Hrvoje Nikšić

Presented in the form of a series of fictional letters sent from Nina Kurtela to Aki Kaurismäki read against a backdrop of atmospheric exterior shots, Dear Aki is an experimental visual-narrative essay on the nature of identity, nationality and belonging in the globalized world.

Filmed on 16mm film, this visual expression is rooted in its archival materials and backed up by the poem by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. It speaks of the forgotten people, their lives and their deeds. These two Archives have been found on the flea market in Zagreb. One is of a famous architect and the other one is of a famous composer. This film ponders on this occurrence, on the vanishing of and forgetfulness of humans.

Two groups of citizens clash over the redesign of a children's playground.

The Museum of the Revolution in Belgrade is actually a building that remained unfinished for 60 years and 'inhabited' only by the homeless and marginalized. The director observes the precarious (but proud) daily life of a girl and her mother around the symbolic ruins of a utopia.

Through an opening between reality and subtle forms of poetry, surreal scenes and disturbing paradoxes reveal infinite loops of existence. An attempt to capture the schizophrenic beauty of human existence, in which rationality is merely a subjective anomaly at the edges of consciousness. A film that rather than giving answers is inspired by questions.

The "Occupied Cinema" follows young activists and events surrounding the takeover of "Zvezda", one of 14 extinguished cinemas from the privatized company "Beograd Film".

Istrian traditions, singing, culinary delights. All that in the time-honoured ritual of pig slaughter or prašćina. What is the importance of meat today and can we give up its utilitarian rudimentarity in the face of political, ecological, nutritionist, and other contemporary trends?

Slides of mountains found at Zora Film, a company that produced educational films in the 1950s. Intended to be used as visual tools during geography classes, are reanimated through various digital and analogue techniques.

Through dramatic reconstruction and documentary asides, the spirit of Italian poet, playwright, journalist, aristocrat and army officer Gabriele D’Annunzio is captured, presenting the nascent fascism in his attempts to forge a new state in the aftermath of the First World War.

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.

In the “White Horse” café, waitress and guests apathetically go through their routines. Meanwhile, the reality surrounding them seems to destabilise more and more: between white noise and the sound of tuning forks, between daydreams of galloping knights and ever-growing mountains of drizzling packet sugar. Ivana Bošniak Volda and Thomas Johnson Volda pile up layers of these images and sounds, until they crack – and clear the way to breathe.

This is a religious/kung-fu/love drama. The master of martial arts, Bore Lee from Sinj, arrives in Zagreb to learn yoga in order to relax more easily before his fights. He falls in love with the beautiful yoga instructor Anayoga, but at the same time gets on the wrong side of a vicious gang that terrorizes the owner of the club Mocvara, as well as other honest citizens of Zagreb. Bore has a choice – to join the evil gang and betray his ideals or put his and Ana’s life in danger while fighting crime.

The tavern "Jablan" existed in the 1980s and was located in a small village, Jugovo Polje, in Croatia, SFRY. "Jablan" was a symbol of "brotherhood and equality" for its owners, guests, musicians, and waiters. It was a place where people of different generations and education gathered - from workers and peasants to doctors, even music and sports stars of the '80s, it was a place where nationality and religious affiliation played no role. Nevertheless, the first shooting between Serbs and Croats took place in "Jablan", which heralded the war in Croatia and ended "Jablan's carefree days". The film protagonists reconstruct the events, from the day the tavern was created, to its destruction, witnessing how a place of love and joy became an object of hatred and destruction within a few months.