Best Croatian drama movies

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 .

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

Dora is a neglected girl, who dreams about becoming a football manager. Suddenly, her outlaw father enters her life and they build a close relationship. Ives, a soap opera director, nurses her father who suffers from Alzheimer’s. As she loses him, she gradually loses the ground beneath her feet. Nataša, successful producer, is pregnant. When things go awry for her, she decides to confront her estranged father. Three daughters battle for acceptance, redemption and new opportunities.

"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.

Thursday morning, Jerusalem. Nira goes to work. Ahmad in London does the same, Ralf in Cologne and a priest in Prague too. Matija, Croat, goes to work as well. Ok, he doesn't, but he acts as if he does. Ahmad is taking his routine red bus journey. Out-of-breath young man comes in and interrupts it. Schoolteacher Nira is also interrupted - her pupil jumps out and performs a love rap song he wrote for her. The priest in Prague doesn't feel like singing today, he is in the mood for (over)sleeping instead. Someone falls asleep, someone else - Ralf - falls in love. All five mentioned above are listening to the top-news about the disappearance of bees. And trying their best, each one of them in his or her own 'hive': Zagreb, Jerusalem, London, Cologne, Prague...

A young woman’s connection with the life force of nature. Using her taxidermy talents to “return” the animals to their natural habitat. But the true search for answers begins when she finds a roll of undeveloped film in each of the animals that she treats.

Set amid the atrocities of war in the Balkans, Witnesses is retold, Rashomon-style, from various characters' viewpoints, adding new information about the complexity of war and humanity. Beginning inside a rustic house with a woman in black (Mirjana Karanovic) standing beside her husband's coffin, Witnesses interweaves the stories of a small town confronting ethnic hatred and deep moral ambiguities.

The film follows Ibro (Emir Hadžihafizbegović) and his son Armin (Armin Omerović), who travel from a small town in Bosnia to a film audition in Zagreb, hoping to land a part for Armin in a German film about the war in Bosnia. On their way to fulfilling the boy's dream, they encounter a series of disappointing setbacks — their bus to Zagreb breaks down and they are late for the audition. After Ibro convinces the director to give the boy a second chance, they soon realize that Armin is too old for the part anyway. As it becomes obvious that Armin's dream of playing a part in the movie will never happen, he feels increasingly disheartened, while Ibro's determination to help his son grows. Finally they do get another chance, but Armin buckles under the pressure and experiences an epileptic seizure. As they get ready to head back to Bosnia, the film crew makes an unexpected offer, but when Ibro refuses, Armin at last realizes how much his father really loves him.

David never had the courage, but has always had dreams. Can he win the heart of a woman who no longer has a heart?

Djuro is a Romany, he has a large, happy family, and earns a living appearing in Serbian porn films. And it's through his sarcastic perspective that we follow the story of the Croatian war veteran Martin. He falls in love with a beautiful girl who plays Little Red Riding Hood in a porn version of the fairy tale. She is also a prostitute. To be with her, Martin has to buy her from her pimp. A tragicomic story of love in a world where it seems all human values are put up for sale or destined for cynical destruction

Anamarija starts her job as a counsellor at a new school. Together with her, the viewers begin to appreciate what kind of people the staffroom teachers are, they witness the petty conflicts and also uncover the power games that go on behind the scenes. This self-assured debut from Sonja Tarokić about the individual's struggle within the system and the sheer effort required to preserve one’s integrity, also presents a complex study of an institution whose employees have taken on one of the most responsible roles an adult can have – to educate future generations.

The adventures of a small town Croatian family during the 1960s. The decade will leave eternal marks on all of their members, but most of the story focuses on the youngest one, a boy, Frula, who discovers the love and fashion of the time.

Mirjana is returning to Croatia from Germany where she spent some time as a refugee. She is pregnant. Now, when the war in Croatia is over and her visa expired, Mirjana is coming back to her family in a remote and devastated village. Her family is trying to move on with their lives after the war. They rebuild their house and they are trying to find a new husband for their pregnant daughter. Being patriarchal and devoted to their tradition they believe a woman needs to have a husband and a child has to have a father. Of course, the child and the father have to be of the same nationality. Problems start when Mirjana gives a birth to a boy with Asian features. The family and the neighbors are shocked. Mirjana¡¦s rigid father refuses to accept a grandchild of a different nationality, not to mention the one of a different race! Mirjana and her son are forced to leave. She returns only when her father falls seriously ill and requests to see his grandson before he dies.

Thirteen year old Julija and her mother flee their abusive household to find refuge on an idyllic Croatian island where Julija grew up. Emotionally scarred, Julija is desperate to reconnect with her best friend, Ana. But Ana is in love with a boy and Julija is no longer a priority.

Belgrade, 1996. During the student demonstrations against the Milosevic regime, 15-year-old Stefan leads his own revolution in the heat of events: accepting the unacceptable, seeing his mother as an accomplice in the crime and finding, despite the love he feels for her, the strength to confront her.

It’s inspiring true story about two thirteen-year-old girls who were, on the eve of World War II, great dancing and acting stars in Zagreb. Selling out theatre venues, they were praised in the most superb headlines by the Croatian and European press. They were filmed by Parisian Pathe and Berlin’s UFA… During the Nazi persecution of Jews and the later German nationals’ flight from communists, a dramatic friendship was born through entertainment, dance, but also anxiety. This led towards an unexpected end.

When Slavko's old friend Djulaga dies, Slavko feels obliged to go to the funeral. But in his hometown of Mostar, in Bosnia & Herzegovina, this simple social obligation has the potential to get him into all kinds of trouble: with his neighbors or even with local political bigwigs. Yet if he does not go, his wife will think he's a coward, the grieving family will never forgive him - and he might have trouble forgiving himself. This is a compelling tale of everyday life in a fractured society, and a world where paranoia, comedy and drama co-exist. It is also an astute psychological portrait of a man who is forced to cross the invisible line that divides two communities. Above all, it is the story of a man who lost everything that defined him, when his country disintegrated.

A 30 year old, carefree man who lives off his parents' inheritance is untouched by war that affected most of his friends, but only until one of his friends died. This throws him completely off his routine, and he decides to sell all his belongings and start doing something memorable.

A political drama with elements of a thriller discusses politics, electoral fraud, and the decay of moral values, taking place in the fictional town of Rovte under the idyllic Alps. Franta, a corrupt mayor, is about to lose the election. After a TV debate, where he fails utterly, Franta calls his mistress Jozica in desperation. She advises him to seek the aid of Fleischmann, a criminal who is the only one capable of solving the problem on such short notice. After all, there are only four days left until the elections.

Goran remembers his childhood: in the early 70s, he was only 9 years old, adoring football and awaiting a prestigious basketball game between Yugoslavia and the US. But then his parents, Ante and Gordana, decided to divorce, leaving him in turmoil and sadness.

In this intelligent mix of Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” and Christopher Nolan’s “Memento”, the protagonist Rok loses his memory and is seemingly turning into a better man. Or will his ultra-radical past take over his personality again?

Three stories about the impact of three God's miracles in the medieval sense that happen to the film's heroes living in a post-communist society that, after half a century of atheism, re-learns about Christianity.

On the eve of Mirjana’s 20 year work anniversary, when she is to receive an award at a modest celebration, her interactions with her loved ones illustrate her whole 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, about a mother and a daughter, a film that evokes emotional associations and urges us to take a long hard look at ourselves.

The thematic framework of the anthology feature film DEEP CUTS is violence in all of its forms: as a destruction of intimacy, family, integrity, trust.

The story of a girl who works in a foundry and leaves the job due to difficult working conditions and decides to go away from home. On this quest for happiness she meets a rich football manager whom she robs, as well as number of other people who all mostly have sexual or other intentions about her.

One hundred years after the invention of film, Croatian film icon Mr. Fulir, who serves as the author’s alter-ego, comes up with the Faustian idea to bring back his youth. With a group of famous actors, he enthusiastically attempts to remake lost Croatian films from the silent era.

Ivan has just scored a goal and rushes to kiss Marko.

An angsty teen organizes his grandma's funeral upon realizing that it could be a way to win his crush's heart.

At the beginning of 1990s, two Croatian emigrants, economically minded Cinco and politically minded Marinko, arrive in Croatia from Germany, homesick for their families and hometowns. In order to get a German pension, Cinco pretends to be dead and travels in a coffin. Soon, Marinko joins him because he is running away from an old agent of the Yugoslav State Security Service. On their trip in a motor hearse, Cinco and Marinko face many adventures, which culminate when they are stopped at Serbian barricades close to their destination.

Pero is a professional funeral speaker in a small Slovenian town. His unique gift is to make every funeral that extra bit special. Pero just can't help turning his eulogies into witty personal confessions that bring the grieving crowd to tears for all the wrong reasons.

Routinely, but with dedication, Mare runs her small family’s modest household, even though a new washing machine is not the only thing that is missing. When a chance encounter rekindles her libido, she does not hold back for long.

A group of trainee therapists come together for their regular group psychotherapy session, but when their normal routine is disrupted, events take an unexpected direction: as their professional masks start to slip, long repressed personal tensions soon bubble to the surface.

A hundred year old woman called Nada and her 75-year old daughter Vera have a tense but familiar relationship. The childlike Vera takes care of her frail, mute though at times cruel, mother until one evening a bat flies into Nada's room and starts hibernating underneath her bed. The animal's presence gradually reinvigorates the old woman, eternally and fatally changing the relationship between mother and daughter.

Two brothers are torn apart after finding out they will inherit few millions from their father.