Once Upon a Youth

Ivan Ramljak : 2020
O jednoj mladosti

Thirteen years after the unexpected death of his one time best friend, Croatian filmmaker Ivan Ramljak tries to reconstruct his life and their relationship, using just the photographs and video materials which his friend shot back then. Consisting entirely of still images and videos it is the story of Marko Čaklović who died under tragic and never completely resolved circumstances in 2006. A film about the lost generation of inspired and dynamic young people at the end of the 1990s, who are trying to find their identity and an escape from a country in the aftermath of a devastating war. Ivan Ramljak's first feature-length documentary was winner of the Balkan Doc award at DokuFest 2020.

Bolesno

Hrvoje Mabić : 2015
Sick

At the age of sixteen Ana was locked up in a psychiatric hospital by her parents, who arranged the treatment to cure her homosexuality. After all she went through, she longs for a girl who won't think of her as insane. She finds all that in Martina, her new love. Ana arranges a wedding with her girlfriend. They are to get married in Amsterdam. Martina knows that Ana's difficult mental states are the consequence of a trauma caused by her parents and the psychiatrist and believes in her recovery. She is convinced Ana will be a perfect partner and that it is now up to Ana to exorcise the hell of the past which still burns inside her. However, Martina's patience wanes with time as she finds Ana more obsessed with her traumatic past than with the life they're sharing together. Hrvoje Mabić's second documentary feature premiered at ZagrebDox 2015, and screened in competition at Mostra Internacional de Cinema, São Paulo 2015.

Malo više kiše

Marko Dugonjić : 2014
The Rainfall

The place in which little Lana used to live with her family has been affected by a natural disaster. While her mother takes her grandmother to hospital, Lana is supposed to watch over her younger sister. However, despite her parents' warnings, curiosity leads her and her friends back to see their ruined homes. Marko Dugonjić's film was winner of the Diploma for Best Short Film in the Croatian Programme when it screened at Pula Film Festival 2015.

Šetač

Filip Mojzeš : 2014
The Walker

Marko, a 65-year-old pensioner who lives with his wife Ana in a small remote house, finds an unconscious man, Goran, lying on the ground whilst tending to his field. After some initial reluctance he helps him up and takes him home. Marko's wife Ana is sceptical of this stranger from the beginning and Marko, out of fear, forbids her to call anyone. Proportional to the time Goran spends at the house, Ana's and Marko's fears grow and an already tense atmosphere is further aggravated by Goran's unusual interest in their private life as soon as he gets back on his feet. It is evident that he isn't planning to leave anytime soon. The presence of this unusual and disturbing guest gradually results in a conflict between Ana and Marko. Filip Mojzeš's film was winner of the award for Best Short Feature at Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival 2015.

Imena višnje

Branko Schmidt : 2015
Ungiven

Sometimes, the people we love the most get the worst of us, and the true nature of our emotion is revealed when it's already too late. Determined to move on with their life violently interrupted by war several years ago, an elderly couple returns to their restored home. We follow their daily life through the four seasons. Every day She becomes more absent and lost. Instead of helping her, He acts brutishly, sometimes even cruelly, towards his wife. However, the realisation that something is wrong with Her will make Him question his behaviour and values. Branko Schmidt's feature screened in the Spectrum section at Moscow International Film Festival 2015.

The High Sun

Dalibor Matanić : 2015
Zvizdan

Three different love stories, set in three consecutive decades, in two neighbouring Balkan villages burdened with a long history of inter-ethnic hatred. What connects the stories is the fact that the love between a Croatian man and a Serbian woman is in a way forbidden, whether it takes place in 1991, 2001 or 2011. The first story is set in 1991, right before the war begins, and there is a high degree of tension, which is bad grounds for any romance, let alone one between two young people from neighbouring villages, but of different nationalities. Ten years later, the war is over, but not forgotten – the protagonists have to face the scars that are still far from healed. In the third story, set in 2011, there are no more threats nor tensions, but the doubts have not been erased. A film about the dangers, and the enduring strength, of forbidden love. Dalibor Matanić's feature was winner of the Jury Prize when it premiered in competition in the Un Certain Regard section at Festival de Cannes 2015.

Naked Island

Tiha K Gudac : 2014
Goli

Some sixty years ago, a man went missing for four years. He returned back a changed man carrying along a painful secret. He later built his family's life around this unspoken of secret. Talking about the past was forbidden in the family. It was his granddaughter, also the director of this film, who first started asking questions, wanting to find out what lay hidden beneath her grandfather's scar covered body ever since childhood. However, he died without revealing the entire story to anyone. Naked Island is an investigation built upon the remnants of the past, a mosaic made of clues – family photos and intimate testimonies of a tight-knit group of people who were brought together by the same place, an island of broken souls, and the consequences that this place left on three generations. At the same time, it is a fascinating portrayal of a moment in which a past can finally become history. Tiha K Gudac's directorial debut was winner of the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Film in Documentary Competition when it premiered at Sarajevo Film Festival 2014, and received a Special Mention of the Jury at Zagreb Film Festival 2014.

Prolaz za Stellu

Ljiljana Šišmanović : 2014
Passage for Stella

Stella lives in Zagreb. She is thirteen, she does not speak, does not walk and does not see almost anything. She can only move if assisted or in a wheelchair. Stella was born with a 100-percent disability: she has a complex cerebral paralysis, hypoplasia of corpus calosum, spinal tumor and a hard form of mental retardation. In order to make carrying of Stella from the street to their apartment less difficult (the route includes 35 steps, plus once again that many for carrying the wheelchair), her parents requested their neighbours to allow them passage through their backyard in order to avoid the staircase. However, the neighbours would not hear of it. A film about a girl whose microcosm is confined not only by disease and disability, but also by the cold-heartedness of her neighbours, of whom she asks not pity but merely some human decency. Award-winning director Ljiljana Šišmanović's documentary premiered in competition at Liburnia Film Festival 2014.

4. majmun

Hrvoje Mabić : 2013
4th Monkey

In 2002, the psychiatric hospital at Lopača, near Rijeka, started admitting children with behavioural disorders. Soon, controversial stories about the hospital's treatment of children began to spread. This public secret is finally revealed in the painful testimonies of former patients, their parents and the doctors of Lopača Hospital. The film asks questions about moral responsibility, confronted by the shocking conformity of the hospital staff and the structures of the city government. In a reference to a Chinese proverb about three wise monkeys who 'hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil', a definitive answer to the question 'who is the fourth monkey?' is finally revealed. Hrvoje Mabić's documentary was winner of the Movies That Matter Award at ZagrebDox 2014, and the Audience Award at Liburnia Film Festival 2014.

Cure – The Life of Another

Andrea Štaka : 2014

1993, after the Siege of Dubrovnik. Fourteen-year-old Linda has moved back to Croatia from Switzerland with her father. Her new best friend Eta takes her up to the forbidden forest above the city. The two girls become entangled in an obsessive, sexually charged game of swapping identities that leads to a fatal fall. The following morning, Linda comes back alone; slowly she begins to take Eta's place in her family. Ivo, Eta's boyfriend, is drawn in as well. Alone, in a country that she no longer fully understands, Linda loses herself; her personality splits in two: on the one hand her inner self and on the other the far away and persistent echo of her deceased friend. Andrea Štaka's second feature premiered in competition at Locarno Film Festival 2014.

Djeca tranzicije

Matija Vukšić : 2014
Children of Transition

The film follows the growing up of David, Natalija, Lana and Marta. After his excellent performance before the scouts of FC Barcelona, 8-year-old David, dubbed by the media 'Messi from Slavonski Brod', impatiently awaits invitation from La Masia. This still non-existent piece of paper is the basis of David's dreams, but also of the dreams of his entire family of five. 11-year-old Natalija comes from a modest background, does not have a smartphone and other trendy things. Because of that she is bullied by her classmates and is forced to change school. The 6-year-old Lana spends her days trying clothes, doing her face, dancing and playing cellphone games. A teenage life defined by bullying at school and on social networks became unbearable for 15-year-old Marta. What are happy childhoods and growing up in a healthy environment like, and are they possible in a society that has not achieved maturity itself? A film about the environment we create for our common future. Four stories. Four dreams of a happy childhood, in a society making it next to impossible. Matija Vukšić's documentary had its international premiere at Motovun Film Festival 2014.

Zajedno

Daniel Kušan : 2014
Together

Iva is an unemployed mother with a two-year-old daughter. She is trying to find a job and to carry on with normal life in a crazy world in which relaxed moments are unusually valuable. The only kind of support she has is from her husband, Marko, who she talks to over the phone during the day. He works at a car showroom and will soon lose his job. He is furious at a situation which rejects him and does not allow him to take care of his family. Telephone conversations with his wife are superficial, discontinuous and not intimate enough. The only thing they are left with is to survive until the end of the day – survive a bunch of unimportant people and situations which only waste their time – and take refuge in their home, their togetherness and family. Daniel Kušan's short film screened in competition in the Croatian Programme at Pula Film Festival 2014.

Zagreb Cappuccino

Vanja Sviličić : 2014

The story of two best friends in their early forties. Petra is getting divorced in Zagreb, and Kika arrives from Cologne to console her. Kika, a cosmopolitan party girl, teaches Petra, a fresh divorcee, how to carry on with her life without a husband and a family. Kika has taken the responsibility for that mission. Over several cups of coffee and nights out we get to know their fears and problems, their solitude, insecurities and inner strength. Vanja Sviličić's film, her feature debut, was winner of the Breza Award for Best Debut for the cinematography when it premiered in competition in the Croatian Programme at Pula Film Festival 2014.

The Bridge at the End of the World

Branko Ištvančić : 2014
Most na kraju svijeta

When the Croatian War of Independence ended, Bosnian Croats whose villages had been destroyed in the fighting were forced to relocate. They were rehoused as refugees in the homes of Croatian Serbs who had left Croatia. Now, the Serbian owners are returning and the Croatian residents are facing an uncertain future. Somewhere in this powder keg atmosphere, an old man called Jozo, a Bosnian Croat, disappears without a trace. The police officer Filip, who also lives in a Serbian house, is entrusted with the case. Everyone believes that a returning Serb has murdered Jozo, but Filip launches a detailed investigation, determined to be unbiased and fair, even though he has his own ghosts from the past to deal with. Through his relationship with his father, Filip tries to understand the real reasons for the old man's disappearance and so his investigation becomes more and more personal. Documentary filmmaker Branko Ištvančić's second fiction feature premiered in competition in the Croatian Programme at Pula Film Festival 2014.

Vis-à-vis

Nevio Marasović : 2013

A director is preparing a new film. A well-known actor he wants to engage to play the role of the Father criticises his screenplay and the selection of the actor for the role of the Son. The director invites the "Son" to come to the island of Vis to work on the screenplay and the role and to find out if he made a good choice by casting him. Due to the isolation they are confronted with on the island during winter season, the two of them are doomed to come to grips with their frustrations that are constantly being intertwined with the plot in a strange way. Nevio Marasović's second feature won the Young Cinephile Jury's National Competition Best Film award when it premiered at Pula Film Festival 2013.

TIR

Alberto Fasulo : 2013

Branko has been a truck driver for only a few months, a choice that is quite understandable, given that he now earns three times as much as he did as a schoolteacher. But everything has a price, which is not always quantifiable in terms of money. As children we were told: "work ennobles man". But here the opposite seems true: it is Branko, with his efficiency, his obstinacy, his good will, who ennobles a job that grows more and more alienating, absurd and enslaving. Rather than a film about a truck driver, this is a film about a paradox. The paradox of a job that makes you live far away from the people you care about, and for whom you are actually working. Instead of focusing on a sociological point of view, the film examines the character under the skin, in a moment of personal crisis which forced him to make a decision that was not only practical, but ethical and existential as well. Documentary filmmaker Alberto Fasulo's first fiction feature was winner of the Golden Marc'Aurelio Award when it premiered at Rome Film Festival 2013.

Oproštaj

Dan Oki : 2013
The Farewell

The Minister of the Environment is giving an interview for the radio in Split, while the destinies of the people in Kaštela Bay remain under the influence of dangerous successive ecological polluting taking place over the course of the last century. Nina, a young activist, is selling the family home, located near a factory in Vranjić. Srđan, her boyfriend, is moving to Germany for good to work as a dentist, leaving Nina with her strong, but blind mother Karmen. Nina goes for a medical check-up to find out if she has inherited a genetic condition from her father, who died from asbestosis. Nina's doctor is in a secret lesbian relationship with Nina's friend and doesn't want anyone to know about it. Nina and her mother can no longer keep it silent and it all comes to surface through tears and laughter. Srđan is trying to comfort Nina with his love, but Nina can no longer carry her destiny. Dan Oki's third feature premiered at Pula Film Festival 2013.

Hitac

Robert Orhel : 2013
One Shot

An accidental shot links the destinies of two young women – Anita, a detective who is great at her job and getting along pretty well in her private life, and Petra, a young girl whose everyday life would be much easier if she didn't have to take care of her alcoholic mother. The investigation of the accidental shot will intertwine their destinies at a moment when they both find out that they are pregnant. At huge turning points in their lives, each in her own world and equally left on their own, these two women will, step by step, become close during the investigation. They neither planned nor wanted it, it happened by chance. And this coincidence will change the courses they intended to take. Robert Orhel's first feature premiered at Pula Film Festival 2013.

Šuti

Lukas Nola : 2013
Hush...

Can the thread of bad luck, violence and suffering which is interwoven deeply into the generations of one family be broken? Beba's mother is a woman of poor health and weak character. Beba's father is sullen and violent. Beba's brother is possessive and a trouble maker. Beba's boyfriend is from a correctional institution. Has Beba's daughter any chance to break this vicious circle, is there a chance for her to become a beloved, happy person? Sifting through the documents of various centres for social welfare, the director came upon numerous horrible stories, and the saddest of them all has inspired this film. The tale of a vicious circle which always continues with the same violence and the same absence of love. A clear warning to all that violence is not something to be quiet about. Lukas Nola's fifth feature was winner of the Golden Arena award at Pula Film Festival 2013.

Ćaća

Dalibor Matanić : 2011
Daddy

A girl persuades her boyfriend and her sister to join her on a journey to a secluded house in the mountains of Lika, an isolated area of Croatia. There she meets her father who abandoned the family many years ago. Her father is now seriously ill, so this is her last chance to talk to him about everything that happened in the past. In the remote landscape of Lika, a family's dark secrets that have been hidden for a lifetime are about to be revealed. But this encounter leaves them with a few surprises. Wildness, an oppressing atmosphere, long silences and a family secret that should not have been told. Dalibor Matanić's psychological drama won the Golden Arena awards for Best Director, Best Actress and Best Cinematography at Pula Film Festival 2011.