27/06/2018 - As she prepares to screen her short film Marica at the upcoming edition of EFP’s Future Frames at Karlovy Vary, Croatian filmmaker Judita Gamulin talks to Cineuropa

A student at the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art, Judita Gamulin already has an impressive list of short films to her credit, including Flowers (2015), a finalist in the 43^rd Student Academy Awards.

Her latest film, Marica, is a delicate film focusing on a middle-aged woman who decides to rebel against the role that society has chosen for her. The film will be screened in international premiere as part of the European Film Promotion’s Future Frames, taking place at the 2018 edition of Karlovy Vary.

Cineuropa: What inspired you to tell Marica’s story?
Judita Gamulin: At the time, I was really, really interested in the idea of how, for some people, freedom is terrifying and empty, worse than captivity. Also, observing modern families is somewhat of a favourite hobby of mine. When I try to imagine what our descendants will think of us in the year of 2095, I think they will mock all the unhappy families, as well as Marica’s, who stayed together because of convention, tradition and fear of loneliness. The film also ponders whether escaping from a dysfunctional family means giving up, and whether or not giving up equals surrender to inertia and staying in the community.

I’m interested in your decision to often compose shots in which Marica is low down in the frame.
I wanted to show her out-of-body feeling, and to create an atmosphere of general claustrophobia – trap her inside the frame, as if she were in a box, always looking outside the frame as if she is searching for an exit. I also looked for symmetry and tightness when choosing locations for the same reason and wanted to visually move away from the social realism that film engages. 

There’s also a tension between naturalism and a very slight air of the surreal.
The surreal atmosphere captures Marica's emotional state in a new context. Everything around her feels strange, displaced and wrong to her. She feels like a little girl that has stayed up late when she should actually be sleeping. The absence of people in the film, the general vacancy, illustrates her inner world. And that vacancy is exactly what she is scared of. 

Tell us about your decision to cast Mirela Popovich in the main role.
Actually, I wrote this script with Mirela in mind, just after we worked together on my previous student film, Flowers. Mirela caries something authentic, raw and sincere, but also leaves space for the audience to fill in some of the emotions. Her face, even when it looks completely inscrutable, is deeply charged with emotional content, and she has a great ability to manipulate people with it. 

The film is certainly universal, but do you think the film’s themes resonate with a certain generation of women in Croatia in particular?
I was never interested in Marica's personal problem, and that is why she has a typified first name, look and profession – she represents a certain type of middle-aged woman. I focused on a sociological phenomenon in which woman, and men also, regardless of their age, often try to put themselves in something I like to call a small box of family conventions, in which they almost never fit, but are trying to remain no matter what.

Would you say that the film concludes with a hopeful or downbeat air?
I think the Maricas of the world always come back home, no matter what that home is. For me, although the last scene marks her as a coward, the film also celebrates her courage. Maybe next time her rebellion will last a little bit longer. 

Are you looking forward to Future Frames and Karlovy Vary?
When you work in an industry as small as mine, in Croatia, you’re always surrounded by a large group of brilliant artists, but it’s always the same few people. So it’s very healthy for me to step away from that environment every once in a while and broaden my perspective, feed myself with different material and different thoughts, especially on a platform that brings the most relevant content creators together, like Karlovy Vary does. 

What projects are you working on next?
At the moment, I'm editing another short I just filmed and I'm also in the process of writing and developing my first feature. I'm obsessing with dysfunctional families that stay together in both of them. Of course.