04.12.2025.  21:30  Split

Kategorija: Dokumentarni film

Zemlja: Hrvatska
Studentski film: DA
Trajanje: 10′
Godina: 2025.
Redatelj: Corina Kovačić
Scenarist: Corina Kovačić
Uloge: Stjepan Mezga

Producent: Corina Kovačić, Karlo Ljepava

My grandfather Stjepan Mezga died young, at the age of 48. The day after he found out that my mother was pregnant, that is, after he predicted that she would give birth to a daughter, me. I grew up without a grandfather, there was always a big void. The family didn’t talk much about him, since it was too difficult for everyone. I was persistent and I really wanted to meet my grandfather, so I indulged myself in the search for photos, stories and any information about him.

I decided to fill the void in our relationship with something we both love. Film and photography.

On the way to the information, I found out that we have a lot in common. He was engaged in photography, which is special to me.

Intrigued, I also found out that he worked at Telekom, he installed telephone poles. This is the reason why the film is called “Postal Hero”. With his help, messages were transferred from phone to phone, in a way he was like a postman. The noises of old telephones and the Internet, which I also incorporated into the film, are also symbolic. It is another link between the past and the present, but also a link between my grandfather and me.

I’ve always thought about staying together somewhere, at least for a while. That’s why I projected photos of him onto the space where I’m staying, that’s how I connected us. Not only grandfather and me but also my present with his past.

Questioning our non-existent relationship, I found myself talking to him several times. The dialogue in the film, my monologue, is a representation of one of the many attempts to establish contact with him. I call my grandfather, but he can’t answer. Then comes the crying.

In his life, grandfather met true love, my grandmother Slavica, who is a symbol of eternity in the film. She went through everything I talk about in the movie. Grandma seems to be there forever and ever. Grandfather is a symbol of the past, little cousin Ivano is a symbol of the future, and I am a symbol of the present.

They told me that my grandfather loved music, even though he had bad music hearing. Therefore, the music in the film is very important. I wrote the first song for him. The second song “Zbog jedne divne crne žene” was his favorite.

In the end, everything kind of comes full circle. The last photo of grandfather in the photo series is symbolic for him, but also for me. Grandfather holding his analog camera. In the frame after, I’m holding the same one. The negative on the light symbolizes something unfinished. As my grandfather’s heir, it is up to me to finish the unfinished.

I wanted my grandfather’s memory to live on. But also, that our relationship, which had no other chance to exist, would finally come to life.

The movie “Postal Hero” is a symbol of life and its flow. A combination of past, present, future, but also eternity. A depiction of something we are all familiar with, the circle of life.