“Ever since I starting working on ‘Museum of the Revolution’, I have thought of this film as an allegory of a collective experience of sorts, although the framework of observational documentary and the construction of the film around three very specific heroines may seem at odds with such reasoning. Perhaps precisely because the aspect of collectiveness is so important in the film, I understood that it needed a cinema audience to come to life. I am extremely happy that we can now start sharing the film with audiences around the world in this way,” said Museum of the Revolution director, scriptwriter, cinematographer and producer Srđan Keča on the occasion of the film’s premiere at IDFA. 

The film, scheduled to appear in IDFA’s Luminous programme, tells the story of an abandoned project of architect Vjenceslav Richter, whose vision was to build a museum that would “safeguard the truth about us”. In the remnants of this utopian project, a friendship develops between a seven-year-old girl and an old woman. When the city begins to erase all traces of the Museum of the Revolution, innocent games and stories by the fire disappear from the girl’s life.

All of the 21 titles in the Luminous programme will be world and international premieres.  

“‘Museum of the Revolution’ is a sophisticated, subtle and visually powerful documentary and I am very pleased that we will have the opportunity to hold its world premiere at the most important documentary film festival in the world, but it is especially gratifying that it will happen in the cinema, on the big screen, in a face-to-face contact with the audience, which has unfortunately become a luxury these days,” said the film’s producer, Vanja Jambrović of Restart.

Alongside Vanja Jambrović, the film is produced by Srđan Keča (Uzrok, Serbia) and co-produced by Lukás Kokes (Nutprodukce, Czechia). The film’s editor is Hrvoslava Brkušić, while the music was composed by Hrvoje Nikšić. The film’s sales representative is Swiss company Lightdox. Museum of the Revolution was created with the support of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Creative Europe MEDIA sub-programme, Film Center Serbia, Croatian Radiotelevision, Czech Film Center, Stanford University (USA), Sundance Institute (USA), Al Jazeera Documentary Channel (Qatar) and Geo Television (Germany).

In addition to the film programme, Croatian production will also be presented in the Industry section at IDFA Forum, more precisely, the Forum Pitch, dedicated to documentary film and series projects looking for financial and distribution partners.

The documentary project in question is feature film Bride in Search of Happiness, directed by Tea Vidović Dalipi, who is also the film’s cinematographer together with Dinka Radonić. The film was edited by Jelena Maksimović, with Hrvoje Radnić as production sound mixer. 

Bride in Search of Happiness is an observational documentary about a Croatian-Roma couple, Tea and Mirsad, the newborn baby girl Frida, and an attempt at a new life together, torn between expectations of their family and surroundings in culturally incompatible communities that do not accept differences. The entire synopsis and film trailer are available here. 

The project is produced by Restart, with Oliver Sertić as producer, and co-producers Stefano Teald (STEfilm, Italy) and Bujar Kabashi (Möbius, Kosovo). So far, the project has been supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Film Commission Torino Piemonte and Office for Culture of the City of Zagreb. 

The IDFA Forum is one of the most important co-production forums in the world for development and presentation of creative documentaries and multimedia projects through several specialized programmes. In 2019, Srđan Keča’s Museum of the Revolution was also presented at IDFA Forum, at the time in project phase. 

IDFA, which runs 17th – 28th November this year, is the world’s largest documentary film festival, each year showcasing over 300 titles that present life in all corners of the world. The entire festival programme will be announced in early November, while more details about the IDFA may be found on the festival’s official website. 

Cover photographs: scenes from Museum of the Revolution (first three photogrphs); scene from Bride in Search of Happiness