Matea Milić graduated in Art History and Slovak Language and Literature from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. She joined the production company Hulahop in 2012 as Office Manager, and in 2015 became a producer of the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb.

With her knowledge, exceptional organisational skills and dedication, she made an invaluable contribution to the development of the festival, shaping it through production coordination, collaboration with domestic and international partners, and the development of the professional programme Animafest PRO. She also led the Rise & Shine project, a pitching laboratory for the development of animated projects by emerging authors, and served as coordinator of the international Animation Festival Network (AFN) from its founding in 2020. As a member of the Croatian Producers’ Association, she represented the association in the CEE Animation initiative, and through her work also participated in numerous international selection committees and festival juries.

Matea left a profound mark on the Croatian and international animation community.

At Hulahop, we will remember her for her professionalism, reliability, dedication and the warmth with which she built friendships, as well as for her immense contribution to Animafest Zagreb and to all of us who had the privilege of working with her. With her cheerful spirit and her constant willingness to help her colleagues, Matea was deeply loved in our office and will be profoundly missed. On behalf of Hulahop, we extend our deepest condolences to her family and friends.

SYNOPSIS

Eva is an academy-trained painter without inspiration. About to turn 27, she realises that she has not yet achieved anything at all in her entire life. She has a strange love affair with her mentor, her best friend is moving to Berlin, her pay check is three months late and above all so is her period. A hilarious and bawdy comedy about life in the doldrums.

Besides Animafest’s artistic director Daniel Šuljić, other members of the selection committee for the Grand Competition – Short Film and Croatian Film Competition were Margit Antauer and Vesna Meštrić, while Kata Gugić and Hrvoje Selec selected films in the Student Film Competition category.

Almost 900 films were submitted for the Grand Competition – Short Film category alone and 47 of them were selected to be presented at the festival. From 780 student submissions, 42 films were selected for the Student Film Competition, while the Croatian Film Competition will feature 18 films.

World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb will be take place from 6th till 11th June 2022.

The selection results for the Grand Competition – Feature Film, Films for Children Competition, VR Animation Competition and World Panorama, as well as the details of the rest of the festival program will be announced soon.

STORY

Deeply troubled by the persecution of innocent mothers and children in Nazi-occupied Croatia, Diana, a distinguished Austrian, undertakes what is to become one of the largest rescue campaigns of World War II – one that saved 10,000 children from certain death. Eighty years later, few survivors return to the ruins of former camps only to find out that they owe their lives to the determination of one woman. Through its fragmentary structure, an amalgam of archival footage, survivors’ accounts, and scenes depicted by Diana in her diary entries, the film attempts to create a cinematic encounter between those the history has unjustly torn asunder: a selfless woman and the children she had saved.