Karla Jelić
Directing
Biography
Karla Jelić was born in 1999 in Zagreb. After completing her undergraduate studies in journalism she pursued her passion for storytelling through a master's degree in documentary directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. Through her work in journalism and film she is dedicated to topics related to women's rights. She directed the film Dete (2021), which was screened in the student program of the Herceg Novi Film Festival, and Redakcija (2023), which was shown in the student program of the Pula Film Festival.
Known For
Since 2024, on central squares in many towns and cities across Croatia, groups of primarily elderly and middle-aged men calling themselves 'The Knights of the Immaculate Heart of Mary', gather together in communal prayer and advocating for Christian values, the importance of the patriarchy and enforcing limitations of women's rights, treating these squares as their own personal battlefield, upon which women have no place. Through the documentations of the reactions of law enforcement officials, ordinary passerbys and the 'Knights' themselves, as well as the defiant pieces of multimedia artist Arijana Lekić, Holy Defiance creates a vivid, lively, energetic and varied portrait of women's rights in post-war Croatia.
Holy Defiance
Vida Skerk was supposed to be the future of Croatian cinema until she decided to continue her studies in London due to sexual harassment by a professor at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. Through Vida's story the film shows how the Croatian film community treats victims of sexual violence.