Andrea Štaka – Biography
Andrea Štaka, a Swiss director, screenwriter, and producer with roots in Sarajevo and Dubrovnik, creates films about women who are displaced and continue to struggle to maintain control over their lives.
She graduated from the Faculty of Design and Art in Zurich in 1998 with the successful presentation of her short film Hotel Belgrade. In addition to several other short films, she directed the documentary Jugodivas in 2000. Her feature film debut Das Fräulein was the first Swiss film in 21 years to win the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival.
“The Swiss said the winner of this film is Swiss, the Bosnians claimed she’s Bosnian, and the Croats said she’s Croatian. All of that is actually true,” she says. “I carry those cultures within me. There were moments when I wanted to define my identity, like in school, when I was a Yugoslav in my class. But Switzerland has changed since then. What does it mean to be Swiss? Today you can be Swiss with several cultures, and I think that’s incredibly beautiful… The more you know, the richer life is. It’s not always easy. There are days when I wish I could say I’m from one city, one country, where I live, and so does my whole family – period. But the richness lies in being able to communicate in three languages with three different nations.”
