Section: Feature Film Competition

Zbornica

The Staffroom

Sonja Tarokić
Croatia, France, 2021, 126 Min

Power games and intrigue in the staff room. Anamarija has finally found a permanent job as a counsellor at a school. The atmosphere there however is clouded by discord and cliqueism. At first Anamarija tries to stay out of it, soon however she realises that she has to play her own game to survive in the shark pool that is her staff room.

Inauspicious beginnings: The headmistress, her fellow teachers and the parents intrigue with and against one other for all they're worth. In the midst thereof young pedagogue Anamarija simply tries to get on with her work with the children, that isn't so easy however. The children are rebellious, trouble brews between the teachers: here is old Siniša, who feels harassed by everyone, there are the gossipers and then there is the womaniser. While Anamarija tries to find her place in the staffroom pecking order, a brisk and dialogue-rich exchange of blows unfolds in the classroom. Narrated with merciless honesty Sonja Tarokić's latest film portrays a balancing act attempted in the absence of togetherness. And a heroine who soon abandons her ideals in order to survive in an institution whose employees are tasked with one of the most responsibility-laden roles in society; the education of future generations. Through suffering a woman with great ideals comes to learn that she is no better than those around her.

Inauspicious beginnings: The headmistress, her fellow teachers and the parents intrigue with and against one other for all they're worth. In the midst thereof young pedagogue Anamarija simply tries to get on with her work with the children, that isn't so easy however. The children are rebellious, trouble brews between the teachers: here is old Siniša, who feels harassed by everyone, there are the gossipers and then there is the womaniser. While Anamarija tries to find her place in the staffroom pecking order, a brisk and dialogue-rich exchange of blows unfolds in the classroom. Narrated with merciless honesty Sonja Tarokić's latest film portrays a balancing act attempted in the absence of togetherness. And a heroine who soon abandons her ideals in order to survive in an institution whose employees are tasked with one of the most responsibility-laden roles in society; the education of future generations. Through suffering a woman with great ideals comes to learn that she is no better than those around her.

Filmformat
1:2.35 [Cinemascope]
Drehbuch
Sonja Tarokić
Kamera
Danko Vučinović
Ton
5.1 Digital
Schnitt
Borna Buljević
Ausstattung
Tajana Čanić Stanković
Produzent
Ankica Jurić Tilić
Produktion
Kinorama
Kontakt
New Europe Film Sales
Natalia Dąbrowska
natalia@neweuropefilmsales.com
Sonja Tarokić

Sonja Tarokić - born in Zagreb, she author of several short films. On Shaky Ground (2014), a dissection of a Mediterranean family that goes through the breakdown of its paterfamilias, was screened at Rotterdam IFF and awarded the best Croatian short at Zagreb Film Festival, while her other films (You Bitch!, I’m a Self Made Woman, Smart Girls, Red) were screened and awarded at numerous international festivals, such as Sarajevo FF, Vila do Conde, Angers Premiers Plans, NEXT Bucharest FF, Brief Encounters FF. She participated at CPH:Lab and Sarajevo Talent Campus workshops.

2021   The Staffroom
2014   On Shaky Ground
2013   Birthday Party (co-directed with Hana Jušić)
2012  I’m a Self-made Woman
2011   You Bitch!
2010   Smart Girls (co-directed with Hana Jušić)
2009   Red