Best Croatian movies

A war-hardened Crusader and his Moorish commander mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown.

A teenage girl decides to replace her controlling father with his wealthy foreign friend during a weekend trip to the Adriatic Sea.

1993. A passenger train from Belgrade to Bar is stopped by paramilitary forces in an ethnic cleansing operation. As they haul off innocent civilians, only one man dares to stand up to them. This is the true story of a man who could not remain silent.

Don Fabijan is a young priest who comes to serve on an unnamed small island in the Adriatic. In order to help increase birth rate on the island, he decides to pierce condoms before they are sold. He therefore teams up with the newsagent Petar and the pharmacist Marin. After they abolish all forms of birth control on the entire island, the consequences become more and more complicated.

ZG80 is a prequel of Metastaze. The movie brings back its characters to prewar Yugoslavia where they, as part of Bad Blue Boys, go on a football match in Belgrade to see Dinamo play against Crvena Zvezda. They encounter guest fans, their arch rivals Delije, in a series of events that lead to football fans war on the streets of Belgrade.

Four very different people live in the same building but avoid each other because of differences in how they live their lives, what they believe in, and where they come from. They would probably never exchange a word, but misfortune pushes them towards each other. Their lives entangle in ways that profoundly challenge deep-held beliefs and prejudices surrounding material status, sexual orientation, nationality and religion. Slowly, and even painfully, they begin to open up to each other and recognize the essential humanity each of them possesses.

Eliciting images of cancer, this drama explores the illnesses that plague modern Croatia. Four young junkies in Zagreb maturing in the wake of war reflect the petty hatreds, violence, prejudices and mood hanging over the country like a disease that spreads with no cure in sight.

Croatia, seven years after bankruptcy. There is a fight going on in the world - water has become more precious than oil. In order to get hold of it, the powerful are ready to start wars, conquer, destroy, and even plant a zombie-virus. Mico, a bon viveur from Zagreb, whose daily routine includes massage parlours, restaurants and cinemas, where he watches a movie series featuring his favorite actress Franka Anic, is caught completely off guard by the zombie-epidemics. Nevertheless, he boldly embarks on an Odyssey accompanied by his movie heroine, with one highly unattainable, goal: to survive.

Alvin signed a book deal for a book depicting love in modern age based on his own experiences. But he did not count on the fact that return to those experiences hurts.

Three different love stories, set in three consecutive decades, in two neighbouring Balkan villages burdened with a long history of inter-ethnic hatred: this is a film about the dangers – and the enduring strength – of forbidden love.

A trip to Croatia to celebrate Inger's 60th birthday. The whole thing sounded like a great idea until Inger caught her husband having an affair. When the plane takes off for Split the depressed Inger and her two daughters, much too sensible Malin (35) and chaotic Tove (32) are on board. Tove has to struggle to be included in Inger and Malin's circle, the sister's rivalry over their mother is so strong it quickly escalates into a competition of who can comfort Inger the best.

Danko Babic is an ambitious and amoral gynaecologist at Croatia's leading fertility clinic. When his colleague Bantic is appointed as head of the clinic, Babic starts a secret war to overthrow his rival. Distracted by his ruthless campaign he makes series of fatal mistakes that result in the death of a patient. A crooked coroner and a corrupt police officer cover up his misdeeds, while Babic grows increasingly dependant on drugs and alcohol. He begins performing illegal abortions on prostitutes who work for Jedinko, a gangster who controls the local drug and sex trade.

An ex-soldier storms a supermarket and takes all the cashiers captive because one of them insulted his grandmother.

Handheld skate video meets hardcore social realism in a sensational film with the energy of a three-chord punk song and an unruly group of street kids in front of the camera, shot over 10 wild years of their young lives.

A traumatic event – a sudden suicide attempt – opens a gap in the everyday life of a family of three. Their lives change fundamentally, as if they've been pulled into a war invisible to everyone else. The plot is limited to the most acute, a short period of time and a situation that boils down to the most important thing – to save a loved one. The film was based on the personal experience of the director, who also plays the leading role.

Sonja, a city girl from Zagreb, a vegetarian and a hardcore animal-rights activist, strongly opposes bullfighting in Dalmatinska zagora (Dalmatian Hinterland). People find this irritating and they conclude that no matter how passionately Sonja loves animals, she would never dare to stand in front of a bull. Bets are raised and Sonja faces a challenge in the form of Ante, known far and wide for his powers of persuasion.

At the beginning of 1991, Yugoslav army did not acknowledge Croatian's independence, and still holding few military barracks in Croatia. Gajski travels to an island to get his son out of the army. Locals have besieged the barracks and organized a festival to try with singing and recitals to get major Aleksa and his soldiers to surrender, but Aleksa has explosives thru the barracks and wants to blow up the island.

An Croatian erotic anthology of seven short stories directed by Irena Skoric, all revolving around sex and relationships. Five of the stories following the intimacies of straight couples, where the 6th and 7th stories revolve around a lesbian couple and a gay couple.

This biopic follows basketball legend Dražen Petrović's life, from his early years in Croatia to his rise to NBA stardom and career cut short by tragedy.

Firmly believing her own life is no more precious than the lives of the innocent people being persecuted, with the help of a few friends, Diana embarks on a perilous campaign of rescuing more than 10,000 children from the Ustasha camps in Nazi-occupied Croatia.

In order to recover the body of her son lost during the war in Bosnia, a grieving, but strong-willed Muslim woman, Halima, must track down her estranged niece, who we find carries a mysterious connection to him.

Iva and Marija, a young lesbian couple, rent an apartment in Zagreb, in a building that seems to provide a quiet and safe environment for their love, but over time the atmosphere in the building becomes more and more threatening. The elder landlady Olga dominates the building. Other tenants include her calm husband, her grown-up son Daniel who has a crush on Iva, the prostitute Lidija, an abused housewife, a widower keeping the corpse of his newly deceased wife, a gynecologist performing abortions in one flat of the house, and an ex-soldier who regularly plays martial music at night. After Olga finds out that Iva and Marija are lesbians, the situation escalates .

In the autumn of 1991, a small group of Croatian soldiers go on patrol in an improvised armored vehicle. Soon after that they would get ambushed and their vehicle would get destroyed, in that situation they were forced to hide in a nearby house. Whilst stationed in that house they would get attacked by rebel Serbs, Serbian Special Forces and the JNA (Yugoslav People's Army, also reffered to as Yugoslavian National Army). Their resistance to the attackers would last 24 hours whilst their fellow combatants would attempt to try and get them out of there. The movie and story is based on true events which happened during the Croatian War of Independence.

The film is set over the course of a New Year's Eve night in the Croatian port city of Split, where it follows three parallel plots. The first plot line features a small-time drug dealer Nike (Marinko Prga) and a young widow Marija (Nives Ivankovic); the second plot line deals with a drug addict called Maja (Marija Skaricic) who decides to have sex with an US Navy sailor called Franky (Coolio) in exchange for some heroin; the third one shows a young couple, Luka and Andela (Vicko Bilandzic and Ivana Roscic) who spend the night desperately looking for a place to celebrate the New Year by having their first sexual experience. The plots are connected through Dino Dvornik's concert, where all of them pass through at some point, and through the omnipresent fireworks that dot the night sky over the course of the film.

Young Koko has just moved with his parents from his idyllic countryside home to a big city. There, with the help of his new friends and a neighbour he investigates the mysterious case of a dead old man who used to live in the flat he has just moved into. Koko and the Ghosts is a family film based on a popular Croatian series of young-adult novels written by Ivan Kušan.

Stipan is a policeman who comes to small Adriatic island off the Croatian coast in order to investigate reported strange phenomena that had frightened the whole population. At first, nobody wants to co-operate with him, but he finally finds that the island is being allegedly haunted by the ghost of Josip Broz Tito, Communist leader of former Yugoslavia. For Luka, the mayor, this is the opportunity to turn entire island into Tito-themed amusement park. Tito's WW2 veterans, on the other hand, don't believe in ghosts; for them, the apparition is actually Tito himself, who had returned in order to lead them into a new revolution which would restore Communism. Written by Anonymous

Marinko, an assistant worker in the tow-away service has had visions of Virgin Mary. He does not know what to do with her.

The movie is based on the true story about a group of children, barely teenagers, who joined Yugoslav Partizans after losing their families in WW2. At first, Partizans want to get rid of them, but later they are joining combat ranks. Among them, Bosko Buha would become a legend because of his skill in destroying enemy bunkers.

A young widow, an aging widower-returnee, and a priest from a bankrupt parish are struggling to come to terms with the post-war environment, complete with its prejudices, illusions, and unpleasant mentality. What follows is a romantic comedy set in rough landscape, about a woman who falls in love with a local priest. He is not blind to her love, but is unable to choose between the church and her, until the circumstances force him to make his choice.

Six men, one woman (and her brother) come together with one goal - to make the play. It would be probably another common story that this theater group is composed of anti-heroes who float lost in time and space, in a town where it seems that the sun sets in the east. Led by Sasha, a director who has recently returned to his hometown, this group of socially neadaptiranih amateurs starting the fight to their demons and the prejudices that surround them in the society. For dramaturgical template selection western and riding on stereotypes of the genre of the struggle between good and evil, the conflict between civilization and wilderness, the protagonists develop their life stories inevitably influencing and changing each other. Although, as time passes, the show looks increasingly like a mission impossible, almost all of its stakeholders is increasingly seen as a metaphor for their fate and get caught for it as the opportunity of a lifetime .

A young and successful copywriter Alan Despot, after trying in vain to renew a broken relationship with his girlfriend, goes to the island of Vis and finds himself torn between his eccentric father, another ex-girlfriend and her fiancé. New situations and circumstances help Alan to view his own life from a new perspective.

School cleaner Mirna partakes in an historic strike advocating for an improvement in staff salaries and rights, but finds that the system—and the people—easily find ways to exploit her good intentions.

Two childhood friends face adulthood in different ways. Life is still a game for them – girls, football, parties. But the choices they make will determine the course of their lives and put their friendship to the test. In the Balkans, every generation has their own reasons to leave. This is a story about a generation caught in the transition from socialism to capitalism, marked by a brutal war.

A documentary about the Celts, the fans of the Bilogorac football club from the Croatian village of Veliko Trojstvo. Interestingly, the members are not locals, but people from Bjelovar, a city 10 kilometers away that has a much better ranked football team. Dressed in green and white, the Celts spend every weekend escaping from provincial life to support the players.

Four close friends, Lovro (21), Nenad (20), Stevan (22), and Ivan (20), fought against the Ustashas and Nazis by joining the partisans in WWII. Sixteen years later, they became renowned filmmakers. In 1957, in Communist Yugoslavia, their sexual orientation raises suspicion, and a communist party loyalist named Emir (52) is assigned to sabotage their careers and lives. The pursuit of freedom becomes a fight for survival for the artists, while Emir's beliefs are challenged.

Erna and Dževad are the owners of a pub in the vicinity of a steel mill, a complex that used to be one of the largest of its kind in Eastern Europe. Taking place one week before the pub’s official closedown, the film follows a series of conversations between visitors and frequent guests, who discuss the ways of reaching Germany – a new utopia of former socialist workers.

Immerse yourself in the true sense of the word into life, in true 3D. Water or abbreviated H2O, is actually a chemical compound of the elements oxygen and hydrogen. But this has really something! Water is in fact the most important element on our earth. Without water, the emergence of life on our planet would have been impossible. Sometime before several tens of millions of years it took the first great-fish out of the water to the land of the beginning he evolution. Just a few facts about the importance of this elixir of life: The element of water is in the mythologies and religions of most cultures of central importance and is considered the epitome of life.

After struggling to answer the teachers question a student is sent to get a marker. Along the way he gets his answer.

With his film Generation '68, the author makes a homage to the generation with which he shares his youthful enthusiasm and the idea about a revolution that will change the world, while being "realistic and demanding the impossible". At the same time he questions the true impact of these changes on social and - probably more important - private level. Having ideas is easy; making them look credible to the generations that follow is somewhat more difficult. By rejecting the ideals of the 1968 as unworkable, the new generations are coming up with some of their own, maybe even more unrealistic ones...

After spending months as a prisoner in Donbas, Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance expert Lilia returns home to her family. But the trauma of captivity continues to torment her and surface in dreamlike ways. Something growing deep within Lilia will not allow her to forget, yet she refuses to identify as a victim and will fight to liberate herself.

A film about peripheral theatre called Bagatella.

Koko and his friends are spending summer vacation on the shores of a lake near the idyllic Green Hill, hanging out and playing. The magical countryside is disturbed by unusual events which alarm the children as well as the locals: under cover of night, burglars break into one house after another. When the police turns a blind eye to denunciations by adults, the children decide to take matters into their own hands and unmask the burglars.

Documentary series about native Croatian medieval kings, their kingdom and people who lived then. Story of rise of the kings, their peak and fall.

Under the burning sun, beachgoers are trying to take advantage of every minute of their paid trip to a desolate beach. Among them are a mother with her grown son, two ladies and their dog, a passive-aggressive married couple, loud Italians, happy Hungarians, and an overweight, possibly dead, German lady.

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

The main character Struja (Stream) is an unyielding rock musician in a demo-band called When Dirty Harry Met Dirty Sally. Struja would do anything to gather money to record the album as long as it doesn't involve giving up his rock musician beliefs. However, playing pop songs at weddings seems to be the only way out, and the rest of the bend - Struja's best friend and keyboard player Mario (Ivan Duricic), Deni, a handsome singer and bass player (Ivan Glowatzky) and Zlajfa, an indifferent drummer (Hrvoje Keckes) - are trying to persuade Struja to make a compromise. At the beginning he is very firm and reluctant to give in, but when Anja, the girl he left, announces that she is pregnant with his baby, Struja suddenly realizes that there are bigger issues in life than playing at wedding.

Denni is a 10-year-old boy with a mission: to save his mother from his father's violence. For this he devises a foolproof plan: he will have his father killed by a super-killer. Too bad the super-killer he comes across is Secco, who only looks like a criminal and, above all, desperately needs money.

Nikola is a man who knows how to really enjoy life; he's even able to rouse sympathy for his sinful ways. His brother turns a blind eye to his philandering although, with a broken marriage behind him, he doesn't have a clear conscience, either. Is there anything positive to be said about infidelity, or does it simply deserve the utmost contempt, particularly when it's more premeditated than spontaneous?

Goran just wants to drive his taxi and take care of his blind wife Lina. But people close to him have their own agendas and dreams which threaten his carefree existence. In the idyllic surroundings of snow-covered Gorski Kotar, the fiery personalities of the highlanders surface and collide.

A story about a forbidden love set in a village threatened by swollen rivers. Upon his return home for his father’s funeral, Slaven revives his relationship with his childhood friend, a young sportsman named Marko, his teenage love, and the reason his father kicked him out of the house. Now tempted to reunite, they need to make peace with their own decisions and struggle against the family restraints.

A family from isolated village in Lika makes a good living out of American pension earned by their late granddad Djuradj and received by his widow Nedja. The very existence of a family is threatened when Nedja dies, but the head of the family comes up with a cunning plan.

In a Slavonian village, in 1960s, a rich man Marko offers Janja to marry his son Iva, which Janja sees as the perfect opportunity for her dreams to come true.

"The Message" is found footage video composed of speeches by the presidents of all 195 countries. Their messages become one global message. That message is vague, disturbing and does not guarantee a bright future.

A story about suicidal general, a minister in the Croatian government who voluntarily locks himself inside a prison cell, and 4 pensioners, who steal the coffin with the remains of the late Croatian president.

In 1943, group of Croatian soldiers overtake a strategically important point in western Bosnia with a goal to destroy a group of communist partisans. On the way they met some supernatural phenomena, and the action itself went very badly because the partisans ambushed them. The main character Martin inherits silver cigarette case from a dying soldier. This act connects to the story in 1993 when we meet Martins grandson Tomo. He is one of six soldiers of the Croatian army who have come to the same place in Bosnia to meet the same phenomena and similar fate.

Life is difficult in the corner, in the angle where all edges meet. Everything is geometrically relative when laws of perspective and gravity start playing tricks on you.

Goose Feather (Serbian: Jesen Stiže, Dunjo Moja) was Serbia submission to the 77th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee. Vaguely based on a song By Djordje Balasevic called "Prica o Vasi Ladackom" (the story of Vasa Ladacki). The story is about a very poor boy that wanted abundance and wealth because he basically didn't own anything. He was in love with an equally poor girl that his father wouldn't accept. He moves to another village and starts drinking...

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.

Six young friends decide that the 2015 spring equinox is a great reason to throw a party. Two of them will prepare the "venue", the other two will get the booze, and the last two will get the weed. And right before midnight, they'll meet at the party to welcome the arrival of spring. Or not, depending on how they handle the situations they find themselves in while trying to run their seemingly simple errands, in which we get to know Zagreb, its life and nightlife, and the characters get to know themselves and each other.

Witty and resourceful fourteen-year-old Koko solves yet another mystery - aided by his friends. One of them, Tomo, has recently moved to the city and longs for adventure. The boys notice that their new classmate acts curiously. Step by step, joined by their classmate Marijana, they unveil the boy's dark secret.

Based on a true story of a meeting in June 1945 between two powerful men with very opposite philosophies and perspectives on the future of their country.

"Long Dark Night" follows the life of the fictional character Iva Kolar: his experiences as a Croatian University student, his role as a Partisan fighting Hitler's troops during W.W. II, his involvement in his nation's post-war government, and his eventual downfall.

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.

From the moment we got engaged and set a wedding date, we began thinking about the reasons we chose one another. What was so special about this relationship that we decided to spend our lives together? Would our love be the same if we were born in another time or at another place? What is love exactly? Driven by those questions, we decided to embark on a one year journey around the world to research whether love, one of the highest values in our lives, is universal, or it is completely conditioned by the circumstances around us.

This is a story about Paulina P. in which we follow her adventures in class and at home, as well as all the problems she successfully overcomes during the school year. The movie is based on a famous children's book in which she talks about her friendship, love, and family-related problems through comic situations. The plot of the movie itself is set in the real world, with a touch of "magic".

Planes, tanks, bombs, assault rifles, media and propaganda – they were all weapons used in the Homeland War. However, it was the songs that were were louder than everything else. Some used them to describe the nightmare around them, others manifested their political loyalty. The national television and radio considered songs an important means of political “struggle”, so they commissioned, financed, recorded and aired them intensively. Even some twenty years after these events, the wartime soundtrack still draws attention and triggers emotions.