This week in our Four River Friday section, we bring you an interview with Mihaela Kobašlić from Cinema Club Karlovac, the director of the film A Reflection of Silence, which won the award of the Youth Jury for best screenplay and best editing at last year’s Four River Film Festival.

The film follows the inner life of a girl burdened with fears and insecurities as she tries to ignore the negative voices in her head and regain her lost confidence.

“This fiction film explores the insecurities of a young girl determined to silence her inner demons. Will she succeed? Contrasting motifs lie at the heart of this film, as evident in the use of an array of cinematic techniques, emphasizing the gap between the insecurities plaguing the protagonist and a life of confidence. Kudos to the crew and Mihaela, whose acting brings out that disparity even more.”, commented Ana Đordić, a film professor, one of the long-term members of the selection committee of the Festival and a co-founder and lecturer in the Film EDUcation program at Zagreb’s Tuškanac Cinema.

Read all about how Mihaela goes about filming during the pandemic, where she gets ideas for her films and whether she will join us at this year’s Four River Film Festival! Follow the conversations with other young filmmakers every Friday in our Four River Friday section.

1. How did your love for film start?

I’ve loved films since I was a kid and I’ve always been interested in the whole process of making a film, and how long it takes to come up with an idea for a film.

2. What was it like for you to participate in last year’s online festival and how do you manage to organize film shoots during the pandemic?

In my opinion, last year’s Four River Film Festival was great; given the whole situation with the pandemic, I am pleased with the whole organization. Making films is a little harder to do, but with the help of WhatsApp, conversation and respecting safety measures everything can be easily solved.

3. How do you choose ideas for your films?

I mostly draw ideas for films from experiences or from something I’ve seen before, and I try to make it in my own style.

4. How are your films coming along this year? Do you plan on participating in the

Four River Film Festival this year? If you are, what do you expect of the festival?

For now, we are making good progress with the film I’m working on and I hope it will all work out well. I am one hundred percent sure that I will participate in the festival. I hope that by the next FRFF the pandemic will have calmed down, so that we will be able to experience it fully again.

5. What will be this year’s FRFF yellow motif?

I don’t know that yet, but I believe it will be a great idea this year too!