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    • New Talents Open Call
      Eastern Neighbours Film Festival (ENFF) began in The Netherlands in 2008 with the idea to offer Dutch and international audiences a unique glimpse into the cinema of their neighbors from Eastern and Southern Europe. This annual event presents the most recent, exciting, and thought‐provoking films, from countries with small, but often powerful film industries, that… Read more: New Talents Open Call
    • ENFF 2023 On Demand!
      Unable To attend the festival in person? No problem! From November 27th to December 3rd, we’re thrilled to bring you a curated selection of this year’s films available for online viewing! Catch our captivating Opening Film Ivan’s Land, or the touching Closing Film Seventh Heaven. Or explore a collection of shorts from the New Talents Competition! Follow along… Read more: ENFF 2023 On Demand!
    • What’s up in Slovak Cinema? A conversation with Monika Lostakova
      We talked with Monika Lošťáková about contemporary Slovak cinema.
    • ENFF and the Eastern European Film Festival Network!
      The Eastern European Film Festival Network brings together five film festivals dedicated to promoting and showcasing Eastern European cinema, alongside one partner organisation.
    • Masterclasses
      Through these masterclasses we approach two memory in film from different angles: memories from a personal or collective recollection through archive material.
    • Work in Progress
      In Work in Progress, emerging filmmakers and artists will present their works in development to the audience and engage in discussions with Dutch experts.
    • Festival Timetable Available!
    • Check out the catalogue for our 2023 edition!
    • Music at ENFF
      Every year, ENFF brings special musical guests who bring beauty to the program and further represent the rich cultures of their countries to a Dutch audience.
    • Film Marathon
      Join us for the Film Marathon, a new concept in which we merge two components, Short Films, Big Stories, and New Talents Competition into a whole-day screening of short films!

Bigger Than Trauma

Winner of the prestigious award at the Sarajevo Film Festival for the best film dealing with human rights topics, this remarkable debut by two young women depicts the healing process of a group of women who found the courage to deal with their personal trauma thirty years later. This complex story of empowerment has been also selected for the competition at the Hot Docs in Toronto.

Synopsis

Marija feels she doesn’t deserve to be free, Katica finds change terrifying and Ana describes herself as a lonely little duckling. They are just three of the many rape victims who lived in silence for 25 years without any support or help from the state, and often in the vicinity of their abusers (former friends and schoolmates). Pushed to the limits of their physical and mental strength, these women are unable to break away from the past and take control of their lives. The change comes after they embark on an unconventional healing program and slowly begin to face their fears, leading to greater confidence and the realisation that they are bigger than their traumas.

VECE OD TRAUME

Croatia | 2022 | 91 min

DIRECTOR: Vedrana Pribacic

PRODUCTION: Mirta Puhlovski – Metar60; HRT

SCREENPLAY: Vedrana Pribacic, Mirta Puhlovski

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Dario Hacek

EDITING: Marta Broz

SOUND: Dario Domitrovic, Frano Homen, Tihomir Vrbanec

SCREENING: Saturday 26.11. / 17:00h / Zaal 4 & Sunday 27.11 / 17:30h / Zaal 3

The screening will be followed by Q&A with director Vedrana Pribacic. Dutch Premiere.

Festivals & Awards (selection)

HotDocs, Toronto 2022 | ZagrebDox – Audience Award, Special Mention | Sarajevo FF – Human Rights Award | Croatian Film Days – Ethics and Human Rights Award, Golden Oil Lamp Award, Audience Award, Special Mention | Liburnia FF – Audience Award | Verzio FF – Jury Special Mention | Free Zone FF – Jury Special Mention | Croatian candidate for Goya Awards

Director’s statement

I made a film about women, civil victims of war, whose suffering is not communicated enough in my society…They are the heroines of our society because they took on the responsibility and faced themselves in order to change their lives. It took a great deal of courage to face the unknown and allow us to film it. I was in the right place and witnessed this great transformation at the right time.

Director’s bio

Vedrana Pribacic (1977) is a Croatian journalist, director, and screenwriter. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Zagreb and has been working as a TV reporter and editor-in-chief on various TV channels ( NOVA TV, RTL, CNN World View ). After a successful first documentary which was filmed in 2016 for national television, Pribacic started to develop her director’s debut “Bigger Than Trauma” in 2017. With this project, she took part in several professional pitching forums and workshops such as Docu Rough Boutique (Sarajevo FF & Balkan Documentary Centre 2020) and Rough Cut Lab Movies that Matter (Haag, 2021).