Saints

This film is shot in a continuous 78-minute take. The story takes place in a city ravaged by crisis, poverty and crime. The people who remained belong mostly to the low class, and they're struggling to survive through various criminal activities. One of the last prosperous citizens was murdered, and we're following a large cast of characters in their quest to find his corpse. One of the characters has different plans, but he gets involved in the quest against his will.

Arriving on an island, a young woman embarks on a journey to discover her identity and place in the world. Her experiences on the island unravel a tapestry of past events, bringing hidden truths to light. As the situation grows increasingly complex, she is driven towards a profound reconciliation and acceptance, starting with herself and gradually encompassing those around her.

After the death of her father, young scientist Ana struggles with an identity crisis, being the last member of a once large family. The changes inside her are suddenly reflected in reality – loneliness, crisis, emigration – and her scientific research on mystical symbols and human traces left in stone are mysteriously intertwined with her life.

If there is anyone who embodies the current state of life in Croatia, it is the police detective Ivan Peric. The son of a fisherman, he became a detective as a way of avoiding working in the only really prospering industry of present-day Croatia – tourism. Now his life is consumed by trying to solve a series of essentially unsolvable murders of tourists. Because the tourists are so widely despised, no one will help Ivan. Evidence disappears into the labyrinth of bureaucracy. He is humiliated in public and online. In the local press, his boss even labels him an “uhljeb”, the Croatian slur for a “lazy bureaucratic parasite”. All of this takes place in the city of Split, where the breakup of Yugoslavia has left its mark.

A small coastal area has been destroyed by the presence of industrial facilities. The film follows the lives of 4 protagonists, who are either fighting for their own survival among these dangerous facilities or they live in a harmonious coexistence with them.