TOP 5 Croatian films not to miss in 2020!

Summer festival season is around the corner, and it is the right time to start making watchlists for upcoming film titles worth chasing across the festivals and cinemas. For this reason, we're bringing you the list of 5 Croatian films not to miss in 2020!

5. After the Winter by Ivan Bakrač

This Croatian minority co-production brings a story of five childhood friends in their late twenties, scattered across the former Yugoslavia, that try to maintain their friendship despite being miles apart. They oppose the patriarchal heritage, ignore the consequences of war and the poor economy, until one year, their carefree, escapist youth suddenly comes to an end...

Ivan Bakrač was born in 1987 in Montenegro. He graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Design in Belgrade with a master’s degree in Film Directing. He has written and directed numerous short and medium-length films which have participated in over 50 international festivals and won awards. He participated in the Berlinale Talents and Talents Sarajevo in 2015, as well as Kustendorf in 2009 and 2013. After proving his talent in the region with 6 short films, his first feature-length just might be his breakthrough to wider film circles.

4. A Blue Flower by Zrinko Ogresta

On the eve of Mirjana's 20th work anniversary, when she is to receive an award at a modest celebration, her interactions with her loved ones illustrate parts of her life: the one behind her, the one she is living and the one that is yet to come. A Blue Flower is a film about a woman, a mother and a daughter, a film that evokes emotional associations and urges us to take a long, hard look at ourselves. 

Zrinko Ogresta born in 1958, is a Croatian screenwriter and film director, professor of film directing at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb and a member of the European Film Academy in Berlin. Praised for their strong visual style, well-articulated mise-en-scène and innovative storytelling, his films focus on the anxieties that lurk behind the well-cultivated bourgeois facade of the characters, using their emotional and psychological fractures to bring to light the complexes that haunt the society in general, while subtly analysing social and political forces behind it. Ogresta's films were screened and awarded at renowned international and local festivals (Berlin, Venice, Karlovy Vary, London, Montpellier, Denver, Milan, Pula…).

3. Tereza 37 by Danilo Šerbedžija

Thirty-seven-year-old Tezera has been married to Marko for 10 years. After her fourth miscarriage, Tereza starts questioning everything - her marriage, her relationship with her family and the people around her. She decides to turn over a new page in her life, without burdening herself with the consequences of her actions or her life's ultimate goals.

Danilo Šerbedžija, born 1971, is a Croatian film director whose debut feature film, 72 Days, was selected as the Croatian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards. His second feature film The Liberation of Skopje, is, unfortunately, a neglected film gem which showcased the full storytelling and visual identity potential of this director.

2. Murina by Antoneta Alamat Kusjanović

Murina explores tensions of a family invaded by a foreigner, an outsider who propels a girl to use her inner power to confront the limitations of mentality that has held her back her whole life to finally break free. The story is set in stark nature – where emotions are heightened and exposed to the sea, the sun, and the rocks as if on a burning plane – where the senses tempt the physical world to merge with the spiritual. 

Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic is a writer-director born in 1985. Her short Into the Blue won awards at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, the 63rd Oberhausen Film Festival, and the 23rd Sarajevo Film Festival, and was nominated for a Student Academy Award. Antoneta holds an MFA in directing from Columbia University in New York.

1. The Dawn by Dalibor Matanić

Set ten years after the last story in The High Sun, The Dawn goes a few days ahead of our times.The film follows Matija's family confronts unresolved trauma, their neighbours flee from the radicalism that divides them into the chose and the undesirables. As Matija struggles to find his true self, dawn breaks over the valley revealing that the only way to fight trauma and evil is to face them head-on. 

Dalibor Matanić, born in 1975, is an acclaimed screenwriter and film director. His most well-known film is the 2002 feature Fine Dead Girls which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2003 Sochi film festival. His 2015 film The High Sun was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize.