The Resilience of Croatian Cinema and Its Global Stars

By the ULTIMATE Zagreb Editorial Team

The socialist era and Jadran Film (1945–1990)

After the Second World War, film-making in Croatia was gathered into state-run studios, and Zagreb’s Jadran Film, founded in 1946, quickly became the heart of the industry. The films of these early years followed the rules of socialist realism: partisan resistance, the building of a new state and the transformation of society.

Within those limits the period produced superb craftsmanship, bold auteurs and classic features that are still admired today. It also gave the world the Zagreb School of Animated Film, whose Ersatz won the Oscar in 1962.

The Zagreb School of Animated Film →   Zagreb on film →

The modern and international era (1990s–present)

After the break-up of Yugoslavia and Croatian independence, the country’s cinema turned to raw social realities: the aftermath of the war of the 1990s, the years of transition and complex human dramas.

The Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC), which began its work in 2008, modernised the industry, and Croatian films are now often made as co-productions across Europe. In recent years Croatian film-makers have taken prizes at the great festivals, Cannes above all.

Must-watch films: the historic classics

To understand how the country’s cinematic lens has changed, start with the foundational classics, then turn to the sharp films made since independence.

• H-8… (1958): Nikola Tanhofer’s gripping drama follows the passengers of a bus and a lorry in the hours before a fatal crash. Croatian critics’ polls place it at or near the very top of the country’s best films.
• The Birch Tree (Breza, 1967): Ante Babaja’s heartbreaking, visually stunning adaptation of Slavko Kolar’s stories exposes rural cruelty and patriarchy through the life of a fragile village girl.
• One Song a Day Takes Mischief Away (Tko pjeva zlo ne misli, 1970): Krešo Golik’s musical comedy, set in Zagreb between the wars, was voted the best Croatian film of all time by the country’s critics in 1999, and it is still the nation’s best-loved.

Must-watch films: the contemporary masters

• Fine Dead Girls (Fine mrtve djevojke, 2002): Dalibor Matanić’s acclaimed and controversial drama uses a lesbian couple in a Zagreb apartment block to lay bare post-war hypocrisy and homophobia.
• The High Sun (Zvizdan, 2015): also by Matanić, three love stories in three decades, in neighbouring villages scarred by ethnic conflict. It won the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.
• Murina (2021): Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s first feature, winner of the Caméra d’Or at Cannes, is a tense coming-of-age drama about a girl on an isolated Croatian island under the rule of her domineering father.

The iconic domestic film stars

The golden age of Jadran Film created screen icons of great dramatic weight and charisma.

• Boris Dvornik: one of the most popular actors in the region’s history. The Ninth Circle and the television series Naše malo misto made him an enduring symbol of Dalmatian humour and warmth.
• Fabijan Šovagović: a master of character acting and a titan of the theatre, remembered for the psychological depth of Breza, Sokol Did Not Love Him (1988), adapted from his own play, and The Eagle (1990).
• Relja Bašić: on-screen elegance and urban charm. His dapper Mr Fulir in Tko pjeva zlo ne misli made him immortal in Croatian popular culture, alongside a long international career.
• Rade Šerbedžija: an actor of ferocious power and magnetism, celebrated for The Acting of Hamlet in the Village of Mrduša Donja and Evening Bells. Before Hollywood, many saw him as the leading actor of his generation.
• Milena Dravić: though based in Belgrade, the first lady of regional acting won awards at Pula for films by Croatian directors, among them Branko Bauer’s Prekobrojna (1962) and Zvonimir Berković’s Rondo (1966).
• Mira Furlan (1955–2021): one of the most glamorous and gifted actresses of the 1980s, in Cyclops and the Oscar-nominated When Father Was Away on Business. In America she went on to Babylon 5 and Lost.

Contemporary and cross-border talents

As the industry opened up, several Croatian actors crossed into mainstream European and international cinema.

• Goran Višnjić: after playing Hamlet at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, he found global fame as Dr Luka Kovač in ER, then Hollywood roles in Elektra and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
• Zrinka Cvitešić: after breakout roles in What Is a Man Without a Moustache? and On the Path, she won the Olivier Award in 2014 for the West End musical Once, and stars in the series The Power.
• Leon Lučev: one of the hardest-working actors in the region, known for raw, uncompromising performances in festival favourites such as Grbavica and The Load, a defining face of European art-house cinema.

The Pula Film Festival and the Zagreb Film Festival

The Pula Film Festival, founded in 1954, is the oldest film festival in Croatia. It is held in the Roman amphitheatre, the Pula Arena, and for decades it was the grand stage of Yugoslav cinema, visited by Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Orson Welles and Sophia Loren. It is still home to the national competition, where the Big Golden Arena is presented.

The Zagreb Film Festival, launched in 2003, champions independent cinema and new directors: its main competition is for first and second features, and its prize is the Golden Pram. It brings a fresh, contemporary cinema to an eager local audience every autumn.

Our advice: time a summer trip to Istria for an evening screening in the Arena, and in Zagreb pair the festival with the classics at the Kinoteka and Kino Tuškanac.

Zagreb Film Festival →   The Pula Arena →   Kinoteka →   Kino Tuškanac →

The Hollywood diaspora

A remarkable wave of film-makers and actors of Croatian heritage has left a lasting mark on Hollywood.

• John Malkovich: one of the most versatile and respected actors in modern cinema, whose paternal family came from Ozalj. He was twice nominated for the Oscar, for Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, and is celebrated for Dangerous Liaisons and Being John Malkovich.
• Eric Bana: born Eric Banadinović in Melbourne to a Croatian father, the Australian actor has led Hulk, Troy (as Hector), Steven Spielberg’s Munich and Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down.
• Branko Lustig: born in Osijek, he survived Auschwitz as a child and became one of Hollywood’s most respected producers. A close collaborator of Spielberg and Scott, he won two Oscars for best picture, for Schindler’s List and Gladiator.
• Goran Dukić: born in Zagreb and trained at the city’s Academy of Dramatic Art, he directed the cult indie Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), with Tom Waits, proof of the dark, sharp humour of the Croatian creative voice.

Balkan Cinema: our long read on the whole region →

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