Holy Defiance

synopsis

Every first Saturday of the month, members of the ultra-conservative religious movement, the Knights of the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, gather in Croatian town squares. The artist and activist Arijana Lekić-Fridrih is always there, too, until the police remove her, as women are barred from entering. This fascinating observation captures the clash of opposing forces in public space, as well as the coexistence of two female archetypes – the holy mother, who smiles quietly from a sacred image, and a goddess in a red dress, who uses her performance to fight against patriarchal violence against women.

“All art is a political statement.” — Arijana Lekić-Fridrih

Source

biography

Karla Jelić (1999) is a Croatian documentary filmmaker and journalist who studied documentary filmmaking in Zagreb and is one of the leading figures in the Croatian #MeToo movement. She focuses on women’s rights, gender, European politics, and cultural and social conflicts in the Balkans. She has made a name for herself with films such as Child (2021), The Newsroom (2023) and Yet Another One (2025), in which she addresses sexual violence in the film industry.

film details

director:	Karla Jelić
producer:	Julia Martinović, Nebojsa Slijepčević, Vinko Brešan
script:	Karla Jelić
photography:	Dora Čaldarović
editing:	Maja Predrijavac