Monday | 21. July. 2014

PULA CONVERSATIONS: Dalija Dozet

Dalija Dozet, director of the short-length film Six Half Past Six

Did you ‘find’ screenwriter and lead actress Lana Barić or did she find you?
A few years ago, Lana Barić was very critical of a screenplay of mine and after that she agreed to act in the same story, the story I shot as an exercise at the Academy. That was our first collaboration. A few years later, Lana contacted me with her screenplay and I returned in kind, being honest and critical. Since then we criticize each other regularly and mutual trust was born along the way. Thank you, Lana, for trusting me.

Could you, please, present the film. A word by the author, as we would say.
A decisive moment when two people feel the need to solve some issues between themselves and they are running short of time. The moment when you balance between yourself, your truth and the Other.

Why the title Six Half Past Six?
The action is taking place between six and half past six. During that half an hour our characters are cornered so they can address and try to answer some questions, without necessarily having to change something.

What did the film sprout from?
From the opportunity to work with Lana Barić, Franjo Dijak and Hrvoje Osvadić. To play with and to explore the topic of the screenplay.

Where did you shoot? When? How long?
Four days, in an apartment and in a car. We used Jadran Puharić’s Ms Scarlet, Luka Matić’s fine eye and Hrvoje Radnić’s sharp ear.

What are your new experiences that you gained making Six Half Past Seven?
I tried to completely minimalize the story: without unnecessary cuts and reframing, I relied on actors and their performances. The editing was the longest process in which I had to select the best from that minimum without blowing up. I don’t know if I succeeded. I gave my best.

One room, two actors, a discussion on mutual relationships – an already standard model for Croatian short film in the last couple of years and yet an inexhaustible backdrop for a series of interesting variations.
Very often it has to do with production, but one of the most important reasons is that people, real or fictional, occupying a certain space, feel a great need to deal with their own or other people’s problems and themselves. As much as this format seems a bit overused, it seems to me that it is rather challenging – to present something that you find important for a personal reason, at the same time not being dull or irrelevant.

Janko Heidl