Synopsis
“Are you so pathetic to miss people you’ve never met?“ says Tatjana‘s teenage son Waldermar to her. She just closed a tiny bed and breakfast, that she ran in her son’s bedroom, in a notorious suburb south of Amsterdam. She is now on her own and misses her guests terribly.
Born in ex Yugoslavia, Tatjana spread her wings and lived in many places all over Europe before finally landing in Amsterdam. She has been unapologetically unadjusted for 15 years and now her son seems to keep his friends away, not wanting them asking prying questions about his peculiar mother, with her dreadful Slavic accent. Tatjana feels it’s time for her to put some effort into truly belonging to Dutch society. But her efforts are often thwarted by cultural misunderstandings.
Maybe the Westerners simply do not understand how community works, they don’t get our warmth and togetherness, Tatjana wonders? Frustrated that her attempts to integrate aren’t working, Tatjana embarks on a journey through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to visit her scattered relatives and friends, who have settled as guest workers or expats. She visits her gastarbeiter family in Vienna. They barely speak German and celebrate traditional feasts with songs of home, after 40 years of living there. Her Uncle Božo, still comes to his village in Bosnia with a car full of Toblerone chocolates and coffee in golden packages, even though the same could be found in the nearby supermarket. Her friend Igor in Switzerland found his community among tennis-loving expats. Her cousin in Germany changed her name Andja to German sounding Angela and never even taught her children to speak Croatian. Each of them has found their own way to survive in a foreign land. But would any of that work for her?
When Tatjana visits her father, the journey takes an unexpected turn. She discovers a dark pattern in her family history which makes her recognise why she never bothered to integrate in the first place. Hard as it might be to change, if she doesn’t manage to break the curse she can never truly belong in Amsterdam, risking a future of pity-visits by her son, ever more so distancing himself from his immigrant mother.
The film is a humorous and authentic attempt of an uprooted film director navigating through migrant communities throughout Europe to claim her place on earth.
Synopsis
“Are you so pathetic to miss people you’ve never met?“ says Tatjana‘s teenage son Waldermar to her. She just closed a tiny bed and breakfast, that she ran in her son’s bedroom, in a notorious suburb south of Amsterdam. She is now on her own and misses her guests terribly.
Born in ex Yugoslavia, Tatjana spread her wings and lived in many places all over Europe before finally landing in Amsterdam. She has been unapologetically unadjusted for 15 years and now her son seems to keep his friends away, not wanting them asking prying questions about his peculiar mother, with her dreadful Slavic accent. Tatjana feels it’s time for her to put some effort into truly belonging to Dutch society. But her efforts are often thwarted by cultural misunderstandings.
Maybe the Westerners simply do not understand how community works, they don’t get our warmth and togetherness, Tatjana wonders? Frustrated that her attempts to integrate aren’t working, Tatjana embarks on a journey through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to visit her scattered relatives and friends, who have settled as guest workers or expats. She visits her gastarbeiter family in Vienna. They barely speak German and celebrate traditional feasts with songs of home, after 40 years of living there. Her Uncle Božo, still comes to his village in Bosnia with a car full of Toblerone chocolates and coffee in golden packages, even though the same could be found in the nearby supermarket. Her friend Igor in Switzerland found his community among tennis-loving expats. Her cousin in Germany changed her name Andja to German sounding Angela and never even taught her children to speak Croatian. Each of them has found their own way to survive in a foreign land. But would any of that work for her?
When Tatjana visits her father, the journey takes an unexpected turn. She discovers a dark pattern in her family history which makes her recognise why she never bothered to integrate in the first place. Hard as it might be to change, if she doesn’t manage to break the curse she can never truly belong in Amsterdam, risking a future of pity-visits by her son, ever more so distancing himself from his immigrant mother.
The film is a humorous and authentic attempt of an uprooted film director navigating through migrant communities throughout Europe to claim her place on earth.
Stage of Production
Tatjana Bozic has been researching and filming this movie since 2019 and has successfully pitched it internationally.
The project is being produced through a Croatian-Dutch-German co-production with the involvement of HBO Max and funding from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, MOIN Film Fund Hamburg, and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.
The film has finished shooting and is currently in the editing phase.
The premiere is scheduled for spring 2025.
Stage of Production
Tatjana Bozic has been researching and making this film since 2019. Originally she wanted to make a film about tourists in Amsterdam. With the Corona pandemic when the tourists dropped out and Tatjana’s little world collapsed, the idea to make a bigger film about belonging and identity was born. The film project was successfully pitched internationally.
A Croatian-Netherlands-German co-production is planned. Money has already been acquired from Croatian and Dutch film funds. HBO Europe will co-produce the film. Most of the financing has been secured as of January 2022.
Shooting is scheduled to start in summer 2022 and the film is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.
Director’s Motivation
I would like People in my House to be an emotional film, a dramedy, with a touch of nostalgia in it. Nostalgia in me for all that is lost is a feeling that often drove me and that I used in creating emotional scenes in my films. The loss that this film talks about – the loss of roots, of community, of the feeling of belonging is known probably to anyone who has ever left their conservative village to embrace a free-spirited metropolis and to one who, like me, moved countries several times.
Being open to new cultures and people for sure makes you free, and I think it gives you a unique possibility to look at each new city and country, also your own, from the position of an observer. Still, it is a loss.
I didn’t come to the West of Europe in search of a job, education or a better life. I came here, as a result of the world becoming a global village and instead of falling in love with a boy from the neighbourhood, as my childhood friends did, I fell in love with someone from a country far away. It was a new time when you would look beyond your horizon, and with my uprooted upbringing, I was more than ready to embrace it. Although I integrated well, it doesn’t feel like I did. The film about my own feeling of uprootedness touches on today’s difficult subjects like immigration and integration. This is why this film is important, we need to understand the need for belonging, so we do not end up on islands, living nearby, but never being close.
Director’s Motivation
I would like People in my House to be an emotional film, a dramedy, with a touch of nostalgia in it. Nostalgia in me for all that is lost is a feeling that often drove me and that I used in creating emotional scenes in my films. The loss that this film talks about – the loss of roots, of community, of the feeling of belonging is known probably to anyone who has ever left their conservative village to embrace a free-spirited metropolis and to one who, like me, moved countries several times.
Being open to new cultures and people for sure makes you free, and I think it gives you a unique possibility to look at each new city and country, also your own, from the position of an observer. Still, it is a loss.
I didn’t come to the West of Europe in search of a job, education or a better life. I came here, as a result of the world becoming a global village and instead of falling in love with a boy from the neighbourhood, as my childhood friends did, I fell in love with someone from a country far away. It was a new time when you would look beyond your horizon, and with my uprooted upbringing, I was more than ready to embrace it. Although I integrated well, it doesn’t feel like I did. The film about my own feeling of uprootedness touches on today’s difficult subjects like immigration and integration. This is why this film is important, we need to understand the need for belonging, so we do not end up on islands, living nearby, but never being close.
TATJANA BOŽIĆ
TATJANA BOŽIĆ, director (Croatia/The Netherlands) graduated Higher School of screenwriters and directors, Moscow.
Her diploma film at the Moscow Film School “Provincial Girl” (1995, 35 mm, 30′, co-director F. Müller) was awarded “Best Russian documentary of 1996” in Ekaterinburg.
Since then she made documentaries wherever she lived: Russia, UK, Croatia and Netherlands. Her last feature film HAPPILY EVER AFTER (83’ JvdW Film/IKON, Factum, Zelovic) was premiered at IFF Rotterdam and nominated for Tiger Awards. The film had a cinema distribution in The Netherlands (Cineart), France, Croatia, Slovenia and was screened as part of KineDok in other EU countries. HAPPILY EVER AFTER was broadcast beside Europe, in New Zeland and Japan ,screened on more that 40 festivals worldwide and won several awards.
Award selection: Netherlands FF Utrecht, Golden Calf best editing and nomination for Best Director (2014); DocuDays Kiev – Special Jury mention (2015); Dutch director guild – nomination most remarkable directing performance (2015)
Tatjana is a graduate of the Documentary Campus Masterschool; participant of the EAVE Producers Workshop and the ExOriente Workshop. She has presented her projects at IDFA Forum, East Meets West, Thessaloniki, EastDoc Prague, Riga Baltic Sea Doc, Dok Leipzig and DocLisboa, among others.
Tatjana Bozic
Croatian born, Tatjana lived and made films in Russia, England, Croatia and Netherlands.
In the UK, she worked on various advertising projects and studied Human Rights at the London School of Economics, as well as working as a journalist for NTV, Russian TV.
In Croatia, she directed more than 20 short documentaries, often concerning civil society in the post-war country and women’s way of perceiving and experiencing the world.
She co-funded Fade In, a documentary studio that today is one of the leading productions in the region. She worked for MTV as a one-woman crew and directed several socially engaged advertisements.
Since 2008 she lives in Amsterdam where she is, besides directing, teaching, co-writing and coaching new directors. She is also a trained coach in Method Acting, Life Coaching, Eating disorders therapy, Drama therapy, Family constellations and NLP.
In 2015, she co-founded a production company, LEWA productions.
Tatjana is alumni of Documentary Campus Masterschool; participant of EAVE Producers Workshop and ExOriente workshop. She pitched projects at IDFA Forum, East Meets West, Thessaloniki, EastDoc Prague, Riga Baltic Sea Doc, Dok Leipzig and DocLisboa among others.
Filmography
2014 Happily Ever After ( 83 min.) – Creative Documentary – Tiger Award Competition IFF Rotterdam, Golden Calf for Best Editing
2010-2011 Surprising Europe (9×25 min.) – Documentary series – AlJazeera English
2003–2005 A woman with a camera/My Sister Eastern Europe (12×22 min.) -TV Serial – Broadcast in prime time on Croatian state television (HRT).
2002 Dear Suzy (40 min.) Short documentary – Fade in/B.a.B.e., Kvinna till Kvinna (Schweden)
1996 Provincial Girl (30 min.) – Short documentary- Sheffield FF, Best Russian Documentary Film at the Russian Documentary Film Festival Yekaterinburg 1995
Fact Sheet
Genre:
Creative Documentary
Length:
90 / 52 min
Director:
Tatjana Bozic
Screenplay:
Tatjana Bozic, Jacob Gesink,
Producers: Magdalena Petrovic
LEWA
(Croatia)
Frank Müller
DOPPELPLUSULTRA FILMPRODUKTION
(Germany)
Jacob Gesink
SPACEDUST Productions
(Netherlands)
Production Phase:
Post-production
Filming Locations:
Netherlands, Croatia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland
Languages:
Croatian, Dutch, English, German
Budget:
355.000,00 EUR
Release:
May 2025
Fact Sheet
Genre:
Creative Documentary
Length:
90 / 52 min
Director:
Tatjana Bozic
Screenplay:
Tatjana Bozic, Jacob Gesink,
Producers:
Magdalena Petrovic
LEWA
(Croatia)
Frank Müller
DOPPELPLUSULTRA FILMPRODUKTION
(Germany)
Wout Conijn
CONJIN FILM
(Netherlands)
Production phase:
End of development
Country of production:
Croatia, Germany, Netherlands
Country of filming:
Netherlands, Croatia, Austria, Germany, Swizerland
Languages:
Croatian, Dutch, English, German, Russian
Budget:
355.000,00 EUR
Release:
November 2023
Contact
Let’s keep in touch
DOPPELPLUSULTRA
FILMPRODUKTION GmbH
Repsoldstraße 45
20097 Hamburg
Germany
mail@doppelplusultra.de
www.doppelplusultra.de
LEWA productions j.d.o.o.
Čazmanska 4
10000 Zagreb
Croatia
Stichting SPACEDUST productions
Kelbergen 261
1104 LM Amsterdam
The Netherlands
info@jacobgesink.com
www.spacedustproductions.com