Social Issues Produced by a Film School Or a Film

SOCIAL ISSUES PRODUCED BY A FILM SCHOOL OR A FILM ACADEMY CROATIAN MINORITY CO-PRODUCTION FUNDED BY THE CROATIAN AUDIOVISUAL CENTRE CROATIAN AUDIOVISUAL CENTRE AT Croatian Audiovisual Centre THE MARCHÉ DU FILM Department of Promotion Facts&Figures: — SEE Pavilion no. 127 [email protected] Croatian Village International Riviera www.havc.hr Cinema 2020 DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT – IN COMPETITION FOR THE CAMÉRA D’OR AWARD FILM PRODUCTION

Murina

• BY ANTONETA ALAMAT Total Feature Films Produced KUSIJANOVIĆ (pg. 4, 5) (100% national and majority co-productions): 3 Théâtre Croisette supported by Croatian sat 10 July | 14:30 Audiovisual Centre: 3

Cinéma Alexandre III Total Minority Co-Productions: 3 sun 11 July | 9:00 supported by Croatian Audiovisual Centre: 3 Cinéma Les Arcades / Salle 1 sun 11 July | 11:30 Total Feature Documentary Films Produced (incl. minority co- Cinéma Studio 13 productions): 11 sun 11 July | 21:00 supported by Croatian Audiovisual Centre: 7

CROATIAN FILMS @ THE Total Experimental Feature Films Produced (incl. minority co- MARCHÉ DU FILM productions): 1 supported by Croatian Murina (pg. 4, 5) Audiovisual Centre: 1 BY ANTONETA ALAMAT KUSIJANOVIĆ Olympia | sun 11 July | 14:15 Total Short Films Produced (incl. minority co-productions): 92 A Blue Flower (pg. 4) supported by Croatian BY ZRINKO OGRESTA Audiovisual Centre: 35 Olympia | sat 10 July | 9:00 Short Animation: 19 The Staffroom (pg. 6, 7) supported by Croatian Audiovisual Centre: 11 BY SONJA TAROKIĆ Palais G | wed 7 July | 9:30 Short Documentary: 33 supported by Croatian CROATIAN SHORTS @ Audiovisual Centre: 9 THE SHORT FILM CORNER Short Fiction: 23 Dear Aki (pg. 24) Real Boy (pg. 23) supported by Croatian

BY NINA KURTELA BY IRENA JUKIĆ PRANJIĆ Audiovisual Centre: 11

Can You See Them? (pg. 21, 22) Lurch (pg. 15) Short Experimental: 17 supported by Croatian BY BRUNO RAZUM BY JASNA NANUT, ČEJEN ČERNIĆ ČANAK, JUDITA GAMULIN Audiovisual Centre: 4

The Raft (pg. 23) Just Between Us (pg. 23)

BY MARKO MEŠTROVIĆ BY PETRA BALEKIĆ

TAGS FILM EXHIBITION Debut Film Film dealing with Film funded by social issues the Croatian Au- Film focused on women diovisual Centre Market share of domestic films: or directed by a woman Film produced within through its public 1.32% a film school or a film calls, film incen- Film with lgbtiq academy tives programme Number of cinemas: characters or motifs (cash rebate) or 96 One of the minority matching funds Film suitable for children co-producers is a up to 12 years old Croatian company Number of screens: 192

Average ticket price: EDITOR'S NOTES 4.24 eur

The films in this catalogue are mostly the editors' If not stated otherwise, films have been publicly choice. We tried to include all professional screened or broadcasted. Completion of films in productions with a release date in 2021 and post-production is planned for 2021. some films released in the last half of 2020. Please note that information about the films in this catalogue may still be subject to change. Nina Violić kick and scream

In her feature debut, the renowned Croatian actress actors. In presenting a character, we dealt both with Not only did you direct and write the film but Nina Violić deals with the slight but pivotal differences that character’s perspective, as well as the perspective are also playing one of the main protagonists in perception that make up our experiences of the of the protagonist whose story we were telling. I was in the story. How did you manage to balance world, of our relationships, and ultimately, of our posi- interested in that discontinuity between the characters these different roles? tions within them. and the relationship between them. I started writing the script ten years ago, with my col- If I were to describe the subject of my film in one leagues Goran Bogdan and Lee Delong in mind, as How would you describe the topic of the film? word, it would be a film about a relationship, or more well as myself. So, I knew from the start what I was It is a film about our inability to perceive anything in precisely, relationships. getting into. In the meantime, I directed two short our lives objectively. films, and somehow, I found myself ready for this The child’s perspective features puppet play experiment. Everything was very well prepared; in my The story is told from three different points of sequences, which lend a surreal quality to the experience, if you are performing two functions on the view, each presenting a slightly different expe- film. Can you tell us more about your decision set, it is only possible if you have made detailed prepa- rience of the same events. But the differences to use this technique? rations ahead of time and organised everything in an in perspective are also reflected in the direct- One part of the child’s perspective features a puppet authentic way that would make the situation easier for ing style and choices, as well as the acting. play that we decided to shoot live because I wanted you and the crew. When you only have one position to Can you elaborate on your approach? to create the world of a child’s imagination, which is fulfil, you have a lot more opportunity to improvise. My aim was to reconstruct the last half-hour leading naive, unpredictable and which doesn’t remind us As I am first and foremost an actress, that was the up to the break-up of a family from the perspectives of the typical ways of presenting a child’s universe. area where I allowed myself, and the other actors, to of all three members, i.e., characters in the film. We No member of our film crew has ever worked with improvise. As far as directing goes, I followed the plan put a lot of effort into creating a unified visual system, puppets, so that part of filming was a real trip into I had set in advance. so as to avoid a disparate effect that would divide the unknown for us. And I adore those kinds of trips. the film into three different stories. For that reason, I often caught myself giving out acting instructions to subtlety was the guiding principle of the entire di- the puppets, getting angry that they don’t understand recting approach. Transitions between the different me, to the general amusement of the crew. I worried perspectives needed to be almost imperceptible. We constantly if we were naive enough. When the editor changed the lenses and the way the camera moved, Vlado Gojun saw the material, he said: “God, this is so in order to reflect the psychology of each character. I stupid, it couldn’t get more naive” – I knew I achieved have applied the similar principle to my work with the what I set out to do.

croatian audiovisual centre new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 3 UPCOMING FEATURE FILM

A Blue Flower Carbide Plavi cvijet Garbura

• DIRECTED BY ZRINKO OGRESTA • DIRECTED BY JOSIP ŽUVAN

Middle-aged Mirjana works at a thread factory. On the eve of When the relationship between two neighbouring families her 20th work anniversary, when she is to receive an award starts to fall apart, the disruption will sow discord in the at a modest celebration, her interactions with her loved ones close friendship between their two boys. Both children are illustrate parts of her life: the one behind her, the one she is dreaming of change, but only one of them will manage to living and the one that is yet to come. A Blue Flower is a film finally break free from the toxic environment that has de- about a woman, a mother, and a daughter, a film that evokes stroyed the last remnants of childhood innocence in them. emotional associations and urges us to take a long, hard — look at ourselves. hr, rs | 2021/q3 | 110’ | drama | produced by Maxima film (hr) — co-produced by Biberche productions (rs) | int’l sales Wide Management hr, rs | 2021 | 85’ | drama | produced by Interfilm (hr) [email protected], [email protected] | in post-production co-produced by Zillion Film (rs) | [email protected] | Moscow iff 2021

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Even Pigs Go to Heaven Kick and Scream Murina Nosila je rubac črleni Baci se na pod • DIRECTED BY ANTONETA ALAMAT KUSIJANOVIĆ • DIRECTED BY GORAN DUKIĆ • DIRECTED BY NINA VIOLIĆ Tensions rise between restless teenager Julija Almighty and all-knowing Jesus Christ, auntie Anka, and a The final half-hour of a marriage falling apart and her oppressive father Ante when an old family curious hog named Beba are the main protagonists of this shown from the perspectives of the wife, husband, friend arrives at their Croatian island home. As musical comedy, situated in a rural Croatian region during and their six-year-old child. As reality intertwines Ante attempts to broker a life-changing deal, their the war years. The folklore atmosphere of a village life, with puppet play, we learn about their own truths, isolated existence leaves Julija wanting more from featuring a wedding, a village fair, and a pig slaughter fest, challenging our initial character judgment. the visitor, who provides a taste of liberation over a serves as a backdrop for the dramatic love between Beba — weekend laid bare to desire and violence. and Roki, a boar of half-Serbian origin. hr | 2021 | 76’ | drama | produced by Spiritus Movens — — co-produced by Terminal 3, mp filmska produkcija, Zagreb film, hr, br, us, si | 2021 | 92’ | drama | produced by Antitalent (hr), rt hr, mk | 2021/q4 | 75’ | romantic comedy | produced by Švenk (hr) Propeler Film, Antitalent | int’l sales Endorphin Film Sales Features (br, us) | co-produced by Spiritus Movens (hr), spok co-produced by Antitalent (hr), Croatian Radiotelevision (hr), Vertigo Visuals [email protected] | finished – not yet released Production (si), Staragara (si) | int’l sales The Match Factory | (mk) | [email protected], [email protected] | in post-production [email protected], [email protected] | Directors’ Fortnight 2021

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Once We Were Good for You Po Tamburi Sixth Bus A bili smo vam dobri Šesti autobus • DIRECTED BY STANISLAV TOMIĆ • DIRECTED BY BRANKO SCHMIDT • DIRECTED BY EDUARD GALIĆ Members of the tambura band Aveti Ravnice get falsely Thirty years after the Croatian War of Independence, dec- accused of stealing the Golden Ham, the main prize of an A film about a young woman trying to find out how a man orated war hero Dinko is bitterly disillusioned with Croatia annual musical competition. They have to flee for their lives, from her past disappeared never to be found during the and life. His family has left him, and the country he fought as a wild horde of other bands, police, butchers, and a heli- Croatian War of Independence. It was a war that stunned for is plagued by poverty, corruption and emigration. When copter chase after them. Europe and the world. This is a story about a search for his fellow veterans stage a protest demanding the museum — identity and truth in a place where the truth is hidden and that the Government promised them, Dinko gets involved. hr, si, mk, rs | 2021/q3 | 85’ | comedy | produced by Kaos (hr) doesn’t want to be found. But the protest is soon joined by young fascists, Dinko loses co-produced by Supermarket production (si), Krug Film (mk), k-12 (rs) — control, and violence escalates. [email protected], [email protected] | in post-production hr | 2021/q4 | 117’ | war, drama | produced by Missart — [email protected], [email protected] hr, ba | 2021 | 72’ | drama | produced by Telefilm (hr) | co-produced by in post-production Kazališno filmska udruga Oktavijan (ba) | [email protected] finished – not yet released

DEBUT FILM FILM FOCUSED ON WOMEN OR DIRECTED BY A WOMAN LQBTIQ CHARACTERS OR MOTIFS FILM FOR CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS OLD

4 new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 croatian audiovisual centre In her first feature film, director Antoneta Alamat The connection between the Mediterranean Kusijanović continues to develop the themes from her landscape and unbridled instincts, conflict- award-winning short film Into the Blue. Produced by ing emotions and adolescent rebellion is a Antitalent and Rodrigo Teixeira’s rt Features, Murina motif also present in your previous film. Antoneta is a coming-of-age story that takes us deep into the In Murina I wanted to explore the tensions of a turbulent landscape of female adolescence, family, and family invaded by a foreigner, an outsider who pro- Alamat Mediterranean nature. pels a girl to use her inner power to confront the limitations of mentality that has held her back her What does Murina (muraena) from the film’s whole life and to finally break free. The story is set Kusijanović title mean to you? in stark nature – where emotions are heightened Muraena is a regal animal, when it fights for its life it and exposed to the sea, the sun, and the rocks as murina will even bite off its own flesh to free itself. I admire that if on a burning plane – where the senses tempt natural force so I gave it to my main character Julija, who the physical world to merge with the spiritual. fights for her freedom the same way muraena does. What were the major challenges you faced in making the film? We faced many challenges, and I truly believe that overcoming them through the making of Murina helped us grow together as a team. Nature was very unco-operative and the weather dictated the shooting schedule. Directing on location in nature, underwater at night in a cave 40 metres deep, it was a wild experience.

In her eagerly awaited debut feature, director Sonja Tarokić creates a microcosm of the Croatian society within one school. The character of Anamarija, a new school counsellor, weaves through various 'territories' of the school space and the groups that lay claim to those territories, while she herself struggles to create her own place in the pecking order.

How would you describe The Staffroom? Portraying Anamarija’s first year working as a primary school counsellor, The Staffroom traces the gradual process by which a young, enthusiastic person begins to adopt the defeatist attitude of her environment. Amidst the commotion and clamour, daily errands and mundane tasks, the film tackles our emotional coming-of-age, when we realize that we are no stronger or better than the rest and that the intricate web of relationships within our community will have an effect on every aspect of our lives.

The educational system in the film emerges as an inert mechanism blocking almost any attempt at real change. What is the main protagonist’s position within that system? The film’s structure is conceived as a series of finely interwoven relationships, without a central, main event, thus transmitting the idea that this inner process oc- curs practically subconsciously. Anamarija, the main protagonist, is not faced with one big decision, but rather with the idea that she will have to spend the rest of her career trying to find the strength to keep going. Ultimately, she has to come to terms not with her surroundings, but with her own tiny, middle-of-the- road role in the system.

The central space in the film is one room within a building – the teachers’ staffroom. In a way, the educational system is just the back - ground to the central theme, which is the quest for one’s own role within the community. I wanted to demonstrate that, on a day-to-day basis, the wider concept of what we perceive as the “system” is dispersed and actually consists of the people around us, and that we very often find ourselves in situations where everyone in the room is simultane - ously both right and wrong. Therefore, the teachers’ staffroom becomes a symbolic space that represents a community.

Elements of Croatian folklore, that is, visual motifs of Croatian naive visual artists and traditional Croatian folk music feature promi- nently in the film. I have always considered heritage to be the key theme of this film. On the one hand, Anamarija gradually and subconsciously starts to inherit the patterns of behaviour, both generationally and in terms of hierarchy. On the other hand, for all of us school plays a key role in transmitting social values. That is why I wanted to heighten the sense of circularity of time within one school year, by means of the change of seasons marked by visually characteristic public holidays. At the same time, I wanted the whole film to be imbued with the colour red. Here the visual and musical elements of folklore play the role of heritage, which is both beautiful and touching, but also highly burdensome, almost to the point of being claustropho- bically inescapable.

DEBUT FILM FILM FOCUSED ON WOMEN OR DIRECTED BY A WOMAN LQBTIQ CHARACTERS OR MOTIFS FILM FOR CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS OLD

6 new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 croatian audiovisual centre UPCOMING UPCOMING

The Staffroom Tereza37 Traces Zbornica Tragovi • DIRECTED BY DANILO ŠERBEDŽIJA • DIRECTED BY SONJA TAROKIĆ • DIRECTED BY DUBRAVKA TURIĆ Thirty-seven-year-old Tereza has been married to Marko Following the emotional experiences of Anamarija, for 10 years. After her fourth miscarriage, Tereza starts Ana’s anthropological research on symbols and engravings the film explores small-time corruption that has questioning everything – her marriage, her relationship with on ancient tombstones strangely intertwines with major spread throughout the social hierarchy and is rooted her family and the people around her. She decides to turn changes in her own life. in the society’s defeatist attitude. Finding herself in over a new leaf, without burdening herself with the conse- — this complex community, Anamarija has to figure out quences of her actions. hr, lt, rs | 2021 /q4 | 95’ | drama | produced by Kinorama (hr) if accepting the rules of the game will – in the long — co-produced by Tremora (lt), Corona (rs) | [email protected] run – mean victory or defeat. hr | 2020 | 100’ | drama | produced by Focus Media [email protected] | in post-production — [email protected] | Pula ff 2020 – Grand Golden Arena for Best Film, hr | 2021 | 120’ | drama | produced by Kinorama (hr) Best Directing, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, Best Make-Up, [email protected] | finished – not yet released Best Editing; Warsaw ff 2020

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croatian minority co- productions: After the Winter Bad Luck Banging or Loony Poslije zime Porn · Babardeală cu bucluc sau

• DIRECTED BY IVAN BAKRAČ porno balamuc · Baksuzno bubanje ili bezumni pornić Five childhood friends in their late twenties, scattered • DIRECTED BY RADU JUDE FEATURE across the former Yugoslavia, try to maintain their friendship despite being miles apart. They oppose the patriarchal Emi is a teacher whose career is threatened when a clip of heritage, ignoring the consequences of war and the poor her having sex with her spouse is uploaded to the internet. economy. One year, their carefree, escapist youth suddenly When she is forced to face a group of furious parents asking FILM comes to an end. for her dismissal, she clashes with them over their morality — concerns, resulting in a debate that exposes the hypocrisy, me, rs, hr, fr | 2021 | 101’ | drama | produced by Artikulacija Film (me), abho prejudice, and discrimination inherent in our social norms. Film (me) | co-produced by Akcija Film (rs), Biberche Productions (rs), — Maxima Film (hr), Arizona Productions (fr) | [email protected] ro, lu, cz, hr | 2021 | 106’ | dramedy | produced by Micro Film (ro) [email protected], [email protected] co-produced by Paul Thiltges Distribution (lu), EndorFilm (cz), Kinorama finished – not yet released (hr) | [email protected], [email protected] | Berlinale 2021

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Being Human Isn’t So Bad Heavens Above · Nebesa How I Learned to Fly Nije loše biti čovek Leto kada sam naučila da letim Nije loše biti čovjek • DIRECTED BY SRĐAN DRAGOJEVIĆ Ljeto kada sam naučila letjeti • DIRECTED BY DUŠAN KOVAČEVIĆ After half a century of communism, religion is back to stay! But is this disoriented Eastern European society ready for it? • DIRECTED BY RADIVOJE ANDRIĆ Is there life after death? The film offers one of the possible A working-class man receives a halo; a death-row criminal answers. Some will believe this tragicomic story, some will transforms into a baby; an artist discovers that his paintings A seemingly boring vacation with two old ladies turns into a watch it with a smile, but surely everyone will secretly hope feed stomachs as well as souls. Set in a post-communist life changing experience for 12-year-old Sofia as she kisses that our earthly demise is not final and that one day we will society riddled with superstition, corruption and hope, three a boy, reunites with her estranged family, and faces mortali- meet again. And if once we loved each other – it is inevitable. darkly humorous magical stories intertwine in a poignantly ty on an idyllic island in the Mediterranean. — idiosyncratic exploration of God’s miracles. — rs, hr | 2021/q3 | 104’ | black comedy | produced by Art & Popcorn (rs) — rs, hr, bg, sk | 2021/q4 | 95' | family, coming of age | produced by Sense co-produced by Terminal 3 (hr) | int’l sales Soul Food Films rs, hr, si, de, ba, me, mk | 2021 | 122’ | comedy | produced by Delirium Films Production (rs) | co-produced by Kinorama (hr), Art Fest (bg), Silverart [email protected], [email protected], (rs) | co-produced by Studio dim (hr), Sektor Film (mk), Forum Ljubljana (si), (sk) | Pluto Film | [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] | in post-production Novi film (ba), Ma.ja.de. (de), Montenegro Max Film – Kino (me) | int’l sales [email protected] | in post-production Pluto Film | [email protected] | finished – not yet released

M Mimi My Lake Liqeni Im · Moje jezero • DIRECTED BY VARDAN TOZIJA • DIRECTED BY DARIJAN PEJOVSKI • DIRECTED BY GJERGJ XHUVANI Once left without his protective father, eight-year-old Marko A small-town woman, who is infertile, becomes obsessed embarks on the quest to find his mother in a dangerous, with her friend’s newborn son. Her obsession is so strong Young Kristo lives in a village at the edge of gorgeous Lake dystopian world. that she developes a phantom pregnancy. Prespa, a body of water divided on the borders of three Balkan — — countries: Albania, Macedonia, and Greece. In order to support mk, hr, xk, gr, fr | 2021/q3 | 110’ | coming of age, fantasy | produced by mk, hr | 2021 | 100’ | drama | produced by Skopje Film Studio (mk) his family, Kristo has become a small-time marijuana smuggler, Focus Pocus Films (mk) | co-produced by 4 Film (hr), In My Country (xk), co-produced by Maxima Film (hr) | [email protected], [email protected] using his boat and knowledge of the lake to transport drug 2:35 (gr), Les Contes Modernes (fr) | [email protected], finished – not yet released packages from the Albanian to the Macedonian side. [email protected] | in post-production — al, hr, it, mk, xk | 2020 | 100’ | drama | produced by On Film Production (al) | co-produced by Corvus Film (hr), Hermes Film (it), Focus Pocus Films (mk), Added Value Films (xk) | int’l sales wide Management [email protected], [email protected] | Tirana iff 2020

UPCOMING UPCOMING FEATURE DOCUM- Riders / Springdreaming ENTARY Bigger Than Trauma Jezdeci · Jahači Veće od traume

• DIRECTED BY DOMINIK MENCEJ • DIRECTED BY VEDRANA PRIBAČIĆ

Spring of 1999. Two friends decide to transform their mopeds Women whose families were killed in the Croatian War of into choppers and embark on a journey, looking for freedom Independence, who were tortured and raped but survived, and love. On the road, they are joined by a young runaway had kept silent for 25 years. Determined to change their woman and an old biker. Personal values are tested, God’s lives and those of their children for the better, they turned purpose unclear, free will questioned. The trip turns into a to new approaches of therapeutic methods, focusing on quest for identity, irrevocably changing their lives. the solution and not the cause. Today, they are getting their — inner power back. si, rs, hr, ba, it | 2021/q3 | 110’ | drama, road film | produced by Staragara — (si) | co-produced by Sense production (rs), Antitalent (hr), Novi Film (ba), hr | 2021/q4 | 90’ | produced by Metar60 | co-produced by Croatian Transmedia (it) | int’l sales Slingshot (Manuela Buono) Radiotelevision (hrt), Slavica film | [email protected] [email protected], [email protected] | in post-production in post-production

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Boskarizza – The Paths of The Building Discovering Gea Mental Healing · Boškarica – Hrvatskog narodnog preporoda Otkrivajući Geu putevi ozdravljenja • DIRECTED BY GORAN DEVIĆ • DIRECTED BY IVAN PERIĆ, ALVARO CONGOSTO

• DIRECTED BY IVANA HRELJA A colorful mural is being painted on the gray facade of an Marija finds out her great-aunt Gea Koenig has passed apartment building, while its residents go about their daily away. Gea used to be a professional photographer who Over the span of four years, a film crew follows the prote- lives. As people who have spent their entire lives there lived in Westbeth, a historic building in New York as the big- ges inside a psychiatric institution as they strive to regain gradually leave due to old age or financial difficulties, some gest artists’ community in the world. We follow Marija as she their lost independence. The documentary process explores unexpected new tenants arrive at the building. uncovers the stories of Westbeth and Gea’s adventurous the limits of confronted realities – those of the protagonists, — life. Influenced by Gea’s life story, Marija decides to take a the film crew, and the psychiatric system. Their faith, hope, hr | 2021/q3 | 68’ | produced by 15 Art | [email protected] different path in her life. and humanity are not in question but their path to mental in post-production — healing is. hr, us, it | 2021/q4 | 74’ | produced by Dream Division Production (hr), — Handful Films llc (us), Doc Service srl (it) | [email protected], hr | 2021/q3 | 68’ | produced by Pulska filmska tvornica [email protected] | in post-production [email protected] | in post-production

DEBUT FILM FILM FOCUSED ON WOMEN OR DIRECTED BY A WOMAN LQBTIQ CHARACTERS OR MOTIFS FILM FOR CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS OLD

8 new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 croatian audiovisual centre Dubica Factory to the Workers Landscape Zero Tvornice radnicima Nulti krajolik • DIRECTED BY MARINA ANIČIĆ SPREMO • DIRECTED BY SRĐAN KOVAČEVIĆ • DIRECTED BY BRUNO PAVIĆ A film about a village left to its own devices. A story about coexistence on a river that separates, yet also connects, two After ten years of operation, the workers behind the A small coastal area has been destroyed by the presence worlds that cannot do without each other. ITAS factory takeover in Ivanec are struggling to sur- of industrial facilities. The film follows the lives of people — vive the capitalist economy. This film paints a collec- who are either fighting for their survival among the danger- hr | 2021 | 82’ | produced by Factum | co-produced by Zagreb film tive portrait of those who fight to protect their labour ous facilities or coexisting with them in harmony. Everyday [email protected] | ZagrebDox 2021 and the sacrifices they need to make along the way. scenes intertwine with different art performances, depicting — the adjustment of people and animals to the degraded en- hr | 2021 | 105’ | produced by Fade In vironment. [email protected], [email protected] — Sheffield DocFest 2021 – International Competition hr | 2020 | 71’ | produced by Kazimir | [email protected], [email protected] | Jihlava idff 2020; Trieste ff 2021

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Mlungu – The White King Museum of the Revolution Naked and Barefoot Mlungu – Bijeli kralj Muzej revolucije Goli i bosi

• DIRECTED BY DAVID LUŠIČIĆ • DIRECTED BY SRĐAN KEČA • DIRECTED BY MARIO KOVAČ

Branimir Orač is a Croatian sailor who was arrested in Inside the remnants of an abandoned utopian project, a We held a fake audition for an erotic movie to see what kind South Africa for smuggling 230 kg of cocaine on a cargo young life persists in the form of a fierce little girl. As the of people would show up in Croatia, a conservative Catholic ship. The film offers an authentic insight into his life in pris- city erases the spaces she inhabits, so looms an end to country. After hiring a motley crew of actors, weirdos, and on, followed by his efforts to fit in back in his hometown and childhood dreams. misfits, we proceeded to make a “making of” film of a fake adapt to the normal world after his release. — erotic comedy Orgazmotron, with a hilarious and politically — rs, hr, cz | 2021/q4 | 80’ / 52’ | produced by Uzrok (rs) and Restart (hr) provocative storyline. hr | 2021 | 71’ | produced by Zebra Creative Network | [email protected], co-produced by Nutprodukce (cz) | [email protected] — [email protected] | finished – not yet released in post-production hr | 2021 | 95’ | produced by Interfilm | [email protected] finished – not yet released

Nun of Your Business Once Upon a Youth The Pygmalion Effect O jednoj mladosti Pigmalionov efekt • DIRECTED BY IVANA MARINIĆ KRAGIĆ • DIRECTED BY IVAN RAMLJAK • DIRECTED BY INES PLETIKOS Two young nuns meet during a Catholic gathering and fall in love. Spaces they once considered havens of solace and Thirteen years after the unexpected death of his once best The Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon that spiritual fulfillment turn out to be more earthly than expect- friend, the filmmaker tries to reconstruct his late friend’s life enables people to realize their full potential, based on the ed. Disillusioned by the Church and the abuse within it, they and their friendship, using just the photographs and video expectations of others. This method was used by Ante make the toughest decision – to leave the convent. material his friend shot back then. Kostelić, father and trainer of Janica and Ivica Kostelić, — — making them Olympic and world champions. This film offers hr, rs | 2020 | 71'19" | produced by Marinis Media (hr) hr | 2020 | 78’ | produced by Academy of Dramatic Art (Zagreb) a unique view into the story of a sport aficionado who still co-produced by Set Sail Films (rs) | [email protected] [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] considers himself an outsider. ZagrebDox 2020 – Audiance Award dokufest idsff 2020 – Best Balkan Documentary; Trieste ff 2021 — hr | 2021 | 98’ | produced by Interfilm | [email protected]

Cinematographer Srđan Kovačević, who has honed There is a certain tension that arises in the What were the main challenges you faced his skills on many acclaimed Croatian documentary course of the film as the protagonists try to while shooting the film? projects, steps into directing as he takes his camera navigate a kind of generational divide be- There were plenty of challenges, mainly because into the ITAS factory, operating on the model of workers’ tween the younger workers, who grew up in a I was the cinematographer, the sound recordist, self-management. There, he follows the efforts of its capitalist society, and the older ones, who still and the director, all at the same time. I wanted workforce to revive and retain the success of their en- carry the memory of their socialist heritage. to make a film that would present a full picture terprise in the face of the powerful forces of capitalism Would you say that this is reflective of our of the Itas factory; the biggest challenge was and the global market. society in general? the collaboration with the workers themselves, The world of the factory is, naturally, a reflection of because their trust in me was crucial for the suc- What does this story mean to you? our society and its conditions. Unfortunately, Croatia’s cess of the project. The questions of dignified work, ownership, workers’ peripheral position on the map of the European Union rights, redistribution of value in our society, they are directly bears upon the low cost of labour, and thus the I think the closeness to the subjects that is felt all extremely important and are worth asking. The mass emigration of the labour force, often young and in the film arose from the filming conditions. On Itas factory, which was taken over by its workers, is highly educated. average, I visited them once a week over a period a good starting point for the analysis of the current of five years, so the workers saw my dedication possibilities of the labour movement. It’s a topic worth On the other side, our socialist heritage shows us that and allowed me access to their world. That en- discussing, and something we need to keep dealing alternatives do exist. It is very much a pity that this abled me to show the complex reality of the work- with and working on, because we are all workers, it’s heritage is so rarely invoked positively, even though it ers’ struggle by observing the events that were everybody’s business. remains the only real alternative to capitalism. taking place in the factory.

DEBUT FILM FILM FOCUSED ON WOMEN OR DIRECTED BY A WOMAN LQBTIQ CHARACTERS OR MOTIFS FILM FOR CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS OLD

10 new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 croatian audiovisual centre UPCOMING

Storkman · Starac i roda Vanka Obsession You with Hands More Innocent Vanka – Opsesija ili slučajnost Ti koja imaš nevinije ruke • DIRECTED BY TOMISLAV JELINČIĆ • DIRECTED BY BRANKO IVANDA • DIRECTED BY BRANKO PEJNOVIĆ Twenty-seven years ago, a widower Stjepan Vokić found a stork with a broken wing. He saved her life and named her A series of puzzles and mysterious coincidences that cannot A story of Vesna Parun, the most renowned contemporary Malena. Since then, Malena has been living with Stjepan, be incidental. In the museum archives, art historian Nena Croatian poet, who, despite her local, regional, and interna- sharing endless lonely winters and happy but short sum- Komarica discovers the letters of Maksimilijan Vanka, a long tional recognition, struggled to find peace for the most of mers, when Malena’s faithful male stork returns to her. With- forgotten Croatian painter, and identifies strongly with him. her life. She chose to use that fact as an infinite source of out Stjepan, Malena would certainly starve to death. And we Will Vanka’s encrypted letters meet the historian’s high expec- her creative energy. The story is told by her friends, family ask ourselves, who would Stjepan be without Malena. tations and help her gain insight into the life of the artist who members, and professional admirers. — led a very private life or will the secret remain hidden forever? — hr, si, it | 2020 | 76’ / 58’ / 53’ | produced by Antitalent (hr) — hr | 2021 | 63’ | produced by Društvo prijatelja prirodnih ljepota Slunja co-produced by Tramal films (si), Transmedia production Srl (it), rtv hr, us | 2021 | 72’ | produced by Ars septima (hr) | co-produced by i Rastoka | co-produced by Aning Film | [email protected] Slovenia (si), Croatian Radiotelevision (hr) | [email protected] Crows Run Pictures (us) | [email protected] | finished – not yet released Liburnia ff 2020 – Audience Award; Festival dei Popoli 2020

UPCOMING UPCOMING croatian minority co- productions: The Cars We Drove Into No Man Is an Island Capitalism · Kolite, s koito nah- Septembarska klasa · Rujanska klasa

luhme v kapitalizma · Auti kojima • DIRECTED BY IGOR ŠTERK smo se odvezli u kapitalizam A story about a group of people who served in the Yugo- FEATURE • DIRECTED BY GEORGI BOGDANOV, BORIS MISSIRKOV slav National Army only a few years before the start of the Yugoslav Wars. Thirty years later, ten former soldiers come This film tells stories about the most popular Socialist car together. They all belong to different nationalities – from DOCUM- makes from the 60s, 70s, and 80s – the cars that stood as Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, and Montenegro. Their stories firm as the Berlin Wall only to collapse with it. It’s about the show in a subtle way why the breakup of Yugoslavia was cars that are still alive in the memory of Europeans – as a inevitable. sweet childhood memory or as a laughing stock. — ENTARY — si, hr, rs | 2021 | 77’54” | produced by a.a.c. productions (si) bg, hr, de, cz, dk | 2021/q3 | 90’ | produced by Agitprop (bg) co-produced by rtv Slo (si), Gustav film (si), 100doo (si), Spiritus Movens co-produced by Hulahop (hr), Danish Documentary Production (dk), (hr), Gabisof (rs) | [email protected], [email protected] Endorfilm (cz), Saxonia Entertainment (de) | [email protected] finished – not yet released [email protected] | in post-production

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Paper Boats Floating into the Paying a Visit to Fortuna Prison Beauty Contest Fragrant Night · I plove brodovi od U posjetu fortuni Izbor za miss zatvora papira u neku zanosnu noć • DIRECTED BY MÁTYÁS KÁLMÁN • DIRECTED BY SRĐAN ŠARENAC

• DIRECTED BY BILJANA TUTOROV A contemporary fable about the pursuit of happiness. A The film follows four female inmates of a Brazilian prison middle-aged couple, Anikó and Laci, used to be extremely as they enter the prison beauty contest, which helps them The film offers extraordinary insight into the intimacy of the poor, but their life was stable and loving. Then in 2013, restore their self-confidence and feel like free women. creative process. Darko Rundek, iconic ex-Yugoslav poet everything changed. They won the lottery and could — and musician, has lived in Paris for the past 25 years, where finally start living their dream life. For Laci, this meant the rs, ba, hr | 2021/q4 | 80’ | produced by Novi Film (rs) he sings about man’s eternal quest for meaning alongside “privilege of not doing”, while for Anikó it meant the “power co-produced by Udruženje Novi Film (ba), Provid (hr) his Cargo Orchestra composed of immigrants. of doing.” On the way to happiness, their relationship has [email protected] | in post-production — changed. rs, fr, se, hr, si | 2021/q3 | 90’ | produced by Wake Up Films (rs), Mille et — Une (fr) | co-produced by Factum (hr), Cvinger Film (si), hu, hr | 2021/q4 | 80’ | produced by Colloc (hu) | co-produced by Slovenian Television (si), Swedish Television (se) | [email protected], Peglanje snova (hr) | [email protected] | in post-production [email protected] | in post-production

Tales From a Prison Cell War Is Over The Wire Mesék a zárkából Rat je gotov Žica

Priče iz zatvorske ćelije • DIRECTED BY STEFANO OBINO • DIRECTED BY TIHA K. GUDAC

• DIRECTED BY ÁBEL VISKY The end of war is not the actual end. Even when pres- By constructing an iron fence right through the beautiful idents and heads of states announce victory, and the Kupa region, Slovenia has made Croatia a somewhat Can imagination set you free? Three imprisoned fathers media are shouting PEACE from the front pages, the war unwilling buffer for the influx of the refugees coming through write fairy tales for their children that will be turned into remains chained to the country and its citizens. Ruins, dust, Bosnia. The fence led to the collapse of local tourism and short films at a prison workshop. Awkward, yet full of ten- destroyed and abandoned cities are visible wounds that a whole new set of dynamics were generated. The region derness, these films show how much prison can affect the hide the invisible scars on people’s souls. This film is a rep- has become the arena for extreme-right nationalists, human lives of families, and how imaginary worlds can build bridges resentation of the universal resistance of the human spirit, rights activists, politicians, police and border forces, as well as and help people reconnect. capable of rising above destruction and death. the migrants and refugees who are trying to reach Europe. — — — hu, hr, uk | 2020 | 84’ | produced by Proton Cinema (hu) | co-produced de, hr | 2021 | 74’ | produced by Stefano Obino Productions (de) be, hr, no, lt, si | 2021 | 52’ / 75’ | produced by Off World (be) | co-pro- by Fade In (hr), Taskovski Films (uk), Arizona MPS (hu) | int’l sales co-produced by Jaako dobra produkcija (hr) | [email protected] duced by Kinoteka (hr), Relation 04 Media (no), Inscript (lt), Urgh! (si) Taskovski Films | [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] | finished – not yet released int’l sales 3boxmedia. International Sales | [email protected], info@ [email protected] | fipadoc idf 2020, ZagrebDox 2021 kinoteka.hr | dok.fest München 2021, ZagrebDox 2021 – fipresci Award

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Accidental Luxuriance of the Slice FEATURE Translucent Watery Rebus Kriška

Slučajna raskoš prozirnog vodenog • DIRECTED BY SINIŠA LABROVIĆ rebusa Slice is a 24-hour long film that shows 24 city stories in • DIRECTED BY DALIBOR BARIĆ 24 shots. Each story is precisely one hour long, taken in a single continuous shot. Martin tried to fight the system, and now he’s on the run. Sara — is a conceptual artist. Together they join a revolutionary com- hr | 2021 | 1440’ | produced by Zebra | [email protected] mune in the countryside, with the police on their trail. Inspec- finished – not yet released tor Ambroz knows the right questions are more important than the answers. Because maybe none of this is true. — hr | 2020 | 80’ | drama, mystery | produced by Kaos [email protected], [email protected] Annecy iaff 2020, Trieste ff 2021

UPCOMING UPCOMING SHORT FICTION FILM 9th Session The Animal Deveta seansa Životinja

• directed by MISLAV MURETIĆ • directed by SAŠA POŠTIĆ

The Doctor welcomes her patient Danny, who is strug- Something happened. Someone reacted. The reaction re- gling with different personalities. This is their 9th session. sults in a change in the lives of those involved in the event. The Doctor realizes that there are more personalities than — originally thought. As the main personalities battle for domi- hr | 2021 | 25’ | drama | produced by Blank | [email protected] nance, Danny regains control and finally breaks down. finished – not yet released — hr | 2021 | 12’30” | psychological thriller | produced by Teatrum [email protected], [email protected] | finished – not yet released

DEBUT FILM FILM FOCUSED ON WOMEN OR DIRECTED BY A WOMAN LQBTIQ CHARACTERS OR MOTIFS FILM FOR CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS OLD

12 new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 croatian audiovisual centre UPCOMING UPCOMING

Antiotpad Boy The Bridge Dječak Most • DIRECTED BY TIN ŽANIĆ • DIRECTED BY HRVOJE MABIĆ • DIRECTED BY JAKOV NOLA Somebody’s car is on fire. Somebody’s head got kicked in. Somebody got their mobile stolen. Will the troublesome During a stormy night on a migrant route, a boy comes to A father and daughter are driving to his parents’ house, an adolescent break the vicious cycle of violence he might or the house of a husband and wife who fled war-torn Bosnia argument during their ride escalates to domestic violence. might not have started himself? as child refugees. The wife wants to help the boy, but the — — husband has his fears and his first goal is to protect their hr | 2021/q4 | 8’ | drama | produced by Zagreb film hr | 2020 | 18' | drama | produced by Dinaridi Film | [email protected] son. The woman manages to persuade the man to help the [email protected], [email protected] Sarajevo ff 2020 – Heart of Sarajevo for the Best Short Film, Rencontres child stranger, but when she meets him, shock follows. in post-production Internationales Paris/Berlin 2021 — hr | 2021/q3 | 15’ | drama | produced by Studio dim | co-produced by Interfilm | [email protected], [email protected] | in post-production

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Carpe diem Egon and the Hole Everything Ahead Egon i rupa Sve što dolazi • DIRECTED BY FILIP ANTONIO LIZATOVIĆ • DIRECTED BY ZDENKO BAŠIĆ • DIRECTED BY MATE UGRIN A landlady finds herself and her business threatened by her neighbour and his most recent guests. An introverted boy loses his ability to speak, so he estab- Branka is a young caretaker who moves to an island to look — lishes his own communication with the world through a after an elderly woman. After the harsh winter is over and her hr | 2021 | 12'57" | drama | produced by Blank | co-produced by miniature black hole that forms in a barn behind his house. job is finished, Branka decides to stay on the island for the Kino klub Sisak | [email protected], [email protected] The hole represents the boy’s feelings and symbolises the summer season and gets a job in tourism. The pay is meagre finished – not yet released transcendent possibility of their weight. and the work exhausting, making it just a temporary solution. — — hr | 2021 | 22' | sci-fi | produced by Švenk | [email protected] hr, fr | 2021 | 24'14'' | drama | produced by Dinaridi film (hr) finished – not yet released co-produced by Vertical Production (fr) | [email protected], [email protected] | finished – not yet released

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Funeral Hearts of Stone Heatwave Sprovod Kamena Srca Balzamirani

• DIRECTED BY ŠIMUN ŠITUM • DIRECTED BY TOM VAN AVERMAE • DIRECTED BY TORNIKE GOGRICHIANI

A sultry summer day in Split. A day when it is necessary In the heart of a busy metropolis, Paula, a lonely street artist When a situation slips out of control and the heat becomes to perform all the unpleasant tasks and procedural duties entertains people as a live statue. She yearns for Agata, a overwhelming, a family bonded by a tragedy starts losing following the death of grandpa Ivan. A day that will forever stone sculpture she is in love with and near which she per- its face. remain a special memory for Marija and her father Boris, forms every day. Paula leads a double life – the character of — who have come up with the most bizarre idea about how to her statue is a popular online persona, the complete oppo- ge, hr | 2021 | 24'25" | drama | produced by Nushi film (ge) truly preserve a physical memory of their loved one. site to her real, lonely life. co-produced by Eclectica (hr) | [email protected], [email protected] — — finished – not yet released hr | 2021/q4 | 15’ | drama | produced by Eclectica | [email protected] be, hr | 2021 | 20' | romantic drama | produced by Bulletproof Cupid (be) in post-production co-produced by Jaako dobra produkcija (hr) | [email protected], [email protected] | finished – not yet released

Award-winning filmmaker Nebojša Slijepčević, known What drew you to this story? The relationship between the wilderness and for his incisive documentary work, uses the genre I was inspired by a news article about Milan Radić, civilization in the film seems to go beyond a of fiction to guide us into the very real remnants of the last inhabitant of a small village situated deep in simple juxtaposition. What does it represent wilderness situated at the doorstep of European the woods of Banija. It shocked me that at the start of to you? civilisation. Seemingly pitting man against nature, he the 21st century, less than a hundred kilometres from We are living in a time when centuries of historical raises the question of what it means to be human and a European ‘metropolis’, people still lived like in the developments are being questioned. The wilderness offers us a glimpse into the heart of darkness of the Wild West, fighting for dear lives. When I met Milan, I is once again occupying the spaces our ancestors 21st century society. was fascinated by his optimism, his resourcefulness wrestled away from it with their hard work. Supersti- and lively spirit that have enabled him to survive in tion is getting an upper hand on science, and knowl- these impossible conditions. edge is taking a step back before beliefs. Milan’s fate to me is a synecdoche of our times. Although you have directed both animated and fiction films, your genre of choice has Space plays a prominent role in the film. Can mostly been documentary. Can you elaborate you comment on this? on your decision to tell this story, based on The vast space in the film brings forth the solitude real-life events, in the form of a fiction film? of the protagonist, highlighting the fact that he has I initially planned to make a documentary film. But nobody to lean on in his time of need. Civilisation, I quickly realised that this film would deal less in they say, was founded on solidarity, when the first physical reality than the protagonist’s perception of humans started helping each other. Can a country reality. That’s why the form of the fiction film proved that forgets its citizens, wherever they may live, con- more appropriate. sider itself civilised?

DEBUT FILM FILM FOCUSED ON WOMEN OR DIRECTED BY A WOMAN LQBTIQ CHARACTERS OR MOTIFS FILM FOR CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS OLD

14 new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 croatian audiovisual centre UPCOMING UPCOMING

I’m Not Telling You Anything, It’s Just an Expression Libero Just Sayin’ To se sam tak kaže Mali Libero

Ništa ja tebi ne govorim, samo kažem • DIRECTED BY HANA VEČEK • DIRECTED BY MLADEN STANIĆ • DIRECTED BY SANJA MILARDOVIĆ On Shrove Tuesday three children – 10-year-old Domi, The story of a relationship between a father and son. Boško Zrinka returns to her hometown for a few days to do some his 7-year-old friend Mirna, and her 4-year-old sister is an unaccomplished, overly ambitious father and Petar is location scouting. She stays at her mother Tanja’s place. Verica – go trick-or-treating in a large building. As they his eleven-year-old son who doesn’t share the same am- Tanja’s behaviour seems strange, so Zrinka takes her loca- go from apartment to apartment, they experience many bitions. Unaware that this is a threat to their relationship, tion scouting in order to find out what’s troubling her. shut doors and some interesting encounters. Along the Boško takes his son to the tryouts for a famous local foot- — way, we discover the motives behind their little spree. ball club. hr, fr | 2020 | 19’24” | drama, comedy | produced by Castor Multimedia — — (hr) | co-produced by OriGine Films (fr) | [email protected] hr | 2021 | 11’ | drama, family | produced by 15 Art hr | 2021 | 18’25” | drama | produced by Zagreb film [email protected] | Palm Springs iff 2021 [email protected] | finished – not yet released [email protected] | finished – not yet released

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Link Lone Loose Osama Klimanje • DIRECTED BY STANKA GJURIĆ • DIRECTED BY NEBOJŠA SLIJEPČEVIĆ • DIRECTED BY PAULA SKELIN About the unbreakable connection with our childhood, and the relationship with our inner child. The villages near the Croatian border with Bosnia are Unaware that she and her mother are facing eviction, a six- — mostly deserted, abandoned by the authorities, and year-old girl will find a way to deal with her loose tooth and hr | 2021 | 4’42” | fantasy | produced by self-produced forgotten by the world. The last few inhabitants live in their living situation in one move. [email protected] | finished – not yet released extreme poverty and are left to fend for themselves — against frequent attacks of wild beasts. The film is hr | 2021/q4 | 12’ | drama | produced by Eclectica based on an actual event. [email protected] | in post-production — hr, rs | 2021/q3 | 18’ | drama | produced by Paradoks (hr) co-produced by Bilboke (rs) | [email protected] in post-production

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Lurch Marko Moving Target Skretanje Ne pogađa svaka • DIRECTED BY MARKO ŠANTIĆ • DIRECTED BY JASNA NANUT, ČEJEN ČERNIĆ, JUDITA GAMULIN • DIRECTED BY MARKO DUGONJIĆ Marko and Ankica never got over the death of their only In this short omnibus, three directors of different gener- child, Ante, in the war. When their neighbour Stipe suggests It is the winter of 1993. While the war rages near the Croa- ations direct their respective female characters, showing renting their son’s room to tourists, Marko feels insulted but tian town of Vinkovci, a portly and tall pregnant woman Vel- different aspects of a car accident which, alongside the Ankica manages to talk him into it. Renting rooms is easy jka, from an ethnically mixed family, is waiting to give birth. victim’s, irreversibly changes their lives as well. money, especially for retired people, but having an unknown The due date was eight days ago. When she finally goes — man sleeping in his son’s bed troubles Marko. into labour, there are no men in the house, as all of them hr | 2021 | 15’43” | drama | produced by Academy of Dramatic Art (Zagreb) — are away at the front. Veljka has no choice but to embark [email protected] | Martovski Festival – Belgrade Documentary hr, rs, fr, si | 2021 | 17’15” | drama | produced by Jaka produkcija (hr) on a 60-kilometer journey to the hospital, defying her labour, and Short Film Festival, Short Shorts Film Festival co-produced by Filmart (rs), Hippocampe productions (fr), Invida (si) grenades, and the most dangerous weapon of all – nation- int’l sales Origine Films | [email protected], [email protected] alist prejudices and hate. la Shorts iff 2021 — hr | 2021/q3 | 15’ | drama | produced by Eclectica | [email protected] in post-production

SOCIAL ISSUES PRODUCED BY A FILM SCHOOL OR A FILM ACADEMY CROATIAN MINORITY CO-PRODUCTION FUNDED BY THE CROATIAN AUDIOVISUAL CENTRE croatian audiovisual centre new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 15 How would you describe the setting and the There is a disquieting quality to the casual characters in the film? and seamless way in which the innocent The backstory for the film is the famous football match children’s play gradually escalates into an Rok played between Argentina and Yugoslavia at the 1990 almost ritualistic kind of violence. Can you World Cup quarterfinals, which took place in Italy. As elaborate on your approach? neither side managed to score a goal, the match was The need for belonging and recognition served Biček decided by a penalty shootout. This story establishes (and still does) as an inexhaustible source of moti- the goalkeeper as the central character, a kind of vation for various initiation games centred around penalty shot demigod; especially for one of the two protagonists, manipulation and abuse of those younger and who envisions himself in this crucial role. The perfor- weaker than us. Penalty Shot develops this motive mance of penalty shots serves to propel and guide the further – the overwhelming desire to belong to a storyline, triggering an event that will transcend the group of older and more powerful boys leads to a In his most recent film, director Rok Biček, whose bounds of a local football field and come to reflect the betrayal of a friendship. This betrayal is counteract- stirring classroom drama Class Enemy (2013) won wider social climate. ed by a brave defence of a friend who is convinced the Fedeora Award for Best Film at the Venice Inter- that he is undergoing an initiation ritual, unaware national Critics’ Week, explores the multigenerational Penalty Shot is an excerpt from your upcoming that he is, in fact, a subject of ridicule. dynamics of community, tradition, violence, and trau- feature film Dark Mother Earth, written by Kris- ma from the experiential perspective of a child. Penal- tian Novak, a dark coming-of-age tale dealing The bulk of the story is carried by two child ty Shot is also an announcement of Biček’s upcoming with the themes of trauma and memory. What actors, who have to perform several intense feature film, adapted from Kristian Novak’s hit novel, made this episode stand out for you? emotional scenes. Can you tell us more and the equally popular following play, Črna mati Growing up, both Kristian and I took part in similar about your work with the actors and the zemla (Dark Mother Earth). events on and around football fields. The relationships acting process itself? formed on that patch of grass, which was a microcos- I’m interested in blurring the line between the mos in itself, fundamentally shaped the childhood years actor’s interpretation and the real emotion that is of many generations. The roles played out on this “stage” hiding somewhere deep inside the actor. I want to never changed, only their performers. As we grew up, lay bare this hidden part as much as possible. To we switched from “targets” to “assailants.” The ruthless- achieve that, it was necessary to establish an ex- ness shown to us by the older boys was passed on to ceptional mutual trust with the actors and their par- us, and we passed it on to those that came after us – ents. During the rehearsal process with the child without reflection, without mercy. actors, we detected some suppressed emotions, which we later used to elicit the right response at the right time. In a way, it´s just a Stanislavski’s system for young actors.

DEBUT FILM FILM FOCUSED ON WOMEN OR DIRECTED BY A WOMAN LQBTIQ CHARACTERS OR MOTIFS FILM FOR CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS OLD

16 new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 croatian audiovisual centre UPCOMING UPCOMING UPCOMING

Penalty Shot Snow White Soft Creatures Kazneni udarac Snjeguljica Mekana bića

• DIRECTED BY ROK BIČEK • DIRECTED BY LANA BARIĆ • DIRECTED BY IVANA ŠKRABALO

Two best friends spend an afternoon on a football field, Željka is a 40-year-old woman, living a quiet life in an isolat- Nena recently started working as a school assistant to dreaming of making it onto the local team. But dreams ed village. An unexpected visit will take her back to the past, seven-year-old Dejan, a kid with a learning disability. It’s one come with a price; when a group of older boys interrupt shaking up her daily routine. of Nena’s first grown-up jobs and Dejan is a tough cookie, their game, one of them sees it as an opportunity to — so every day presents a new challenge for both of them. prove himself, while the other one senses something hr | 2021 | 14’46” | drama | produced by Zagreb film Things look pretty bleak until a fluffy white friend comes to more sinister is at play. [email protected], [email protected] visit. — finished – not yet released — hr, si, at | 2021 | 15’ | drama | produced by Antitalent (hr) hr | 2021 | 18’43” | drama | produced by Dinaridi Film | [email protected] co-produced by Cvinger film (si), Zwinger film (at) finished – not yet released [email protected] | finished – not yet released

UPCOMING SHORT DOCUM- White Christmas ENTARY Bosnian Broadway Bijeli Božić Bosanski Brodvej

• DIRECTED BY JOSIP LUKIĆ • DIRECTED BY JASMINA BEŠIREVIĆ

A city park – an ideal place to relax. Sixteen young actors have been selected to participate in — a Broadway musical that established American artists are hr | 2020 | 26’47’’ | documentary fiction | produced by Academy of Dramatic putting on in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many of them are Art (Zagreb) | [email protected], [email protected] | Beldocs 2020 – dreaming about a career outside this region and all of them Meteors; DocLisboa 2020 – Best Short Film, Tabor Film Festival 2021 begin rehearsals with great enthusiasm and expectations. However, as the premiere approaches, their mood begins to change as they become aware that they will soon return to their ‘regular’ life. — hr | 2021 | 30’ | produced by Restart Laboratory | [email protected] finished – not yet released

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Disection 02 Donkey Music Faceless Disekcija 02 Tovareća Bez lica

• DIRECTED BY BOJAN GAGIĆ • DIRECTED BY KAROLINA MALINOWSKA • DIRECTED BY DAVID LUŠIČIĆ

A series of video portraits showing the relationship between Every summer on a distant Croatian island, a parade of A short documentary essay that follows the installation of the sound of a child’s heartbeats and the city of Zagreb as a young men occupies the village for several days. While a monument to the first Croatian president, just before its map of “happy places.” they blow the ox horns and strike up rhythm with metal iron unveiling. The film brings out critical social context showing — bars, we sail with them through hell and dive with them into the citizen’s protests and police corridors protecting this hr | 2021 | 20’ | produced by Zebra Creative Network | [email protected] the sea, only to re-emerge among the living in the parade’s piece of sculpture from human presence. [email protected] | finished – not yet released grand finale. — — hr | 2020 | 14’10” | produced by Zebra Creative Network, Academy of hr | 2021/q3 | 15’ | produced by Filmaparat | [email protected] Dramatic Art (Zagreb) | [email protected], [email protected] in post-production Sarajevo ff 2020; ZagrebDox 2020; Beirut Shorts 2020

The Flag Ivan Delimar’s Ropemaking Men Should Be Trusted Zastava Workshop Treba vjerovati muškarcima

• DIRECTED BY FILIP FILKOVIĆ PHILATZ Užarska radionica Ivana Delimara • DIRECTED BY MORANA IKIĆ KOMLJENOVIĆ • DIRECTED BY VLASTA DELIMAR The Flag deals with various dimensions of contemporary They say art is inseparable from life. Likewise, they say Croatian identity, examining related history, visual sociology, The film follows the process of burying the workshop of that life is – love. Are we all shaped by the relationships we design, vexillology and the collective awareness of the un- Croatian artist Vlasta Delimar’s father Ivan on their estate, choose? Are we conditioned by the men and women we derstanding and meaning of the common identity of con- the legendary site of Vlasta’s art festival. Her father had fall in love with? A story about Croatian conceptual artist temporary Croats. once said, “When I die, bury me on my estate, under the Vlasta Delimar, her art, and artistic experience, told from — alder, by the workshop.” As it is prohibited to bury human the perspective of her emotional and romantic relationships hr | 2021 | 52’ | produced by Kreativni sindikat remains in one’s own yard, Vlasta buried her father’s work- with men. [email protected] | finished – not yet released shop on the property instead. — — hr | 2021 | 58’ | produced by Fade In | co-produced by Zagreb film | int’l hr | 2020 | 20’ | produced by Udruga Domino | [email protected] sales Little Red Dot | [email protected] | finished – not yet released Liburnia ff 2020; Split ff – International Festival of New Film 2020

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Sljedeći On the Cold Line Osijek – Copenhagen, Next Na snježnoj crti City Searching for a Killer

• DIRECTED BY VELIMIR RODIĆ • DIRECTED BY GORAN RIBARIĆ Osijek – Kopenhagen, grad traži ubojicu Fear, listlessness, inertness, and resignation in all citizens. A war story told from the perspective of soldiers, using only The polluters poison them, but they also feed them. A story authentic footage from the battlefield. The intention is to • DIRECTED BY IVAN FAKTOR about the city of fear and apathy, where the only reliable create an immersive experience of the nameless soldiers and regular events that follow each other rhythmically and fighting the enemy while confronting the cold mountain. In the spring of 1992, multimedia artist Ivan Faktor travels relentlessly are the funerals. — from war-struck Osijek to Copenhagen. To inform Danes — hr | 2021 | 24’09” | produced by Lux film | [email protected] of the ongoing war, his team appears on Stop TV, the most hr | 2021/q4 | 40’ | produced by Fade In | [email protected] finished – not yet released important independent TV station in Denmark. Faktor films in post-production the entire trip, his travel companions, the TV appearance, conversations on art and war, friends they visit, meeting his wife and son, and their return. — hr | 2021 | 20’ | produced by Mitropa | int’l sales Bonobostudio [email protected], [email protected] finished – not yet released

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Osjekana Oxygen Nitrogen Peaceful Glide Kisik dušik Tihi let • DIRECTED BY IVICA ŠUTO • DIRECTED BY DAMIR ČUČIĆ • DIRECTED BY SANDI NOVAK Osijek has long been the cultural centre of eastern Croatia, even in war time. But the city seems to have lost its culture There are films that could have been made, but never were. White-headed griffon vultures are the only surviving species along the way. What happened to that pre-war vibe and the There are scripts, elaborations, and filmed materials, but of griffons in Croatia, inhabiting the Kvarner islands of the people who used to be the pillars of Osijek’s cultural scene? some films have simply never been screened. Oxygen Ni- North Adriatic. Griffons that survive their first flight emigrate The film explores this loss of identity as seen by the man trogen is a composition made up of 11 unfinished films. It is that same year. After four years they return, a feat that only who was always part of it, and is still trying to be. an experiment with the remains of filmed material and the one in every ten griffons accomplishes. Their only natural — remains of life, in which the lead character takes over the enemy is man, who is also their only chance at survival. hr | 2021 | 20’ | produced by U svom filmu | [email protected] identity of others. — finished – not yet released — hr | 2021 | 50’ | produced by Vizije s.f.t. | [email protected] hr | 2021 | 45’ | produced by Gate film | [email protected] [email protected] | finished – not yet released

DEBUT FILM FILM FOCUSED ON WOMEN OR DIRECTED BY A WOMAN LQBTIQ CHARACTERS OR MOTIFS FILM FOR CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS OLD

18 new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 croatian audiovisual centre Since 2012, eighty productions have benefited The first part of the 2021 filming season in Filming in from the Filming in Croatia Incentive Programme, Croatia was successfully marked by the series Croatia 2021 including Game of Thrones, Star Wars: The Last Clark, The Ipcress File, Agent Hamilton and Hotel Jedi, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, McMafia, Portofino, reaching the level of pre-pandemic Robin Hood, Succession S2, Hitman’s Wife’s production results. Bodyguard, Mayday, Bliss, Strike Back S8, Tribes of Croatia offers a 25% cash Europa, Murina… For more information about the Croatian rebate and an additional Production Incentive Programme, All these projects and many more choose Croatia visit filmingincroatia.hr or contact 5% for productions filming not only for the stunning locations and the rebate [email protected]. in regions with below scheme, but also for its exceptional local crews and production companies that have proven themselves average development. again in the challenging year of 2020, successfully filming such projects as The Wheel of Time, Carnival Row, Oslo and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent on locations in Croatia.

Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard Millenium Media/ Summit Entertainment (2021)

Photo credit: Editus d.o.o.

Tribes of Europa Netflix (2021)

Photo credit: Netflix

Succession hbo (Season 2, 2019)

Photo credit: hbo

Game of Thrones hbo (2012-2019)

Photo credit: hbo/Helen Sloan

The People Are the Way The Restorer Riječki orao Put su ljudi Restaurator • DIRECTED BY DARIO LONJAK • DIRECTED BY TOMISLAV KRNIĆ • DIRECTED BY LUKA KLAPAN A documentary about D’Annunzio and the mystery of the Nine perfect strangers of different nationalities, ages, A long time ago, Božidar Vidaković left his large family in or- two headed eagle, a symbol of the city of Rijeka, which was religions, interests, and desires come together on the der to escape poverty and make a life for himself. He lived decapitated in 1919. The head disappeared and was found pilgrimage on the way of St. James in Spain. They begin in New York for 40 years, where he worked for an Italian 100 years later. This documentary filmed in Croatia and Italy their journeys in different countries and cross distances of company that specialized in restoration of religious objects. tells the story of the eagle and D’Annunzio. almost 800 km over three snow-covered mountains to arrive After returning to his hometown, he has continued doing — to Santiago de Compostela in the spring. what he knows best – restoring objects in a local church. hr | 2021 | 53’ | produced by Pulsar | [email protected] — — hr | 2021/q3 | 40’ | produced by Wolfgang i Dolly hr | 2021 | 14’49” | produced by Jedina solucija | [email protected] [email protected] | in post-production International Ethno ff The Heart of Slavonia 2021

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Shadows on the River Redux Tijat, A Poem About a Ship Zoza Sjene na rijeci – Redux Tijat, pjesma o brodu • DIRECTED BY DINO TOPOLNJAK • DIRECTED BY LJUBO JOSIP LASIĆ • DIRECTED BY ZLATKO KRILIĆ Zoran Zorčec Zoza graduated in agronomy at the age of A candid portrait of Croatian war veterans dealing with the Built in 1955, the Tijat is the oldest passenger ship in the fifty, ten days after surviving a stroke. He sells eggs and effects of PTSD 30 years after the war. Adriatic. The film is conceived as a portrait of the Tijat as apples on the market and receives social assistance. He — shown through the rich vistas it provides and the melodies it recites the poem ‘Letter to Mother’ by Sergei Yesenin with- hr | 2021/q4 | 30’ | produced by Manevar| co-produced by Croatian creates and that surround it. out pausing. Radiotelevision | [email protected] | in post-production — — hr | 2021/q3 | 20’ | produced by Manevar | [email protected] hr | 2021 | 44’ | produced by Focus Media | [email protected] in post-production finished – not yet released

SHORT ANIM- ATED 45” Aqualia • DIRECTED BY LUCIJA OROZ • DIRECTED BY VLADISLAV KNEŽEVIĆ FILM Fear is part of our identity and we experience it in different In an underwater robotics test pool, a machine infected ways. We grow up with it, and over time we overcome or by an unknown biological conglomerate conducts a fatal suppress it. It is said that our eyes widen in fear; they grow maneouvre. The new compounds create their own forms, where we face the unknown. In those moments, we give self-sustainable, self-forming and adaptable. An Anthro- unrealistic proportions to some aspects of reality, such as pocene, a human product, has opened a possibility for the time. Only when the fear is overcome, the eyes shrink back extension of the body without organs to host other forms of and the picture becomes clearer. life, inhumanly wondrous and unpredictable. — — hr | 2021 | 4’50” | produced by Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb | [email protected] hr | 2021 | 20’ | vr | produced by Zagreb film | [email protected] [email protected] | Animafest Zagreb 2021 Animafest Zagreb 2021

DEBUT FILM FILM FOCUSED ON WOMEN OR DIRECTED BY A WOMAN LQBTIQ CHARACTERS OR MOTIFS FILM FOR CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS OLD

20 new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 croatian audiovisual centre UPCOMING

Arbor Inversus Bora Can You See Them? Bura Vidiš li ih ti? • DIRECTED BY NIKOLINA ŽABČIĆ • DIRECTED BY NEVEN PETRIČIĆ • DIRECTED BY BRUNO RAZUM A story of a giant named Tantos, a creature of changing physical forms that observes Earth and the entire life cycle. Thick clouds whirl across the sky and cover the moon. A schizophrenic boy witnesses the killing of a deer in the One night, watching planet Earth, he senses danger. He Bora blows violently against stone walls. forest and runs back home. A myriad of strange occur- decides to do everything in his power to save the inhabi- — rences along the way worsen his condition. The safety of tants of Earth. hr | 2021 | 4’ | produced by 3d2d Animatori | [email protected] his home is only an illusion, and a series of visual stimuli — finished – not yet released force him to go back to the beginning of the story in hr | 2021 | 3’39” | produced by Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb order to try and change the sequence of events. [email protected] | Animafest Zagreb 2021 — hr | 2021 | 10’27” | produced by Zagreb film | [email protected] Animafest Zagreb 2021 – Best Croatian Film

Cat Do A Day Out The Dream Mačja posla Izlet San

• DIRECTED BY STELLA HARTMAN • DIRECTED BY ANA HORVAT • DIRECTED BY DARIAN BAKLIŽA

Short sketches of cats being goofy. They show how it is to A romantic couple are spending a day cycling. At first, they A dream come true is usually not what we thought it would be a cat in the modern society and how cats have adapted enjoy the field trip despite having different expectations. be... But should we just give up? to the life in the 21st century, which is heavily influenced by But when a storm hits, it becomes clear they have trouble — internet culture. dealing together with an unpleasant situation. Will the expe- hr | 2021 | 60” | produced by self-produced | [email protected] — rience pull them apart or bring them closer together? Animafest Zagreb 2021 hr | 2021 | 4’20” | produced by Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb — [email protected] | Animafest Zagreb 2021 hr | 2021 | 11’29” | produced by Kreativni sindikat int’l sales Bonobostudio | [email protected] [email protected] | Animafest zagreb 2021

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Dry Season Fruits Family Lunch Fox & Stork Plodovi suše Obiteljski ručak Lisica i roda

• DIRECTED BY DINKO KUMANOVIĆ • DIRECTED BY DARIO JURIČIĆ • DIRECTED BY MAJA ZDELAR

A satirical view on human weaknesses and deviations, A father is preparing a lavish anniversary meal for his entire Don’t be angry, my friend! I honour you as much as you have glimpsed through the prism of a couple’s marital crisis. The family. honoured me. film also serves as a commentary on current issues con- — — cerning endangered fauna, climate change, and racism. hr | 2021/q3 | 6’ | produced by Kinoklub Zagreb hr | 2021 | 4’ | produced by 3d2d Animatori | [email protected] — [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] finished – not yet released hr | 2021 | 7’35” | produced by Zagreb film | [email protected] in post-production

In an impressive feat of strikingly expressive stop The blurring of the lines between illusion tumes – I find myself in a cycle of getting lost and motion animation, mixing the aesthetics of nightmar- and reality and the subsequent fragmenta- finding my way again, which is something that I enjoy. ish surrealism and the psychological bleakness of tion of narrative linearity seems to run cen- I tried to accomplish a noir setting, mostly because film noir, animator and director Bruno Razum brings tral to the film. that atmosphere fits the plot symbolically, but also be- to life the frightening capacity of the human mind to My aim was for the viewer to identify with the protag- cause it helped me construct exterior scenes, primar- construct, distort, and reshape reality. onist. I intentionally avoided using only his subjective ily the city scenes. The city was a modular system of point of view in the surreal paranoid scenes, because five buildings, which we differentiated by adding mi- In depicting schizophrenia, you draw from the that would have made everything much clearer. By nor interventions on the façades and by filming from animal world to construct the symbolism of rhythmically switching back and forth from reality to multiple angles, thus accomplishing the impression the film. Can you elaborate on this? illusion, the lines between the two become blurred, of a large city. The design of the protagonist puppet The stag is highly symbolic in most cultures, repre- so the audience themselves can come to their own intentionally visually differs from the other puppets. senting authority, regeneration, the soul, etc. It is a conclusions, without us imposing our interpretations noble, spiritual being. On the other hand, the black on them. There is an interesting dynamic in the film, in dog is traditionally connected to the beyond, to dark- which inanimate objects come to life, while ness and death, and is often depicted as a guardian The puppet and set design play a major role the human characters at times resemble life- of the underworld. The relationship between the two in constructing the atmosphere. Can you less figurines, drained of their anima. is quite straight-forward, they are the opposites that tell us more about your choice of animation My intention was to moderate the contrast between the our protagonist, a schizophrenic, embodies. However, technique? scenes representing reality and those representing the as schizophrenia distorts perception, the relationship Stop motion was my first choice of technique, primar- protagonist’s obvious hallucinations. For that reason, in between these roles also changes. ily for its multidisciplinary aspect, but also because it some scenes that depict reality, I added elements that is exceptionally tactile. As I go through each phase evoke the hallucination that is to follow, in order create that precedes the filming – set design, puppets, cos- a consistent feeling of uncertainty in the spectator.

DEBUT FILM FILM FOCUSED ON WOMEN OR DIRECTED BY A WOMAN LQBTIQ CHARACTERS OR MOTIFS FILM FOR CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS OLD

22 new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 croatian audiovisual centre UPCOMING UPCOMING

Growing Up Dream Height How Much for the Exam? San o odrastanju Visina Pošto ispit?

• DIRECTED BY MIRELA IVANKOVIĆ BIELEN • DIRECTED BY SANJA ŠANTAK • DIRECTED BY IVICA VALENTIĆ

In order to get somewhere, one must choose a certain path. The film deals with loss and our coping mechanisms. It asks Copyman, an evil computer genius and member of the new That path is not always linear. whether we really want to be free of frustrations, when they technological aristocracy, plans on organizing university — become our primary driving force. We seem to be willing to exam fraud. The night before the exam, Librophileas, the hr | 2021 | 6’24’’ | produced by Luma film | [email protected] trade our freedom for this obsession, while everything else ancient mystic being, visits the professor in his sleep. passes us by. Is it a question of human character, or does — nature simply find its way? hr | 2021/q3 | 33’ | produced by Ezop | [email protected] — in post-production hr | 2021/q3 | 10’ | produced by Filozirka | [email protected] in post-production

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Just Between Us The Masked Avenger Portraitist of the Dead Među nama Maskirani osvetnik Portretist mrtvih

• DIRECTED BY PETRA BALEKIĆ • DIRECTED BY LUNA STRMOTIĆ • DIRECTED BY MATIJA PISAČIĆ

Emma, a young woman, returns to her hometown after A small raccoon is happily decorating his den. Carefree, he A solitary man lives in a dilapidated house in a desert. He many years to visit her father who has had a stroke. There, goes to sleep, but the next day a lumberjack appears and is a stonemason who carves portraits of the dead onto she is forced to confront the painful memories of growing destroys the den. their tombstones. The portraits are ordered by machines on up in a dysfunctional family, reminding her of the reasons — behalf of a small community of people living in an industrial she left. hr | 2021 | 4’31” | produced by Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb city. The dead models start haunting the man’s dreams. — [email protected] | Animafest Zagreb 2021 — hr | 2021 | 10’45” | produced by Luma film | [email protected] hr | 2021/q4 | 12’30” | produced by uo Anima | [email protected] [email protected] | Animafest Zagreb 2021 in post-production

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Powers that Be The Raft Real Boy Živa sila • DIRECTED BY MARKO MEŠTROVIĆ • DIRECTED BY IRENA JUKIĆ PRANJIĆ • DIRECTED BY BRUNO TOLIĆ The water reached our necks and soon submerged us A young girl is obsessed with James Bond, whom she sees A normal day in the life of an ordinary super rich family completely. The mountains became islands and the islands as the ideal of masculinity. She projects her idea of the sheltered from the decaying and unknown city, their place became hills in the darkness of the deep. Sharks continued perfect man onto the real men she meets, delighting in her of business but not their home. A technical error in the to roam Wall Street. Venice floated for a while, and then... If a own imagination. Careful not to spoil the fantasy with reality, ever present video surveillance system starts distorting and global catastrophe is a state of mind, then music is the raft. she denies herself the possibility of experiencing in real life interrupting the image signal. Everything turns to chaos, — the romance she so desires. resulting in a hallucinogenic chase around the forbidden hr | 2021 | 13’48” | produced by Kreativni sindikat | int’l sales Bonobostudio — city of the poor where menacing figures lurk in the shadows [email protected], [email protected] hr | 2021 | 7’35” | produced by uo Anima | [email protected] and on the rooftops. Animafest Zagreb 2021 Animafest Zagreb 2021 — hr, rs | 2021/q4 | 8’ | produced by Otompotom (hr) [email protected] | in post-production

Shadows Tonka Will Do It Tomorrow Up to the Universe Sjene Tonka će sutra Do Svemira

• DIRECTED BY DEA JAGIĆ • DIRECTED BY MORANA DOLENC • DIRECTED BY TVRTKO KARAČIĆ

A young woman is gathering precious seeds which quickly Tonka likes putting things off for tomorrow. Homework, On the outskirts of a city, on an unusual hill, lives the Sci- sprout into plants, bearing fruit. On the surface, everything walking the dog or putting away her toys, it really doesn’t entist who is searching for the Living Dancing Stars. When seems idillyc, but below the ground, a battle is taking place matter, because whatever job Tonka has to do, she’ll find a they appear, the Scientist and his two pigeon friends fly a – dangerous creatures from darkness are trying to get the way to put it off for the next day. And so she got Tomorrow- rocket into space to meet them. Near the finish line they seeds. Only the strongest, who overcome all obstacles, will ings, which attacks children who leave things for tomorrow. encounter problems and the Scientist must decide if he will break through… An allegory about battling one’s demons — follow his dream or return to Earth safely. told through an unusual combination of 2D and stop motion hr | 2021 | 6’30” | produced by Luma film | [email protected] — animation. iaff Anibar 2021 hr | 2021/q4 | 14’30’’ | produced by Panda Monk — [email protected], [email protected], hr | 2021 | 7’33” | produced by Kreativni sindikat | int’l sales Bonobostudio [email protected] | in post-production [email protected], [email protected] Animafest Zagreb 2021

UPCOMING UPCOMING SHORT EXPERI- MENTAL 2x90 Abandoned Path Napušteni put • DIRECTED BY VANJA VASCARAC • DIRECTED BY DAVOR MEĐUREČAN FILM In a violent football game, the human body is a delicate and self-destructive machine. A man is thinking about the war. Terrible images are going — trough his head. He is dancing the black ballet with other hr | 2021 | 8’ | produced by Plan 9 | [email protected] protagonists. On an abandoned path, a soldier steps on a finished – not yet released landmine. His last thought is: „I’ve had enough of war, and my body is tingling“. — hr | 2021 | 6’27’’ | animated experimental | produced by Kreativni sindikat [email protected] | finished – not yet released

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The Absence of Telepresence Dear Aki Every Artist by Themselves, Odsutnost teleprisutnosti Dragi Aki Never Quite Together · Svaki je

• DIRECTED BY DAN OKI • DIRECTED BY NINA KURTELA umjetnik za sebe, svi zajedno nikad

A personal experience of telepresence is captured and Told in the form of a series of fictional letters sent from • DIRECTED BY JELENA BLAGOVIĆ performed into essay film. The film is made up of various Nina Kurtela to Aki Kaurismäki, read against the backdrop situations featuring mobile phones in Tokyo, smart phones of atmospheric exterior shots, Dear Aki is an experimental A reminiscence of a friendship with the great artist and in Seoul, director’s address book, as well as a series of essay on the nature of identity, nationality, and belonging experimental filmmaker Goran Trbuljak, inspired by his fragmented reenactments with historical artists like Nam in the globalized world. films and his artistic work Monographs. The director enters June Paik and Sophie Call, who have anticipated the — into a dialogue with Trbuljak’s fictitious monographs and telepresence realities of today. hr | 2021 | 14’40” | produced by Kreativni sindikat appropriates them, questioning the importance and value — int’l sales Bonobostudio | [email protected], of the formal recognition that most artists aspire to – their hr | 2021/q3 | 27’ | produced by Kazimir Association | [email protected] [email protected], [email protected] own monograph. in post-production isff Oberhausen 2021 — hr | 2021 | 8’20” | produced by Terminal 3 | [email protected] finished – not yet released

DEBUT FILM FILM FOCUSED ON WOMEN OR DIRECTED BY A WOMAN LQBTIQ CHARACTERS OR MOTIFS FILM FOR CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS OLD

24 new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 croatian audiovisual centre Due to their immense sizes, it is easy to underestimate The film contemplates on the state of the the chemical changes we inflicted on them in such a Adriatic Sea and narrates a story of the short period of time, in less than two centuries. The Palagruža archipelago. How did you come Tanja results are such that today’s atmosphere has reached to use these specific places? the carbon dioxide concentration it had 4 million years I was born in the city of Split in Croatia, on the Deman ago. The acidity of the seas hasn’t been this high in the Adriatic coast, and lived most of my life on the past 65 million years. These time scales are so large seaside. horizon that they are hard for us to grasp. In the last decade, as a consequence of mass tour- That’s why Horizon continually takes on the relation ism on the Croatian coastline, the sea has become of scale, shifting between micro and macro, between less visible, like a hazy backdrop. I felt an existen- interior and exterior in order to make these scales more tial need to re-establish my relationship with it, to Tanja Deman is a Croatian visual artist, whose work comprehensible, at least on an intuitive level. see it again. in photography, collage, and video deals with urban The island of Palagruža is an isolated point in the and natural spaces in the context of contemporary Horizon deals with the changing landscape un- open sea that has historically, ever since ancient socio-political reality. In her most recent work, she der the influence of humans, yet the film itself times, been a vantage point, looking out to the takes us to the beautiful vistas of the Adriatic Sea, is devoid of human presence, or more precisely, open sea. In the film, the island takes the form of weaving a cautionary and melancholic story of a devoid of people. Can you elaborate on this an observatory. The story we see from there is the transforming landscape in the age of Anthropocen- choice? antiheroic sea story of our time. trism and climate crisis. The film follows a voyage to one of the most isolated islands in the Adriatic, in search for solitude and a pris- You use the motifs of the sky and sea to com- tine landscape. ment on the man-made ecological crisis. What However, quickly the realisation sets in that there are no is their significance to you, and could we say longer places on Earth that offer us escapes from our they also carry a metaphorical meaning? ecological crises. Unaffected pristine landscapes do not The sea and the sky are the most affected by the exist anymore. climate crisis and global pollution. On such an isolated location in the middle of the open Their state determines whether the planet is habit- sea, there are no distractions, and the ecological chang- able for humanity. es become more apparent than anywhere else.

Horizon Kalem MMC Horizont • DIRECTED BY LUKA MATIĆ • DIRECTED BY ALFRED KOLOMBO • DIRECTED BY TANJA DEMAN A visual contemplation of our relationship with nature Twenty years ago, mmc multimedia centre in Rijeka was the An intimate story about the sea in the midst of ecologi- told in a flickering flow of archival footage. Images from epicentre of a turbulent and intense actionist and perfor- cal crisis. This experimental film essay shot on the most popular films and cartoons intertwine with the brutal de- mance scene. It was more than a local phenomenon; the isolated open sea island in the Adriatic, observes the struction of nature, haunted by colonization and the sixth many activities and events organised by mmc at the Palach primordial seascape and layered environmental chang- extinction. The transience of the images on screen and Club, including the Festival of New Art – fona, became ines that surround it. the fragility of cinematic material reflect our own fragility, extricable part of the fabric of our urban collective memory. — as well as that of the Anthropocene world haunted by the This is the first film dedicated to mmc. hr | 2021 | 25’11” | produced by Kreativni sindikat threat of extinction. — int’l sales Bonobostudio | [email protected], — hr | 2020 | 24' | produced by Art De Facto | [email protected] [email protected], [email protected] hr | 2021 | 9’25” | produced by Kadromat | | [email protected], Liburnia ff 2020 finished – not yet released [email protected] | finished – not yet released

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Monochromatic Dreams Parallactic Quest to North Monokromatski snovi Paralaktik Pohod na Sjever

• DIRECTED BY PETRA BELC • DIRECTED BY LOVRO ČEPELAK • DIRECTED BY IGOR JURAN

Sixteen friends from different parts of the world got an Parallactic finds its standard movie sequence in a new In today’s information age, when physical travel is no lon- analogue camera, two black and white films, and three space and a different time frame. We can say that the film ger necessary, a search is undertaken to find the washed- keywords. In the photographs they took, one former cou- has changed the dimension within its structure. The link up whale Albrecht Dürer once looked for on the beaches ple discovered fragments of their own story. between what are now two film structures is visible in a of Zeeland. Quest to North is a film about filmmaking, and — visual conglomerate within a new film space. this self-realisation transforms it into a cargo cult system hr | 2021 | 11’06” | produced by Plan 9 | [email protected] — of sorts. It is a recurring journey. [email protected] | finished – not yet released hr | 2021 | 11’43” | produced by Kinoklub Zagreb — [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] hr | 2021 | 15’ | produced by Adriatic Art Media Film finished – not yet released [email protected] | finished – not yet released

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Some Things Never Happened Split While We Were Here and Yet We Remember Them Dok smo bili tu • DIRECTED BY RENATA POLJAK Neke stvari se nisu dogodile a mi ih • DIRECTED BY SUNČICA FRADELIĆ svejedno pamtimo An intimate story about a divorce that took place in Split, the city from which the author hails. An analogy is made Briefly depicted fragments from the characters’ lives, • DIRECTED BY TAMARA BILANKOV between the city of Split (Eng. to split – to separate) and a through summer and winter, as each of them suffers a parting of the ways between two people. loss. Cinematic meditation on inevitable changes. From my balcony, I observe a house on the green hill. — — Thinking about Da Vinci’s camera obscura and the spot hr | 2021 | 11’11” | produced by rea Association | [email protected] hr | 2021 | 15’ | produced by Kino klub Split | [email protected] that, by the power of light, lets through the current state of isff Oberhausen 2021 finished – not yet released things. I fantasize about all the instabilities which happen inside a chosen perception and I turn some of them into a film event. — hr | 2021 | 14’53” | produced by Blank | [email protected] finished – not yet released

DEBUT FILM FILM FOCUSED ON WOMEN OR DIRECTED BY A WOMAN LQBTIQ CHARACTERS OR MOTIFS FILM FOR CHILDREN UP TO 12 YEARS OLD

26 new croatian features and shorts 2/2021 croatian audiovisual centre Croatian film festivals

th a comprehensive list is available 24 Motovun Film Festival 25th Split Film Festival – on the website: www.havc.hr 27 – 31 July, Motovun International Festival of New Film www.motovunfilmfestival.com 15 – 21 September, Split Film festivals are logical partners in promotion [email protected] www.splitfilmfestival.hr | [email protected] and distribution of European and independent features and shorts (fiction, documentary, features and shorts (fiction, documentary, cinema. They are a perfect platform for boosting animation) animation, new media) smaller titles, and a useful tool for reaching the audiences, especially in the regions that 17th 25 FPS Festival have lost their local cinemas. Here is the list of AUGUST 23 – 26 September, Zagreb some of the most established international film th 19 Liburnia Film Festival www.25fps.hr | [email protected] festivals in Croatia. 23 – 27 August, Opatija shorts (experimental films, artists’ films and www.liburniafilmfestival.com/en videos), expanded cinema performances [email protected] JUNE feature and short documentaries th 14 Mediterranean Film Festival Split OCTOBER th 17 – 26 June, Split 15 Vukovar Film Festival – 14th Subversive Film Festival www.fmfs.hr | [email protected] Danube Region Film Fest 3 – 17 October, Zagreb features and shorts (all genres) 25 – 29 August, Vukovar www.subversivefestival.com www.vukovarfilmfestival.com [email protected] [email protected] features and shorts (fiction, documentary) JULY features and shorts (fiction, documentary, 15th Festival of Tolerance – Jewish Film animation) 10th KIKI – International Film Festival, Zagreb Festival for Kids 1 – 10 July, Zagreb 15th Film Festival DORF 4 – 8 October, online www.festivaloftolerance.com | [email protected] late August, Vinkovci www.kiki.taborfilmfestival.com features (fiction, documentary) www.filmfestivaldorf.com [email protected] [email protected] shorts (all genres) 11th Fantastic Zagreb Film Festival music documentaries 1 – 11 July, Zagreb www.fantastic-zagreb.com NOVEMBER [email protected] SEPTEMBER 19th Zagreb Film Festival features and shorts 14th Four River Film Festival 14 – 21 November, Zagreb 7 – 11 September, Karlovac www.zagrebfilmfestival.com 19th Tabor Film Festival – www.frff.com.hr [email protected] International Short Film Festival [email protected] features, short fiction 8 – 11 July, Desinić features and shorts (all genres) www.taborfilmfestival.com [email protected] 30th Croatian Film Days DECEMBER shorts (all genres) 12 – 16 September, Zagreb 19th Human Rights Film Festival www.dhf.hr December, Zagreb/Rijeka 68th Pula Film Festival [email protected] www.humanrightsfestival.org 17 – 24 July, Pula shorts (all genres) [email protected] www.pulafilmfestival.hr | [email protected] features and shorts (fiction, documentary) features, shorts

impressum

editor design publisher Valentina Lisak Šesnić&Turković Croatian Audiovisual Centre Dora Bilandžić associates Iva Sindik department of promotion Irena Jelić Nova Ves 18 Karla Bačić-Jelinčić additional photo credits 10000 Zagreb, hr Jadranka Hrga Nikola Predović t. +385 1 6041 080 Olja Jakišić (Snow White) f. +385 1 4667 819

translation printed by [email protected] David Edel Kerschoffset [email protected] Valentina Lisak www.havc.hr run photographer 100 issn 2670-8248 Nikola Zelmanović

Eighty productions have benefited from the Filming in Croatia Incentive Programme since 2012, including Game of Thrones, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, McMafia, Robin Hood, Succession S2, Oslo, Carnival Row S2, The Wheel of Time, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, Bliss, Tribes of Europa, Murina and many more.

Photo: Galešnjak Island