Students from the Faculty of Croatian Studies, as well as their professors Marica Marinović Golubić, PhD, Lucia Miškulin Saletović, PhD, and Adrian Beljo, welcomed guest lecturer Mariana Rudan, who arrived from Sydney, Australia.

Ms Rudan is a Storyteller with two decades of combined experience in Broadcast Journalism, Public Relations and Event Management. She is best known for her work at SBS Television as a Presenter and Reporter across Sport and News. Ms Rudan is actively involved in the Croatian community in Australia, serving as the President of Croatia House, which promotes culture and language through visual and performing arts.

The main reason for her visit to the Faculty of Croatian Studies is the Croatian pre-premiere of the award-winning bilingual short film “UNSPOKEN”, a Croatian-Australian story.

A Secret Love and the Croatian Six

Actor Kat Dominis and former SBS journalist Mariana Rudan, both Croatian-Australians wrote and produced the film “UNSPOKEN” along with film actor and director Damian Walsh Howling. They both also star in the film as mother and daughter, along with Croatian actor Goran Grgić.

The story revolves around Croatian-born Marina who is forced to expose a secretive love affair with her Australian boyfriend, as escalating political violence spills into her childhood home with devastating consequences.

Croatian Six Background

The 1970s were a volatile time for Croatian immigrants to Australia as protests for independence from former Yugoslavia raged across the nation.

On February 8, 1979, six Croatian-Australians – who became known as the “Croatian Six” – were arrested in raids in Sydney. This followed a tip-off from a man claiming to be involved in a shared plot to bomb a string of targets across the city. In 1981, following a marathon criminal trial, the men were sentenced to 15 years behind bars but for many years there have been fears they were framed. The case is now the subject of a historic judicial review in Australia.

We wish Ms Rudan, her short-film and her future endeavours great success and hope to be able to host her again at the Faculty of Croatian Studies in the near future.