DOCU/WORLD

Bigger Than Trauma

Year
2022
Country
Croatia
Duration
90’
Director
Vedrana Pribačić

The film is created by Vedrana Pribačić and Mirta Puhlovski.


Bigger Than Trauma is a documentary feature which has won several international awards. It had its national premiere in April 2022 at ZagrebDox in Croatia, and international one at the Hot Docs Festival in Canada.

Bigger Than Trauma is a beautiful film about a group of women from Vukovar discovering who they could be without the trauma they’re identified with, and that changes their lives and relations.

These are women whose families were killed during the Croatian war for independence; who were enslaved, tortured, and raped, but survived. They had been silenced for 25 years.

Many families still live surrounded by trauma and exist in the past, unable to move forward.

Frictions within the group erupt along cultural lines, reinforcing past pain, but this is precisely what’s needed to cultivate acceptance and peace.

From being the collateral damage of war, they are transformed into empowered women.

Content warning: description of violence

CREW:
Director: Vedrana Pribačić
Producer: Mirta Puhlovski
Cinematographer: Dario Hacek
Sound: Dario Domitrović, Tihomir Vrbanec, Frano Homen
Production
METAR60 in co-production with HRT
Awards
Big Golden Arena at the Pula Film Festival (2023), the Jury Prize for Best documentary at the Rasnov Film Festival and Histories (2023), the Human Rights Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival (2022), the ZagrebDox Audience Award (2022), Special Mention in the Regional Competition at ZagrebDox (2022), the Audience Award at the Liburnia Film Festival (2022), the Ethics and Human Rights Award at Croatian Film Days (2022), the Golden Oil Lamp at Croatian Film Days (2022), Special Mention in the Documentary Competition at Croatian Film Days (2022), the Audience Award at Croatian Film Days (2022), Special Mention by the Jury at the Free Zone Film Festival (2022)
Director
Vedrana Pribačić

Vedrana Pribačić (born 1977) is a Croatian journalist, director and screenwriter. She holds a master’s degree in politics from the University of Political Science in Zagreb. She is a member of HDFD (the Croatian Association of Film Professionals). Vedrana has been working as a TV reporter and editor-in-chief since 2000 for various TV channels (OTV, NOVA TV, RTL, CNN World View).

In 2016 she made her first 45-minute documentary for Croatian national television. The film was presented at several festivals in Europe and won awards at Croatian festivals. In 2017 Vedrana started developing her directorial debut Bigger Than Trauma, and she has been working on it for five years.

With this project she was part of several professional pitching forums and workshops such as FOCAL’s intensive European residential masterclass, Docu Rough Boutique (Sarajevo F.F. & the Balkan Documentary Centre 2020), the When East Meets West pitching forum (Trieste, 2019), ZagrebDox Pro (Zagreb, 2019), Rough Cut Lab Movies that Matter (Haag, 2021) and more.

Selected Filmography
The Factory is Ours! (2016)
Hall «KINOMAN»
Zhovten cinema
Kostiantynivska St, 26
Q&A
Original language with Ukrainian and English subtitles
By tickets
Adapted subtitles
Tuesday
04 June 2024
17:40
Hall «ANSHLAG»
Zhovten cinema
Kostiantynivska St, 26
Q&A
Original language with Ukrainian and English subtitles
By tickets
Adapted subtitles
Wednesday
05 June 2024
11:00
22 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
 6 — 13 
June 2025
Machtat
DOCU/WORLD
Machtat
Year
2023
Country
Lebanon
Director
Sonia Ben Slama
Duration
83’
DOCU/WORLD
Grasshopper Republic
DOCU/WORLD
Grasshopper Republic
Year
2023
Country
USA, Uganda
Director
Daniel McCabe
Duration
94’
DOCU/WORLD
A Golden Life
DOCU/WORLD
A Golden Life
Year
2023
Country
Burkina Faso, Benin, France
Director
Boubacar Sangaré
Duration
83’
DOCU/WORLD
Knit’s Island
DOCU/WORLD
Knit’s Island
Year
2023
Country
France
Directors
Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse, Quentin L’helgoualc’h
Duration
95’
DOCU/WORLD
Rowdy Girl
DOCU/WORLD
Rowdy Girl
Year
2023
Country
USA
Director
Jason Goldman
Duration
72’
DOCU/WORLD
Body
DOCU/WORLD
Body
Year
2023
Country
Slovenia, Croatia, North Macedonia
Director
Petra Seliškar
Duration
91’
DOCU/WORLD
Magic Mountain
DOCU/WORLD
Magic Mountain
Year
2023
Country
Georgia, Poland
Directors
Mariam Chachia, Nik Voigt
Duration
74’
DOCU/WORLD
The World According to My Dad
DOCU/WORLD
The World According to My Dad
Year
2023
Country
Czech Republic, Slovakia
Director
Marta Kovářová
Duration
77’
DOCU/WORLD