Snajka: Diary of Expectations

Snajka: Dnevnik očekivanja

About film

Snajka: Diary of Expectations is a participative-observational documentary about the Croatian-Roma couple Tea and Mirsad, their daughter Frida and an attempt of a life together, stretched between family pressure and compromises they are both willing to make. Their respective endowments were economically and culturally practically incompatible, so they had to face an unrewarding challenge of balancing their family baggage in the form of previous generations’ legacy on the road between Croatia and Kosovo. Joined in their wish to find a solution for their families’ unrealistic expectations, Tea and Mirsad will embark on a complex game of adaptation, which will finally prove to be a burden in their own intimacy. This extremely personal and intimate film unmasks a series of family rituals, traditional stereotypes, even cultural racism, amidst which two people in love are trying to find the right measure between fulfilling the image their parents have and the need to stay true to themselves and live by their own values. Tea and Mirsad obstinately try to be obedient children to their parents and, at the same time, free-spirited parents to their daughter Frida, which seems an impossible task, all the love notwithstanding.

Director and screenwriter: Tea Vidović Dalipi
Editor: Jelena Maksimović
Cinematographers: Tea Vidović Dalipi, Dinka Radonić
Sound designer: Luka Gamulin
Re-recording mixer: Tihomir Vrbanec
Sound recordists: Hrvoje Radnić, Eroll Bilibani
Color grading: Marco Duretti
Graphics: Zlatko Zlatković

Producer: Oliver Sertić (Restart)
Co-producers: Stefano Tealdi (Stefilm), Bujar Kabashi (Möbius)
Executive producers: Vedran Senjanović, Oliver Sertić
Associate producers: Vanja Jambrović, Eroll Bilibani, Elena Fillipini, Edoardo Fracchia
Executive producer (development): Tibor Keser
Production assistants: Zrinka Košar, Suzana Erbežnik, Margherita Cavalli
Production: Restart (HR)
Co-production: Stefilm (IT), Al Jazeera Balkans, Möbius (XK)
In association with: Tabahana Film (XK)

Original languages: Croatian, Albanian, English, Romany
working titles: BRIDE IN SEARCH OF HAPPINESS / SNAJKA

Additional screenings:

Theatrical distribution – Croatia (start: November 2023)
Kinedok catalogue 2024/2025

Developed and pitched at:

Tea Vidović Dalipi is a sociologist, researcher of migrations and cultural identities and a debut director. Born in Zagreb in 1986, since when she spent years forging the role of a daughter and an older sister, and afterwards a wife and a mother. She studied at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb and in Erfurt, Germany. She has completed Peace Studies in Zagreb and has an active and long collaboration with the Centre for Peace Studies, developing programmes related to asylum seeking and migrations. An active member of civil society in Croatia, collaborating with numerous individuals, organisations and initiatives focusing on the protection of human rights and community activity. In her work she fosters interdisciplinarity and multiple perspectives, and for that reason she combines methods and nourishes collaboration. In 2013 she enrolled in Restart’s School of Documentary Film and found herself in the world of documentary film. Her large desire to master the technique which would make it possible for her to share her views on migrations and the world turned into the production of the film Snajka: Diary of Expectations, which was filmed over a period of ten years.

Snajka: Diary of Expectations

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.