Croatia: Defining a Nation

Hotel Sunja

January 1992 •Croatian

In 1992, the Yugoslav army and Serbian paramilitary forces captured one-third of Croatia as the country was engulfed in a state of war. A squad of fighters is defending their position in the small but strategically significant village of Sunja, where the invaders have surrounded them on three sides. Ivan Salaj, a young and gifted director who was still enrolled in film school at the time, chooses to use their story as the subject of his student film. Considered one of the most important films from a period when Croatian independence was still at stake, it provides an accurate portrayal of life on the front lines. What makes Hotel Sunja even more special is that it was made by a group of students who risked their lives to make the movie.

City of Splendour

January 2013 •Croatian

A documentary about punk and subculture scene of Pula, Croatia from 1978 to 1991, the city that gave birth to one of the most vivid punk and alternative rock scenes in former Yugoslavia, despite having population of just over 60,000 residents.

Mama Rosa

August 2019 •Croatian

Rosa is from Croatia and lives in Switzerland, with her husband who depends on her care. She takes care of everything. Her children have grown up and want to leave home. Rosa stays behind alone.

Our Little One

June 2023 •Croatian

Warm, poetic, educational, and emotional story will paint for us the phenomenon of Dražen Petrović, one of the greatest basketball players in the world who, despite his premature death, left an incredible mark on people's lives.

An Encounter

December 2009 •Croatian

Imagine joint demonstrations of students and farmers! Such an improbable encounter happened on the Feast of Corpus Christi in 2009 on Vukovarska street in Zagreb, when students from Faculty of Social Sciences came to support the farmers' demonstrations in front of the building of Ministry of Agriculture. In spite of the fact that this event was present in all the media, this film is the only video recording of this unusual one-day encounter of students and farmers. Euphoric student night and sobering farmers' day; media-conscious activism and heavy machines on the streets; plenary form of organization and quarreling farmers' associations - these are just some of the manifestations of this unexpected alliance.

Depth Charge

May 2005 •English

In 2004 X1 Sports took a band of intrepid climbers to Croatia . Their mission was to find some of the best and unknown rock in the Europe ; the reason, well to see if they could Deep Water Solo off it of course. With some of the best climbers in the world, Chris Sharma, Steve McClure, Leo Holding, Depth Charge charts their progress and antics as they look to challenge their limits each and every day. Depth Charge is an on the wall documentary of their every move and allows the viewer to see exactly what makes a climber tick.

Hallo, Munich

April 1968 •

The rut of Dalmatian hinterland changes with the arrival of returning guest workers, and things they bring along: cars, radios and new way of life.

1991. Tko je tvoj bližnji?

November 2021 •Croatian

Rhythm of the Rock Tribe

January 2007 •Croatian

A documentary about rich history of rock scene in Rijeka, Croatia.

Ivica Vidović

January 2005 •Croatian

A short documentary about one of the most prominent Croatian actors of all time.

Autofocus

August 2013 •Croatian

Every summer, St. Nicholas Church (12th century) draws large crowds of tourists. Situated in an untouched Arcadian landscape, on a picturesque hill and next to a lone tree, it is as if the site becomes a stage where various unusual events take place. Thus, the tourists, unaware of the proximity of the camera, become performers in a daily show.

Toronto Croatia – One Big Croatian Story...

January 2014 •Croatian

A documentary about Croatian immigrants' soccer clubs, especially the Croatia Toronto soccer club, and their significance to the Croatian diaspora as well as Croatia itself.

Maxo Vanka’s Masterpiece: The Murals at St. Nicholas Church

January 2012 •English

The magnificent murals at St. Nicholas Church in Millvale, painted by Maxo Vanka in the late 1930s, are legendary. Filmmaker Kenneth Love conveys the significance of these images and the impact they have had on art historians, parishioners, and the public.

Tudjman

December 1997 •English

A documentary about Croatian politician Franjo Tudjman.

Dossier Zinfandel

Invalid date •Croatian

"For years, there has been an effort to discover the exact origin of the most popular American grape variety and wine, Zinfandel. Thanks to modern technology, forensics, and DNA analysis, the collaboration between American and Croatian laboratories has borne fruit: Zinfandel is the Croatian Crljenak Kaštelanski."

Forbidden: Dead Harbor

January 1976 •

‘Dead Harbor’ deals with the people who were living in worst asylums at that time – institutions in which the society was throwing a way all those who they wanted to get rid off and marginalize: psychiatric patients, alcoholics, old people who no one wanted, ex prostitutes and the other social cases. Work was filmed in Asylum for adults in Bidružica. Without any real care or therapy, under hard sedatives and drugs, inhabitants of Asylum wasted their days without any meaningful activities – walking in circles in the yard, sitting on the benches or in the best case drinking in local pubs.

Freedom from Despair

October 2004 •English

True stories of the Croatian People's struggle to overcome oppression from communist Yugoslavia and the 1990's fight to save their war ravaged homeland.

Gangster of Love

February 2013 •Croatian

Matchmaker Nediljko Babic, also known as "Gangster", helps a Bulgarian single mother find a new husband in Croatia. But a series of comically disastrous dates discloses the true nature of conservative Croatian men: they would rather die alone than marry a foreigner with a child.

Guard Along the Drina

January 1942 •Croatian

A compilation of week journals made for Nazi-puppet regime in Croatia during WW II which show the warfare of Ustasha forces against Yugoslav partisans and Chetniks in eastern Bosnia.

Dum spiro spero

May 2017 •Croatian

Well-known Croatian author Pero Kvesić, who has been struggling with a severe lung disease, documents his death from his own point of view. Recording his everyday struggle, the picture resembles a peculiar blog filled with self-irony and witty comments about life and death. Although the world around continues to shrink, the hero and the director in one does not cease to fill it with sense.