
Watch the film: the film in this programme can be viewed anytime between 21 March and 28 March via the Essay Film Festival online screening room https://essayfilmfestival-screeningroom.com/.
Live event: Monday 28 March 2022, 19:00-20:30, please join us for a conversation between film director Tea Lukač and producer Andrijana Sofranić Šućur in conversation with Mina Radović (Essay Film Festival): https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/35fca9648b284318bd1f1e444b02d517
THIS PROGRAMME IS FREE
Film available: 21-28 March 2022
Film: Roots [Koreni], Tea Lukač, Serbia, 2021, digital, 80 minutes, Serbian, Croatian with English subtitles
Tea Lukač’s lyrical documentary Roots is an emotionally rich portrait of the people of her hometown, Dvor in Banija, central Croatia. Sitting in the back of a moving car, different passengers, a variety of local people young and old, talk about their lives as they are driven along the edge of a vast forest. They tell stories of hornets’ nests, petitions against nuclear waste, loneliness, carnival treats, folklore traditions, cemetery visits and roads leading home. Acknowledging the town’s complex historical past and the increasing ecological challenges that it faces today, the film contrasts the conversations of people with the rich, silent landscape, and foregrounds one particularly powerful image of an old tree. As the director tells us: ‘Our roots may be buried deep down but they are always with us, and even if cut they will outlive us.’