The feature-length documentary film “Snajka: Diary of Expectations” (Restart / Stefilm / Al Jazeera Balkans / Möbius; 2023) by Tea Vidović Dalipi is coming to Croatian cinemas soon. This story about the romantic relationship between two individuals from different cultures – Croatian Tea and Roma Mirsad – will be released nationwide on November 14th. It is a film that, with an intimate observational approach, examines the almost idealistic endeavor of this loving couple to find a balance between their own happiness and the family baggage they brought with them, torn between the expectations of tradition and economic pressures.
“Snajka: Diary of Expectations” is a participatory-observational documentary about a Croatian-Roma couple, Tea and Mirsad, their daughter Frida and their attempt to live together, torn between family pressures and compromises that both are willing to agree to. The dowries they received are economically and culturally practically incompatible, so they face the thankless challenge of balancing their own family baggage, pinned as a legacy of past generations on the road between Croatia and Kosovo. Connected by the desire to find a solution to the unrealistic expectations of their families, Tea and Mirsad will engage in a complex game of adaptation, which will ultimately prove to be a burden in their own intimacy. The film exposes a series of family rituals, traditional stereotypes, and even cultural racism, in which two lovers try to find the right balance between satisfying the image their parents have of them and the need to keep their authentic self and live according to their own values.
The film was produced by Restart in co-production with Italian Stefilm, Al Jazeera Balkans and Kosovo’s Möbius. The producer of the film is Oliver Sertić (Restart), while the co-producers are Stefano Tealdi (Stefilm) and Bujar Kabashi (Möbius), along with the TV company Al Jazeera Balkans.
In cooperation with the association Filmaktiv and their program ‘Film for everyone‘, a special version of the film adapted for the deaf and hard of hearing was made, and the premiere of the inclusive version of the film is scheduled for November 17th at the Art-kino in Rijeka, followed by screenings in Split and Zagreb .
