Moj Stan (My apartment) - 1962

This documentary can be considerated atypical among other productions, realized in the '50 and in the '60 in Yugoslavia. The director of Moj stan masks his skepticism by using a naïf young girl as a main character. Through the girl's eyes, we can see the ultimate architectural realizations in the south of Zagreb. Those houses were invoked by people (there was a lack of houses after the Second World War) but at the end those constructions did not answer the needs of the population.

The film is not just a precise observation of reality. Berkovic managed to perform a parody of those documentaries which were made as a tired repetition of well known schemes or as glorifying films that were made in order to obtain people's consents. In fact, in this film we can find all typical documentary elements: voice comment, music, the contraposition of opposite situations as a method of persuasion, the will to create an emotive participation of the public in the represented situations, etc... The main character, a young 9-10 years old girl has to write a story about her apartment. First she decides to describe her past life in the old, one-room apartment and then her life in the new district and in a new apartment.

"At the end they have assigned us a new apartment. Our new apartment is located in the future center of the city. It is a nice zone, but we are so far from shops that my mother has to spend a whole day if she wants to buy something. My father says that in 20 years, this place will be the new center of the city with beautiful and high buildings. My father can see far in the future because he is a teacher." (1)With this documentary, in 1962, Berkovic won the first prize in Cannes.

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(1) This cursive text is a translation of the voice comment performed in the documentary.