Through the voice of Little Jela, the film tells the story of the events that marked a generation and shaped the future of the landscape of Lika, a neglected and sparsely populated region of Croatia. The living conditions impacted on the personal lives of the people who lived there, their solitude, relationships, opportunities, apprehensions and hopes. Little Jela embodies several members of my own family which is predominantly composed of women – mothers, grandmothers, sisters and aunts.

Film by Ana Hušman
Director of photography: Ivan Slipčević
Editing and image post-production: Iva Kraljević
Music, sound design and dubbing mixer: Ivan Zelić
Sound recording in a quarry: Ivna Jurković
Sound post-production: Studio Nazor

Ana Hušman’s practice disassembles the structures and textures of cinematic elements through film, installation, books, sound, image and text. Hušman experiments with the possibilities of animation, documentary and fictional cinematic methods, and the possibilities of recorded voice and its articulation. Her working process questions and plays with the positions of the amateur and the professional subject of performativity, the medium itself, and the structures that dictate and produce patterns of behaviour. She teaches at the Department of Animation and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, and is a co-founder of the documentary film organisation RESTART where she has been holding film education programs for children and young people for many years. Since 2003, she is a member of Pangolin, an artist-run organisation working in film, visual arts and research practices, where she produces films, books and other works. Her works have been shown at film festivals and exhibitions worldwide.

Filmography
I Would Rather Be a Stone (2024), A Room for Living (2018), I Love You, Ines (2017), Almost Nothing (2016), Postcards (2013), Football (2011), Lunch (2008), The Market (2006), Prigruf (2004), Home (2003), Merspajz (2003), for 2 (2003), Daily Progress (1999)

Awards

• European Film Awards 2024 - Short Film Candidate, International Film Festival Rotterdam
• Vedran Šamanović Award 2024
• Special Mention, Drama International Short Film Festival 2024
• Best Film in Regional Competition, Hvar Film Festival