated my video to the camera and the body.
As a girl, and later as a woman, I lived in a patriarchal environment, where I was often abused physically, mentally and emotionally. The pain I experienced resulted in a trauma that made me feel alienated from my own body. This helped me to survive, but not to live a full life. Consequently, as a grown-up person, I fell into a deep existential crisis. Fortunately, 30 years ago, I was handed a camera by pure accident, and at that moment the process of liberation began within me. Today I symbolically end it with this video. In just under four minutes, I tried to tell my story of liberating the body using a camera that has served me as a medium of expression and creation.
The trauma I experienced made me feel frozen, paralyzed and alienated from my own self, hence the starting scene shows a female body lying wrapped in rope. Her movement is limited, restrained, unfree, breathing short and shallow, in agony. Her space is cramped, time seems to have stopped, the hands of the clock barely move forward, breathing is restless, painful, lost in the chaos of sounds. I used the sounds that stifle our nature most: traffic, selfie-digital technology, television, shopping malls, bureaucratic machinery, hard breathing as a result of abuse… Colors are washed out, almost black and white. The body suffers, convulses and loses its strength. At the crucial moment, She is handed a camera and her body jerks. It is the initiating moment when She begins to take life into her own hands. Now the shots start to change (objective / subjective view). Her subjective shots are restless, insecure and vertical at first, but as the body slowly frees more and more, from lying down to upright, so the shots get longer, more stable, have more perspective, and are eventually horizontal, calm, while the process of the body goes in the opposite direction – it rises, breathes with full lungs, the colors return, the voices of nature suppress unnatural sounds… The last sound is the original sound from the recording: the crickets sing out loud. In the end, the body stands firmly on the ground, the camera makes a 360-degree circle, the space expands in all directions, time spins again. She is holding her life in her hands and is self-confident again.
The last frame is diametrically opposed to the first frame. Not only liberated, the body is now vital, joyful and transcendent. Now She breathes with full lungs, the colors are natural. In the last frame, we see Her climbing a vertical rock, while the rope makes her safe and connected to people.
Although an experienced trauma may have serious harmful effects, making it hard to rebuild one’s life, this video attempts to show that it is possible to start over. I hope that it also raises awareness across the community, that traumatized people having issues deserve support instead of stigma and that female body deserves dignity, integrity and freedom.