Sertić Oliver

Croatia e(n)den on Earth
In July 2004. Law on Asylum was applied in Croatia. In next 2 years 300 people asked for an asylum in our country but nobody got it untill November 2006. Answer why is in this documentary. While we were discovering why Croatian institution are not ready to cope with integration of immigrants in our society, we followed campaign of Centre for peace studies.

An Encounter
A fight for rights is rarely a fight only for one’s own rights and often the successful fight will be the one in which personal demands have been written into many other conflicts. What such unlikely alliances can produce is to displace and dislocate the known coordinates of the social system, questioning the fixed hierarchy and its attributed roles. One of these unlikely encounters occurred on the day of the Corpus Christy Feast in 2009 in Vukovarska street in Zagreb when the students from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences came to support the farmers’ protests in front of the Ministry of Agriculture building. The euphoric student’s night and the sobering farmer’s day; the media aware activism and the heavy machinery on the streets; plenum democracy and the quarrelling farmers’ associations – are just some of the radically different aspects of this unlikely alliance which will, in the film by Igor Bezinovic, reveal so much about contemporary society in Croatia. Despite the fact that the event received coverage in all the media, this film is the only video footage of this unusual encounter of the students and the farmers.

Bojan
Matija and Bojan grew up together. Their friendship was suddenly interrupted when, over night, Bojan and his family suddenly left their apartment, without even saying goodbye. It was the early 90s and they were ‘unsuitable’. They were of the wrong nationality. Too young at the time to understand the war situation or why he lost his friend, fifteen years later, Matija decides to find his friend.

Presidential Train
The film “Presidential Train” was shot on the train going from Zagreb to Ploce. Even though this railroad route connects two Croatian cities, it passes through almost entire Bosnia and Herzegovina. The train passes through towns of Banja Luka, Sarajevo and Mostar, connecting anew the people that were separated by war. Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs, perhaps like nowhere else in Bosnia, share the same space, regardless of religion and nationality. There are no compartments reserved for nations, there is just one train and its passengers. Tagline: Have you ever wondered what you would do if you became the president of a country? Board the “President Train” on its way through Bosnia and Herzegovina and find out what its passengers would do!

Non-Recyclable
Fragments of wants, beliefs and attitudes of three collectors of recyclable bottles in Zagreb. On the daily collectors’ route we collect empties and impressions. Three people with different life stories collect empties on the streets of Zagreb. They collect them for different reasons and have different attitudes towards it. As they go about their routine they tell us their daily life, but also share their attitudes on friendship and love, their hopes, wishes and circumstances. A unique opportunity to meet the people we probably would not have a chance to meet if it were not for this film. Listening to the stories of the people who have a lot to share with the world.

The Blockade
"The Blockade" is a unique view from within on the most massive, longest and politically most significant student protest in the country, since 1971, that started in April of 2009 at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. The struggle against the commercialization of education and the blockade of teaching classes lasted for 34 days. The rebellion spread onto more than 20 faculties across the country and the students became an active and relevant political subject. The director followed everything: from the exhilarating preparation of meetings and blocking of classes to the first signs of exhaustion, through personal situations and discussions late at night, from the initial support of most faculty members to the moment they turned their back to the movement and the attempt to reach the missing minister of education. This film shows that the blockade was not just physical and that it had a much broader meaning.

Salt, Olive, Stone
Pacing tourists. Nervous drivers on +40 degrees. Heaps of bodies on the beach. Noise and trash. Croatia – a vacationist country on the peak of tourist season, ready to exploit all options for quick profit... Just a few miles away, in a perfect Zen, people are collecting salt, picking olives and building stonewalls. "Salt, Olive, Stone" is a visual essay on what we have already forgotten. Ode to the work, nature and silence.

OLIVER SERTIC is a media activist, a producer and a journalist from Zagreb. He has published and created for the press, web, radio and TV. The founder of the RESTART media centre which deals with production, education, distribution and exhibition of creative documentary films and activist videos. He is programing director of the only regional documentary cinema Dokukino CROATIA and editor in Restart label. He directed and produced several short documentaries. Currently producing three feature documentaries in different phases of production. Has cooperated and continues to cooperate with many film festivals such as Zagreb FF, ZagrebDox, Vukovar FF, Dokufest, DORF... as a PR, producer and counselor. He is the programer of Liburnia Film Festival and Supetar Super Film Festival, pre-selector of documentary competition for the Zagreb Film Festival and Human Rights FF. He is the co-founder of the Amateur Film F estival - RAF, Autonomous Cultural Centre - Attack! and the Cross-radio project. Currently he is working on his newest documentary film.

* ‘’Sol, maslina, kamen’’ (Salt, Olive, Stone), short documentary film directed by Branko Vilus (Restart, 2013) * ‘’I’m Nobody’’, short documentary film directed by Barbara Matejčić and Nina Urumov, (Restart, June 2012) * ‘’Blokada’’ (The Blockade), producer of the feature documentary film directed by Igor Bezinović (Restart/Factum, February, 2012) * “Samoupravni film” (Selfgoverned film), producer of the short documentary directed by Igor Bezinović (Restart laboratory, 2012) * ‘’Noćna’’ (By Night), producer of the short documentary-experimental film directed by Lucija Bušić (Restart laboratory 2012) * “Importance of being Kovačević”, producer of the short documentary, directed by Anja Strelec (Restart laboratory, 2011) * ‘’Kelti’’ (The Celts), producer of the short documentary film directed by Đuro Gavran (Restart/ADU, January 2011) * ‘’Bojan’’, producer of the short documentary film directed by Đuro Gavran (Restart laboratorij, March 2010) * ‘’Susret’’ (An Encounter), producer of the short documentary film directed by Igor Bezinović (Restart, December 2009) * ‘’Nepovratno’’ (Non-Recyclable), producer of the short documentary film directed by Igor Bezinović (Restart, 2009) * ‘’Predsjednički vlak’’ (President Train), producer of the short documentary film directed by Branko Vilus (Restart laboratory, 2009) * ‘’Hrvatska (k)raj na zemlji’’(Croatia, an E(n)d/en on Earth), producer, director and co-author of the documentary film (Restart/Fade In/CMS, 2007) * ‘’Scapegoats’’, collaborator on archives research and local project producer for the art video project of Aernout Mik (BAK, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2006) * ‘’Kamerom preko duge’’ (‘’With a Camera over the Rainbow''), producer of the short promotional documentary film directed by Martina Globočnik (Open Society Institute/ Fade In, 2006) * ‘’Lora: svjedočanstva’’ (Lora: Testimonies), assistant of director and archive researcher for the feature documentary film directed by Nenad Puhovski, (Factum/B92, 2004) * ‘’Sajam udruga mladih’’ (Fair of Youth Associations), co-author of the promotional film (Fade In, 2003) * ‘’Gay Pride – 2002’’, co-author and producer of the short documentary film (Što gledaš? / Fade In, 2002)