The 5th Dokumetar Award was awarded, with which the Dokumentarni.net portal awards the best Croatian documentary film of the past year. The award was chosen by a jury composed of members of the portal’s editorial staff: Janko Heidl, Iva Rosandić, Ejla Kovačević and Hrvoje Krstičević. The award for the best Croatian documentary film in 2023 was awarded to Restart’s film “Valerija” by Sara Jurinčić. The jury explained its decision with the following words: “In the first film, the author showed her determination to break through conventionality, to play with the film form on the border of experimentalism, to skilfully wrap intimate themes in universally recognisable ones. With the last film, she steps even further, transforming it into a space of coexistence of the present and the past, in order to restore power to those invisible, always others – women, the author’s ancestors, traces of whose existence she interweaves in the body of the film, in “Valerija” Sara Jurinčić deconstructs the form in order to break the accumulated prejudices and failed traditions, examining the boundaries of gender and film language”. Also at the just finished UnderhillFest in Podgorica, “Valerija” won another award – a special mention of the “7 short” program. The jury consisting of Milena Prelević, Mišo Obradović and Matija Jovanović explained their decision with the words: “This experimental documentary demonstrates technical excellence and motive power. Through her specific visual language that is both intimate and cathartic, the director reveals the layers of the subconscious and creates universal archetypal images that connect the audience with the personal experiences of the author”.
