DIRECTOR | PRODUCER | REPORTER

Freelance documentary director (self-shooting), producer, and on-camera reporter making character-driven films across the Balkans for broadcasters including VICE, Al Jazeera, and TRT World.
Katarina came to documentary from theatre directing – her final stage project, a play about the inclusion of children with Down syndrome, marked the shift. At VICE Serbia she helped launch the production office in 2014, rising from Head of Production to Supervising Producer and shaping the VICE documentary format across VICE Serbia, VICELAND, and VICE International.
Since 2018 she has worked freelance, anchored by TRT World’s Across the Balkans, with further credits at Al Jazeera Balkans, VICE UK’s Extinction Update, and AFP.
Based in Belgrade. Bilingual in English and Serbian, native proficiency in Croatian/Bosnian/Montenegrin, conversational French.

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE (selected)

Freelance Director / Producer / Reporter (2018 – Present)

• Producer – director, reporter (self-shooting) for TRT World’s Across the Balkans, covering topics like Bulgaria’s Pomak Wedding, Tatars of Romania, Serbia’s Waste Crisis,  Serbia’s Student Protests, Serbia’s Students Figting Media War, Hidden Cost of Caring For Disabled Children (2020 – Present).
• Producer-director and reporter of TV documentaries, UNA TV‘s “Lice pravde“ (2021–2023).
• Directed and hosted documentaries for VICE UK’s Extinction Update (2019–2020): “Earth Homes” and “Serbia’s Recycling Problem”.
• Directed and hosted the documentary Belgrade’s Waste Waters, Al Jazeera Balkans (2020).
• Field Producer / Fixer for international clients including Sky News, Native/ARTE TV, CHEW Productions, New Departures Media, Zinc Network, National Geographic, VICE, De Haaien, Dagbladet, Storytailors (2018-Present).

VICE Serbia, Head of Production / Supervising Producer (2014–2018)
Produced, directed, and hosted documentaries aired on VICE Serbia, VICELAND, VICE International, and Prva Srpska TV. Highlights include:

• Vraćena nevinost (Virginity Regained, director/host)
• Ispravljanje krivine (Bikers and Death, 48min, director/host)
• Previše željena deca (Adopting Children in Serbia, host)
• Broj koji nemam (Young Gamblers, director/host)
• Serbian Brandy Poultice Remedy (Munchies, director)
• Izvan granica seksa (Crossing Sexual Boundaries, 38min, director/host)
• Tetovirane bake (Tattooed Grandmas of Bosnia, 28min, director/host)
• Bacanje hrane (Food Waste, 39min, director/host)
• Dogfights: Bloody Arena (20min, director)
• Cannabis Between Pain and the Law (28min, director/host)
• Beneath The Concrete (19min, director/host)
• Blood Debt (34min, director/host, screened at Beldocs Festival 2015)

Showreel (VICE documentaries)

Producer/Director, Trident Media Group (2011–2013)

• Directed and hosted documentary mini-series Katarinin izbor.

Producer/Director, BELEF (Belgrade Summer Festival) (2011–2012)

• Directed The Chronicles of BELEF (aired on RTV Studio B).

Early Career Highlights:

• Co-Writer/1st Assistant Director on film The Legend of Ohrid, RTS (2008).
• Theatre Director (2002–2009), notable productions: Who Is Laurette?, Birdcage, Lorca’s Don Perlimplin, Buzzati’s Something Beginning with L, Shakespearean comedies.

Additional credits available upon request.

LANGUAGES

Serbian (native), English (fluent), French (conversational), Croatian/Bosnian/Montenegrin (native proficiency)

RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

• One World Media workshop on reporting and filming in the developing world, UK (2010)
• Intern Researcher, Channel4’s Unreported World (Quicksilver Media Productions), Oxford, UK (2010)
• Intern, Five News (Channel Five), London (2010)
• Intern, Sky Arts, London (2010)

EDUCATION

• MA Multimedia Journalism, Bournemouth University, UK (2010)
• BA Theatre Directing, Academy of Arts, Belgrade (2004)
• Directing and Writing for Screen and Theatre, UNITEC, Auckland, New Zealand (1998-1999)
• Westerford High School, Cape Town, RSA
• Frank Joubert Art School, Cape Town, RSA