IN SEARCH OF LOST SPACE
I divided my video essay into two parts. In the first, I show billboards featuring half-naked female bodies, which I photographed in different streets in the centre of my city. Each frame lasts six seconds, which is how I wanted to capture those automated collective patterns and stereotypes about women. Each frame contains a large poster to which I added a word, whose font and content communicate with the font and content of the poster, thus giving a negative connotation to the space.
Musical background includes synthesized female voices that leave an impression of suffering and longing. I also played with the words a bit. Thus, the title of the film Potraga za izgubljenim prostorom (In Search of Lost Space), in the first part, is changed to Trag – Izgubljen – Prost (Trace – Lost – Vulgar), while the second part, which offers alternative solutions, is entitled Trace – Beloved – Free (in modern Croatian language, the word "prost" means rude, indecent, vulgar… whereas initially it meant "free"). This realization inspired me to play with words, in an attempt to return the original substance to the woman, with the connotation of freedom.
Therefore, in the second part, I replace objectified female bodies displayed on billboards with unique and special women who remained free and left a significant mark on the city of Split. I did not insert their pictures, but only the names in the black background, because they remain invisible until they become part of public discourse. This part of the video essay is accompanied by a female vocal with the song I have a dream. The editing is no longer automatic, but follows the rhythm of the music. The derogatory words from the first part are now being replaced by the occupations of these women. They are poets, ballerinas, pedagogues, theatrologists, athletes, activists…
I hope that this video will encourage changes in the collective consciousness and that some day billboards will feature the women who deserve to be there through their achievements. To the pride and honour of Split residents and their guests.
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Andrejka SkračićDirector
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Andrejka SkračićWriter
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Andrejka SkračićProducer
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Andrejka SkračićEditor
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Project Type:Documentary, Short
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Runtime:2 minutes 58 seconds
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Completion Date:March 8, 2020
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Production Budget:150 USD
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Country of Origin:Croatia
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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
» 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.
Each city is a mirror of its inhabitants, their values and attitudes towards the space they share. Split, the place where I live, the second largest city in Croatia, is no exception. We are aware that we should all take care of the city if we want life in it to be beautiful and high quality. With this video-essay, I would like to contribute to a more humane appearance of my city. It deals with the appearance of women in public space.
Firstly, I would like to come out with the fact that only three percent of Split's streets are named after women, even though they have marked the city's history and culture. What does that tell us? That the patriarchal mentality and value system did not only deprive women of public space – where they had no access and were therefore invisible, non-existent and unrecognized – but also systematically ignored the deeds and creativity of those rare women who fought for their vocation and identity in all walks of life.
In my daily walks around the city, I began to notice, and then photograph, billboards along my route. Beautiful female bodies were watching me, selling just about everything! This led me to ask myself: in our society and in this 21st century, is a woman really still perceived only as a body... photoshopped and displayed on every corner? Vulgar, shallow, banal, sexualized, degraded… in short, objectified. What message and what impression does it leave on the residents of the city and their guests? It hurts and offends me that public space is often abused in this way.
All this led me to the conclusion that, in fact, women were and have remained captives of the patriarchal universe: marginalized, discriminated, excluded from relevant social stages. With the difference that, in the past, women were out of the public eye, absent and caged in their husbands' homes, while with the advent of mass media, women enter the public space but remain, as before, bodies without a subject.
Unlike nude models, female artists, journalists, activists, scientists… are still rarely represented in the public media space, as are their names in real space, in the names of streets, squares, institutions, airports or cities.
For the purposes of this video project, I asked my friends, as well as about fifty students from the University of Split, to give me ten names of Split female scientists, artists, activists, sportswomen… No one could list five, let alone ten names. That really made me think. How is it possible that, in the 1700 years of Split's existence, ten female names have not survived in the collective memory? And so the search for lost space turned into a search for women. And I found them. Unique, strong, present in all walks of life. I hope that one day they will be equally present in our public, urban space and that my video, in this sense, will make a difference.