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ACROSS THE BORDER

ACROSS THE BORDER (2008)

Documentary film, IMX, colour, stereo
Croatian Television, Croatian Film Clubs’ Association

The film was partly financed by the City of Zagreb – City Office for Culture.

On one side of the border we have a small Croatian town Gunja, and on the other town Brčko which has a status of a district in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are connected with a bridge which is used daily, without any special formalities, by many people and during working days even large groups of school children.

In fact, Croatian Gunja, with its five to six thousand inhabitants, is permanently - economically, culturally and educationally - directed to Brčko. Years ago, pregnant women from Gunja used to go to Brčko hospital to give birth; this way giving guaranteed double citizenship to those children. To them, as well as the rest of Gunja population, and the neighboring villages, this little town across the border is appealing also because of existential reasons: many home supplies, including groceries, are considerably cheaper there than in Croatia; getting your driver's license is twice cheaper in Brčko than in Croatia. After all, young people often leave gloomy Gunja for this town across the border in search for entertainment and good time, where according to many, Brčko has places where you can find good rock music whereas in Gunja cheap 'folk' music is dominating the bar scene.

'Permeability' of the border between these two countries, as an admirable proof of good relationship between neighbors, has its 'dark' side, too. Years ago, 'half' of Gunja used to work in Brčko: however, at the beginning of war, when the bridge was demolished, everyone who worked there lost their jobs. This sudden harsh poverty of Gunja people took especially hard toll on the high-school children: since there are no high-schools in Gunja, students are referred to Županja, which is 35 kilometers far from Gunja, or even to Vinkovci or Osijek. Since their parents, many of them unemployed, were left with no other option but to pay their children's travel expenses, having been rejected by all responsible social institutions in Croatia who either couldn't or didn't want to take the responsibility for this, the parents were faced with the one possible option and that is to enroll their children in a high-school in Brčko, where the curriculum is largely adapted to Croatian students' needs. However, this schooling across the border, which frees the students the hassle of everyday bus drive, having in mind that the buses have no heating and are questionably safe, brings into question how much parents are saving here. The situation is, those students who are going to school in another country, according to current Croatian laws, loose their right to state funded children's allowance, and seventy two of them are in this category!

However paradoxical, some of the wealthier Croatian children from Brčko district (and other towns in this area of Bosnia and Herzegovina) are able to do what some of the children from Gunja are not, and that is to go across the border in their family cars or take any of the buses on that route and head to Gunja, Županja, Vinkovci or Osijek and go to school there and get the education according to current Croatian education laws.

Besides having the focal point of the film 'Across the border' dedicated to the interpretation of the acrid social paradox of schooling of Croatian children in Brčko district, the whole process additionally hardened by mass emigration of people from this district, it also shows the overall vast spiritual scarcity of this region by the river Sava, which, because of this and every other aspect, drew young people from Gunja and other towns in the area to Brčko.

However, mitigating side of this fairly depressing story is comprised in the flexibility of the border. The fact that people can move both ways without any obstacles, made many people believe that this border cross, with its 'pliancy', tolerance and admirable permeability between the two countries, could become a true exercise of good neighborly relations.

FILM






screenwriter and director

Krelja;Petar

director of photography

Karmelo Kursar

editor

Mladen Radaković

assistant director

Vesna Švec Krelja

sound engineer

Miroslav Janovečki

light technician

Damir Radinović

producer

Mate Čuljak

production secretary

Vanja Hraste

documentary programme producer

Vedran Vukašinović

documentary programme editor

Miro Branković

executive producer

Vera Robić-Škarica

 

ΠCTURED
50th ANNIVERSARY OF INA NAFTAPLIN
A LETTER TO DAD
ACROSS THE BORDER
AMATO
ANA KARIĆ
ARABESCA
BASTION
BEYOND
BIRDS
BOO-BOO BOO HOO HOO
BOZIDARKA FRAIT
BROKEN WING
CENTIPEDE
CESAR FRANCK – WOLF VOSTELL
CITY KILLER (GRAD NA NIŠANU)
CITY, CITIES
CLOSENESS
COLD FRONT
DAS LIED IST AUS
DAY BY DAY
DEAD MAN WALKING
DECATHLON
DEEP END ART N0 1.
DELIVERY
DOCTOR ZODIAC'S FANTASTIC ODYSSEY
DON'T GIVE IN, FLOKI!
ELSEWHERE
ENDART
ENDART No1
ENDART No2
ENDART No3
ENDART No4
FABIJAN ŠOVAGOVIĆ
FAUST VRANČIĆ 2004
FAUST VRANČIĆ 2005
FAUST VRANČIĆ 2006
FAUST VRANČIĆ 2007
FORECLOSURE
FRACTALS
GLENN MILLER 2000
GOT ANY MONEY?
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
HOME
HRVATSKA ZAJEDNICA TEHNIČKE KULTURE (NARODNA TEHNIKA HRVATSKE) 1946. - 2006.
I WOULD LEAVE EVERYTHING HERE
IKEA for YU
ILIJA IVEZIC
IN TIME
IN UTERO
IN WAR AND REVOLUTION
INVISIBLE GALLERIES
INVISIBLE SCULPTURE
IT'S NOT FOR SALE: EXCURSION
IT'S NOT FOR SALE: LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY
IVICA VIDOVIC
JOSIP BOBI MAROTTI
KANGAROO COURT
KANGAROO COURT
LA PETITE MORT
LA STRADA
LABOUR DAY
LE SAMOURAÏ
LOL-CON
LONELINESS
LOVE IS NOT BLIND
MARTINAC
MEMORY OF THE TAPE
MIHOVIL PANSINI. SHIPS DON'T COME ASHORE
MORENA
MOUSETRAP
MURDER AMONG US
MY CRAFT
MY NEIGHBOUR TANJA
NIGREDO
NINER STRETCH
NO TITLE
ON TIME, ON SPACE
PETER OF THE TOWER
PLAKATKINO
PLANKTON(S)
PURGATORY
PYRAMIS
RED LORRY YELLOW LORRY
RELJA BAŠIĆ
ROCKING CHAIR
RUTA AND THE MONUMENT
SEI-KHAI-REICH
SELF-PORTRAIT
SEMKA SOKOLOVIĆ BERTOK
SHATTERED PIECES
SILENT FRAME
SINAI
SKY SPIRITS
SLAVENKA OR ABOUT THE PAIN
SNAPSHOTS
SOSKE
SPIDER COLORS
STORMS ALWAYS RETURN HOME
STRANGE FRUIT
SUCH A WONDERFUL DAY
SUNDAY NIGHT SPECIAL
SUPPRESSION
SURVEILLANCE CAMERA
TAXIDEYO
THE FORGOTTEN
The Party
THE SMALL KITTEN AND THE LION
THE SPIRITS DIARY
THE SPLIT WATERCOLOUR
THE WAY OUT
THERE WAS NO WIND
THEY JUST COME AND GO
TONIGHT
TORCHBEARER
Touch of a foot, touch of a hand
WAR FOR HARMAGEDON
WASTELAND
WOMEN ON BOARD
ZRMANJA AND PO (IN SITU)
ŽELJKO JERMAN – MY MONTH






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