Return to Paradaiz

Returning to Sarajevo, the city she fled as a child, artist and filmmaker Matea Radic revisits the fragmented memories that inspired her surreal animated film, Paradaïz. 

From Trebević Mountain in Sarajevo to Garbage Hill in Winnipeg, she recounts her journey back to her war-torn childhood hometown, triggering a flood of repressed and sometimes surreal memories. With her trademark humour and candour, she reflects on watching her city transform from an Olympic showcase to a war zone, witnessing the horrors of conflict through the naïve eyes of a child, struggling to fit into a new country, and ultimately discovering herself through the transformative power of art. 

Welcome to a place where the houses have holes, tomatoes are ticking time bombs and snails wander the streets in search of a safe space. In her short-film debut, Winnipeg-based artist Matea Radic uses hand-drawn animation, family photos, a wry sense of humour and her own slippery memories to return to the war-torn city of Sarajevo she fled as a child in the ’90s. 

In Paradaïz, between cigarettes and old TV commercials, her heroine explores the home she left—or what’s left of it. Along the way, she subverts expectations about what healing looks like, engaging in a surreal game of hide-and-seek with her surroundings. 

Watch the full animated film on NFB