Discoveries from Croatia World Cinema

A virus of alien origin appears on Earth, with its only purpose being that of destroying humanity, but it becomes interested in studying it, however, quickly becoming aware of our violent and destructive nature.

A naked middle-aged man walks out of the sea and starts climbing the steep rocks of a deserted island. He walks through an abandoned underground tunnel and descends to a large, empty sandy beach where his younger wife and 6-year old daughter are waiting. Their mutual inability to communicate is witnessed by an interested but troubled woman who is fishing from a boat anchored near the beach. When the tension erupts into violence, three members of the family will become two, and finally – in the open sea – only one person remains, caught in the trap of their own emotions.

The film recounts the memories of a childhood in Split in the 1980s. These are stories retold after Sunday lunch when everyone is in a good mood, stories filled with emotions we can easily relate to. But above all, the film is a moving tribute to the love of a grandpa and grandma who did their best to keep their granddaughter smiling.

Ilija and Iva are the pirch perfect examples of a modern and progressive Croatian couple. However, when Ilija's conservative mother Ljilja invites them to have a traditional Croatian Easter lunch in her cozy home in the suburbs of Zagreb, religion, politics and belief systems of other kinds will begin to clash, resulting in a meeting that might not be as sweet as the parties involved had hoped.

Made by artist, sculptor and art restorer Ana Elizabet, “Are you breathing?” (“Dišeš?”) was a public space intervention placed in 2011–2012 on a building wall along one of the more frequent streets in downtown of Zagreb, Croatia. The film explores building tenants’ and passengers’ reactions, and contextualizes this piece within the tradition of Yugoslavian and Croatian light art in the 1960s and ‘70s, as well as contemporary international trends in conceptual art.

The unseen damage inflicted by war on personal relationships casts its shadow over the homecoming of Serhiy, a veteran haunted by loss. He finds himself increasingly isolated as he battles to reconnect with his wife, Nadiia, and their three sons, Sasha, Artem and Nikita. The film takes an unexpected turn when Serhiy turns the camera on its director. This role reversal creates a space for vulnerable dialogue about love and human relationships as the filmmaker shares her own experience of break-up with another war veteran.

Migrant shipyard workers spend their daily routine in a dormitory on the Adriatic coast. In the evening one of them visits the nearby city.

A cruel latin teacher is visited by a ghost that will soon change her life... or will it...

The urban space of Zagreb is dominated by the investors' interests, while the identity of neighborhoods and the quality of life of residents are threatened.

A man and a woman accept each other in spite of all their insecurities.

Rumors of a goldmine buried underneath central Zagreb will send the elderly locals into a frenzy, with all of them wanting the entirety of the treasure for themselves, no matter what the cost may be.

A famous film director in midlife crisis invites his fatal ex-girlfriend to a lake hotel to help him write a script based on their relationship.

TV drama.

On each side of the border between Lithuania and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, there is an ornithological station that studies the migration of the millions of birds crossing this border region. Today, for the first time, both ornithological stations are trying to cross borders with a joint bird research project. Will they be able to work together?

"The Boss Begins" is the second project from "The Boss" serial. It is a movie about transition, privatization and the people who worked diligently in the nineties to make sure they and we live in prosperity and happiness. It is the story of Agrokor before Agrokor.

For us, a thought always presupposes a society, a culture and above all the consciousness of time. We are haunted by immortality, human notion par excellence. As if the world was here to fascinate us. And to disappoint us. The film travels around the bulb like the Earth around the Sun. Light makes the film visible. A fragile film, like our existence. In the orbit of the film tragedy and our reality, the image resists the cruelty of the experiment.

Water is knee-high. If you are afraid of drowning, stand on a chair.

Going through personal crisis, Tihi is struggling between two extremes: come to be through music career or to take easy way.

A couple in the middle of an ongoing argument find themselves in a very peculiar place under the influence of an unknown substance. This puts them in the midst of a battle between good and evil. Will their relationship survive the abyss?

20 years after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the director decides to find the actors from a film he made as a student. The winds of war have scattered the boys far away from their hometown. In his search, the director embarks on a journey around the world, hoping to recover the lost pieces.

The documentary film "Travelers" is an emotionally extremely powerful story of repression and rebellion, the art and the love that breaks through the limits of socially acceptable, survives despite destructive social norms and relations. Love, that is, as our main protagonists say, ready for sacrifice. And a common artistic project that mirrors themselves, incarnates their life energy.

"To make the film Goddaddy was a great challenge, because it covers almost forty years of Milan Bandić's activity, a seemingly hyperactive and Trump-like character of the Croatian political scene. Bandić has been elected six times as the mayor of Zagreb, which is not only the capital city of all Croats, but also the capital city of all Croatian criminals. Three times Milan Bandić has rejected to give us an interview for the film, so we made an audition to find him a double." - Dario Juričan

Easygoing Teddy is a playful little bear who doesn’t really care about forest rules. One day, he saves a bee in trouble, striking a friendship that will change his life.

Documentary filmmaker Marcella Zanki returns to her childhood home to reconnect with her father, armed with only a camera. However, as their relationship continues to build, she'll turn the project from a straightforward biography into an analysis of the human spirit in the face of industrialism and global changes.

A girl is drawing; she feels intense back pain and tries to stretch. Despite her efforts, the pain persists, and frustration grows. Her movements become grotesque and increasingly brutal, with her body tightening further. As the pain continues, the girl experiences an emotional breakdown. Completely broken, she sits back at her desk.

An attempt at escaping the dreary daily routine results in wondrous imaginary journeys through space and time. Zlatka is following a dream and young girl’s illusions of her own, and when she arrives to the end of this road (the end of the world), Zlatka tries to cross this boundary, but succeeds only partially. Her imaginary journey is continued by the character of Anima, a fairylike butterfly creature who knows no limits or boundaries. The world she travels is colourful but empty, two-dimensional and frozen in a moment in time.

Scientists are learning that each bee in a hive is an individual, with its own personality. Follows the circle of life of the honeybees.

In December of 2024, Hrvoje Turković sent Kino klub Osijek a notice – kinoklub is written as one word, not two.

Maša travels from a big city to a small rural community searching for a man, however, she instead runs into Živka, a local who tells her that he won't be in the village for the next few days. Whilst staying there Maša is roped into helping Živka with her chores and the two women quickly bond.

If the new world ever existed, it is still hidden way behind the horizon. An analogue clock is ticking away the last seconds before world crisis, while a noble patina covers fragments for archaeologists of memory. A silent relief in between two wars; a time of diffident bodies, of melancholy leisure, of secret divisions of the world. It is 1929. Peace before an enormous explosion.

An anthropomorphic robot-lamp lives in a world populated only by humanoid electronic beings. By accident, he finds himself in an awkward situation when he falls into the heart of a secret organization, now blind without his eye-lightbulb.

City park – an ideal place to relax.

This Australian-Croatian co-production appropriates Homer's tale of Penelope, which follows a woman's psychological struggle as she waits twenty years for her husband to return from the Trojan War.

A documentary about the 1566 siege of the Hungarian city of Szigetvár by Ottoman forces who were fiercly stood up against by a small squadron of Croatian soldiers led by Nikola Šubić Zrinski, who had since remained one of the most praised figures in Croatian history.

Branimir Orač is a Croatian sailor who was arrested in South Africa for smuggling 230 kg of cocaine on a cargo ship. The film offers an authentic insight into his life in prison, followed by his efforts to fit in back in his hometown and adapt to the normal world after his release.

Marta, a lovesick 15 year old, pines for a local boy named Karlo. As the traditional local carnival approaches, its mystical atmosphere and mask making tradition will take her on a personal journey where she will discover the true meaning of her identity.

After his marriage starts failing and his wife Pierette becomes abusive, a depressed middle aged man named Johann decides to release his frustrations onto his newly arrived Croatian intern Buga.

The film follows two men in their 50s, whose wives moved abroad and found new partners, in their daily lives in a small village in Croatia. The director is the daughter of one of them, and she tries to understand her parents’ decisions and why she also ran away.

Two have laid claim to Malena’s heart: Stjepan and Klepetan. The former is the human who found her 27 years ago, her wing broken by a gunshot. The latter is her stork partner, who flies to Africa every year with his flock. Malena cannot fly with him, but every summer, he returns to her, helps care for their hatchlings and teaches them to fly.

The story of a hidden war, a war between generations, war in which always children lose. Through a dramatic and picturesque tale, we discover two legends intertwining - a legend of a father and a son, and of a young girl Srna who is profoundly affected by the harshness of the world and decides to take a walk beneath the rainbow to transform into a boy. The film's message is intended for all parents: Talk to your children before it is too late.

A snitch is presented to a dangerous mob boss who appears less intimidating the more he speaks.

Sandra is an overly sensitive young woman who, when under pressure, has trouble with deciphering the line between reality and her twisted fantasies. During her husband's birthday party, she has to spend a day with his family. Their barely concealed hostility is making her gradually lose her mind.

Portraits of the figures in the sculpture "Angels Unawares" by Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz. A group of migrants and refugees find themselves on the high seas, traveling into the unknown, while the voice of the US president sends them instructions and warnings.

A filmmaker's trip to Amsterdam turns into an unplanned search for his father. However, when they finally meet, a Pandora's box of trauma and memories will open.

A film comedy adventure featuring regional Youtube stars who go on a road trip from Zagreb to Istanbul to get over their exes, find new love, and take part in a live gaming showdown.

Passive regions of Lika, Kosinja and neighboring villages every twenty years affect the flood caused by abundant rains and snow melting. The director is questioning whether a natural disaster can connect what the close war past separated?

An animated film about loyalty and friendship that are able to overcome all trials. The unusual friendship between a boy and a tree forms an even more peculiar tree house, which seems to have grown up with the tree.

Four friends discover that their school bully hides a terrible secret and are faced with the choice of moving on and continuing with their casual daily life or stepping up for the welfare of their community.

A story that follows two young people who find themselves at a bus station at 2 o'clock in the morning. The young woman Alisa is suspicious and unwilling to engage with the young man, Erik. Slowly, they start a superficial conversation, through which their memories emerge, offering us an insight into their problems.

This observational documentary follows different figures in their lives along the 12-km-long promenade of Opatija, Croatia.

The religious Karla marries the love of her life, Nikola. As the celebrations advance and the first wedding night approaches, Karla becomes more and more anxious. Then she gets a very unusual idea.

The film follows a basketball game of picturesque characters in a neon, rubber world. On the field there is also a bird with human feet which catches the eye of one of the players with its ballet moves.

Short animation.

The breath-taking yet cold mountain landscapes of Lika shown in this poetic documentary intimate one’s state of mind, inner struggles and revelations. While Zrinka films the spectacular and cruel sights of the region, that very same Lika paints the contours of the director herself, as she revisits experiences of her ancestors and her own experiences in a search for the key for accepting her epilepsy and overcoming previous losses.

Among the garbage heaps of a big landfill on a Croatian island, Zoki uncovers a microcassette. A close study of the discarded object serves as a tribute to chance and imagination.

The life in Vukovar in it's earlier days.