Ema (89) and Maja (85) share evening tradition watching Turkish soaps in Croatia

Ema and Maja (Photo: 1001 Nights)

The short documentary film “1001 Nights,” (1001 Noć) directed by Rea Rajčić, has been selected for the main competition program “Short Cuts” at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), taking place from September 7th to 17th, 2023, in Canada.

This is a significant recognition for the film, as it will have its world premiere in Toronto, one of the top five most prestigious film festivals globally. Notably, Croatia has had its representative in the short film program in Toronto only once before, in 2016, with the film “Po čovika” by Kristina Kumrić.

The film’s story follows two friends, Ema (89) and Maja (85), who are the most devoted viewers of Turkish soap operas. Every evening, they spend time together watching these series in Ema’s apartment in Split. The film was presented at the Euro Connection Co-production Market of the International Short Film Festival in Clermont-Ferrand.

“1001 Nights” is a documentary born out of great admiration for the vitality and energy of Ema and Maja, enchanting women on the threshold of their nineties. It is also a tribute to audiovisual production, which I am primarily engaged in. Even though it may involve the production of Turkish soap operas, we often underestimate how much cinematic, television, serial, and all other content, consumed through various media in different life stages, serves as a foundation for analysis, questioning, survival, and most importantly, conversation. Seeing the living room of Ema’s apartment in Split on the big screen at the Toronto International Film Festival will be a surreal experience. I hope that the noise of Split’s peacocks will reverberate loudly and for a long time throughout the festival cinema halls in the coming year,” said the film’s director and screenwriter Rea Rajčić, who has been successful in film production, as evidenced by awards such as the Young Producer Award at the International Film Festival in Sofia, as well as the Best Pitching award at Sofia Meetings in 2019, Connecting Cottbus in 2020, and CineMart at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam in 2022.

(Photo: 1001 Nights)

Her production company, Eclectica, stands behind numerous projects, including the multi-award-winning “Stric” by Andrija Mardešić and David Kapac, the acclaimed documentary series “Kolaži o laži” by Nebojša Slijepčević, Judite Gamulin, and the adaptation of the well-known novel “Proslava” by Damir Karakaš, with a screenplay by Jelena Paljan and directed by Bruno Anković.

(Photo: 1001 Nights)

In addition to Rea Rajčić, the film’s producer is Tina Tišljar, the director of photography is Marinko Marinkić, the editor is Karla Folnović, sound design was handled by Luka Gamulin, the composer is Dubravko Robić, sound mixing was done by Ivan Zelić from the Nazor studio, and color correction by Tomislav Stojanović from Eclectica.

Rea Rajčić (Photo: Nikola Zelmanovic)

We eagerly anticipate the Croatian premiere of the film, a story about two charismatic and humorous women from Split, Turkish soap operas, and peacocks, recognized by the festival’s selection team, which is visited by over 480,000 viewers annually.