Trailer
In September 2012, the existence of the Croatian state-owned rail vehicle company Gredelj is in danger. In the traditional factory founded in 1894 as a railway workshop, union leader Željko Starčević is calling for resistance – or rather a riot? Should the workforce go on strike or send the finished train to Austria for a test drive? The workers are divided and are being played off against each other. Soon it is announced that the Zagreb company is bankrupt, wages are outstanding, and workers are being laid off. Over a period of ten years, director Goran Dević accompanies his quick-tempered protagonist, who falls out with a number of former colleagues and changes political camps... Powerfully, but also with poetic stylistic devices, the documentary describes the shutdown and disintegration of a workplace that functioned as a social hub for hundreds of workers for decades. For the workers, Gredelj was not only a place to earn a living, but also a place of solidarity and friendship. In the end only ruins remain.
Text: Kira Taszman
Goran Dević
Damian Nenadić
Ivan Zelić
Goran Dević - Goran Dević studied law, archaeology and film art at Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb, Croatia currently teaches at the Documentary Film graduate studies there. His documentaries and fiction films have won awards in Pula, Cottbus, Prizren, Prague, Sarajevo, Oberhausen, Leipzig, Motovun, and Zagreb. His feature film debut, "The Blacks," co-directed and co-written with Zvonimir Jurić, was critically acclaimed. Retrospectives of his documentaries were featured at Arsenal Berlin, MAXXI Roma, Crossing Europe Filmfestival Linz, Beldocs, and Zagreb. He co-founded the production company Petnaesta umjetnost.