Big Golden Arena for Best Film
This award is given at the Pula Film Festival, held annually in the Croatian city of Pula from 1955, to the best Croatian film in competition (until 1991, it was awarded to the best Yugoslav film in competition).
*Non-consecutive years are listed in notes, as well as multiple winners.
*Non-consecutive years are listed in notes, as well as multiple winners.
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- DirectorFrantisek CápStarsStane SeverJulka StaricStane PotokarA story set in a Slovenian town during WW2. The White Guardists bring a wounded partisan to doctor Koren, but he kills their lieutenant, thus helping them both to escape.1955
- DirectorSoja JovanovicStarsLjubinka BobicNevenka MikulicJovan GecLife of the village elite, the two priest families, goes quietly in mutual understanding and friendship. The discord is inserted when a young teacher is able to marry the daughter of only one of the priests. Based on a popular novel by Stevan Sremac.1957
- DirectorNikola TanhoferStarsBoris BuzancicDjurdja IvezicAntun VrdoljakA bus and a truck are destined to collide with each other on a highway. Their passengers go on about their lives without knowing what will happen.
- DirectorVeljko BulajicStarsOlivera MarkovicLia Rho-BarbieriInge IlinThe story about colonization of poor Dalmatian peasants to the fertile Pannonian plain shortly after WWII.
- DirectorFrance StiglicStarsDusica ZegaracBoris DvornikBranko TaticIn order to save Jewish girl from the Nazis and their colaborators, Croatian family arranges her to be wed to their young son. Young man is displeased with sudden end to his careless youth and he doesn't seem to like the girl or the whole idea. However, when she gets caught in a street raid, it is too late - he must face the fact that he loves her. Young man starts looking for her, even if it means hat he would go to the very center of concentration camp - the Ninth Circle.
- DirectorFrance StiglicStarsLojze PotokarAngelca HlebceMarija LojkTemnikar's family prepares for the Christmas, but to him, it's the time of dark premonitions and anxiety. In the mountain cave, hidden by snow, the wounded partisans are hiding, and Temnikar suspects the treason. Once the White Guard patrol shows up at Temnikar's doorstep, he finds out about their plan to go and finish off the wounded partisans.1961
- DirectorVeljko BulajicStarsIlija DzuvalekovskiVelimir 'Bata' ZivojinovicDragomir FelbaFarmers and their families, engineers, technicians, criminals and prostitutes were acquired on the construction of industrial facilities in Zenica. Siba tries to help them, working with dedication and love that goes beyond his duty. It is difficult to satisfy everyone and achieve more in this scorching city and Siba makes mistakes, carried by desire to achieve the impossible. With great effort, the builders manage to overcome the maelstrom after the dam burst, and while the first iron runs from the new furnace, Siba, dismissed because of errors committed, leaves a boom town of Zenica.1961
- DirectorVeljko BulajicStarsBert SotlarVelimir 'Bata' ZivojinovicMilena DravicThe struggle of the Yugoslav partisans against the Germans.
- DirectorBranko BauerStarsIlija DzuvalekovskiHusein CokicVladimir PopovicThis movie, one of the first who spoke of Yugoslav socio-political system with some criticism, is set in one company. On the routine workers' council meeting a few brave workers stand against a corrupt manager.
- DirectorFadil HadzicStarsUros KravljacaVojislav MiricOlivera MarkovicThe managers of a textile enterprise use various scams to obtain all kinds of personal benefits, until the machinations exposed.
- DirectorVatroslav MimicaStarsJanez VrhovecMira SardocSlobodan DimitrijevicA middle-aged manager of a big-scale company pays visit to his native island with his wife, in order to attend ceremony of unveiling a memorial plaque dedicated to local partisan heroes. During his visit, he's constantly overwhelmed by the memories from the past, his first love, the combat days and his enthusiasm to introduce electricity on the island, which was not appreciated by his fellow islanders.1965
- DirectorAleksandar PetrovicStarsVelimir 'Bata' ZivojinovicAli RanerSlobodan 'Cica' PerovicThree stories are set at the beginning, middle and the end of WW2. In all three of them the hero of the movie must witness the death of people he likes.1965
- DirectorVatroslav MimicaStarsSlobodan DimitrijevicPavle VuisicGizela HumlA divorced journalist Marko Pozgaj starts his working day by taking his son to the school. During the day many thoughts and images pass through his mind - the memories of childhood, ex-wife, current girlfriend, but mostly his father who died in a war.
- DirectorAleksandar PetrovicStarsBekim FehmiuOlivera KatarinaVelimir 'Bata' ZivojinovicTensions arise in a Gypsy community when a local feather seller falls in love with a much younger girl.
- DirectorZivojin PavlovicStarsDragan NikolicRuzica SokicNeda SpasojevicThe story about Jimmy the Dingy, a young vagabond who works as a seasonal worker. Having been sacked from the job, his dreams are to become a singer. As most of the things in the Balkans happen, he is destined to failure.
- DirectorFedor SkubonjaStarsDragomir Bojanic-GidraDina RuticAleksandar GavricYoung teacher first experience in their profession acquired in a remote mountain village, which has no school building. Life of a farmer, a clash between two warring race, then the conflict between the government and farmers for cutting the national forests needed to build new schools and the presence of a young teacher who doubt the search for truth, that will lead to major conflicts and tragedies.
- DirectorKrsto PapicStarsFabijan SovagovicAdem CejvanJagoda KaloperSmall village in mountains of Dalmatinska Zagora is under total control of Andrija, local Party official. One day two members of secret police come to the village and everybody knows they are going to arrest somebody, but nobody knows whom.
- DirectorZivojin PavlovicStarsRade SerbedzijaMajda PotokarMajda GrbacAn ex-partisan and current political activist sets out to Styria region in Slovenia to buy out the wheat from peasants and convince them to form the farming collective. His ostensible success (based on blackmailing rather than convincing), as well as his love defeat, make him disturbed and he kills an innocent man while performing a social mission.
- DirectorAleksandar PetrovicStarsUgo TognazziMimsy FarmerAlain CunyA writer and his assistant are working on a biblical story about Pontius Pilate who convicted Jesus of Nazereth, while the Satan (here called Woland) and his lieutenants are harassing the writer duo in various ways.
- DirectorStipe DelicStarsRichard BurtonLjuba TadicVelimir 'Bata' ZivojinovicIn 1943, 20,000 Yugoslav partisans led by Tito find themselves encircled by 120,000 well-armed Axis troops in the mountains of Bosnia and must break out of encirclement.
- DirectorZivorad 'Zika' MitrovicStarsBoris BuzancicBozidarka FrajtMarko TodorovicUzice Republic, also known as the "first offensive" is a story about Serbia in 1941 and monitors the emergence and decline of the Uzice Republic. A few months after the German Wehrmacht forced the Yugoslav Royal Army to capitulate in April War, Boro, a Spanish soldier and hardened Communist, is tasked to organize an uprising in western Serbia. Organized resistance is turning into a massive uprising against the occupying forces. Partisans, led by the Communist party, manage to chase the Germans from a huge territory, later known as the Uzice Republic. People gather around the partisans and were soon freed from Bajina Basta, Pozega, Uzice, and Cacak. Supreme headquarters of the partisan army comes to the liberated territory. However, forces loyal to the king have some other ideas. Uzice Republic lasted only 67 days, from 24 September to 29 November 1941, when a bloody and tragic battle on Kadinjaca occurred and the entire labor battalion, fell into the hands of the Wehrmacht and the Chetniks, so the partisans, supreme headquarters, and the people had to retreat to the Sandzak.
- DirectorBogdan ZizicStarsFabijan SovagovicJagoda KaloperRade MarkovicThe manager of an export-import company meets a young girl who claims that her parents have been taken their house away after WW2. After finding out this to be true, he offers to marry her which she accepts. However, it turns out that the house needs thorough restoration. Since his salary is not enough to cover its massive expenses, he puts his honesty on test.
- DirectorIgor PretnarStarsRadko PolicMilena ZupancicDare UlagaScreen Adaptation of a classic socio-critical novel.
- DirectorBogdan ZizicStarsIvo GregurevicFabijan SovagovicMira BanjacEncouraged by the stories of guest workers who pay visit to their homeland, a young man Filip finds himself on a central station in Frankfurt on the Main, Germany. While looking for his old friend Mate who would help him to get around in new environment, Filip experiences one trouble after another until he finally finds Mate lethally wounded.
- DirectorLordan ZafranovicStarsFrano LasicMilan StrljicTanja PoberznikThree young men - a Croat, an Italian, and a Jew - are the best of friends in pre-World War II Dubrovnik. When their country is occupied by Germans and their cronies, the idyllic city becomes a place of terror and gruesome massacres. The friends must now take different sides in a global conflict.
- DirectorBoro DraskovicStarsDragan MaksimovicRade SerbedzijaGordana KosanovicSmall village farmers grow tobacco which they are forced to sell to the government for next-to-nothing prices. This repeats with Italians during the WW2, and with the communists after the war. Boiling point is getting high.
- DirectorSrdjan KaranovicStarsMirjana KaranovicDragan MaksimovicPavle VuisicThis film takes place in a small mining town in Serbia within a time span covering the prewar, war, and postwar periods. "Petria's wreath" is a story about the tragic life of an illiterate village woman and her life with three men she loves. Torn between dreams and reality, she endures a life of suffering, loneliness, disappointment, hope, and love.
- DirectorLordan ZafranovicStarsDaniel OlbrychskiEna BegovicGorica PopovicA partisan commander must shoot one of his comrades because he had neglected the struggle and turned to a life of lust and vice. When Italy capitulates in September of 1943 and the war seems over for many Partisans, the commander follows the very same path.1981
- DirectorZivojin PavlovicStarsDusan JanicijevicRade SerbedzijaMetka FrankoMan due to misunderstanding and hardslife, divorce with his wife and left the city. It comes in a new environment, meeting new people and new wife. Crucified between two worlds, does everything to bring her two sons on the way, and getting on with her life. Lost in that area, powerless to change much, he commits murder.1983
- DirectorDusan KovacevicBozidar 'Bota' NikolicStarsDanilo 'Bata' StojkovicBora TodorovicMira BanjacConvinced that his subtenant is a spy and an enemy of the state, a man falls into deep paranoia which leads to absurd and destructive chain of events.
- DirectorEmir KusturicaStarsMoreno De BartoliPredrag 'Miki' ManojlovicMirjana KaranovicA family is deeply affected by the father's extramarital affairs and the turbulent consequences of the Tito-Stalin split.
- DirectorStole PopovStarsSvetozar CvetkovicMeto JovanovskiVladislava MilosavljevicThe story of two brothers of different orientation and fate. The drama takes place in an atmosphere of tension and fear, during the conflict of Yugoslav Communist Party with the Stalinism, during the Cominform. Older brother Dragoslav, a returnee from Russia, was unjustly accused of being a Russian spy and subsequently arrested. Younger brother Kosta is not interested in politics, but he's attracted by a brother's wife Vera and underworld mafia. In the end, it turns out that a young woman belongs to the Soviet spy agency.
- DirectorGoran MarkovicStarsMustafa NadarevicAnica DobraMilorad Mandic-MandaPiano teacher is deeply traumatised by the events of his childhood, as well as by political oppression in his youth. Decades later, all those traumas lead to carnage.
- DirectorKrsto PapicStarsDavor JanjicAlma PricaMiodrag KrivokapicIt's the end of the 1980s, and Martin is being asked from his dying uncle Stipan to bury him with the presence of priest. Martin remembers the way they lost the contact in 1951 - Stipan informed on him when he wrote a composition in the school, expressing doubts about the land reform. He had got a bullet in the groin by accident; his pregnant wife fled to Trieste and then to Australia where she gave a birth to their son John.
- DirectorGoran MarkovicStarsRade MarkovicBogdan DiklicDragan NikolicDuring the excavation of ancient Roman ruins, an old archaeology professor accidentally opens the gate between our world and the world of the dead.
- DirectorBahrudin 'Bato' CengicStarsMustafa NadarevicBranislav LecicFabijan SovagovicWhen traditional Serbian populated village in Bosnia gets in the middle of two ideologies during World War II, two groups, communist and monarchist fight over the destiny of its population among each other.1990
- DirectorKrsto PapicStarsIvo GregurevicMustafa NadarevicDragan DespotAfter the breaking of mass movements in 1971., the student Ilija Baric must leave the country because of his political beliefs, and his father Luka lost a job and goes to work to Germany. After Titos death in 1980. there is a new political motion, but repression is still strong. That feels even decennial John, the brother of Ilija, who is in love with Marina, the daughter of the Head of the police and Communist Andrew.1992
- DirectorZvonimir BerkovicStarsAlma PricaRade SerbedzijaIrina AlfyorovaA pseudo biography of Dora Pejacevic (10 September 1885 - 5 March 1923), a Croatian composer.1993
- DirectorZrinko OgrestaStarsKatarina Bistrovic-DarvasFilip SovagovicJosip KuchanJagoda is young woman who lives in poor section of Zagreb together with her disfunctional family. Mother is dying, father cares only about fishing, brother is an alcoholic and uncle is a war refugee. Her relationship with young soldier isn't any better because they can't find place to make love.1995
- DirectorVinko BresanStarsVlatko DulicLjubomir KerekesIvan BrkicAlthough being one of the first movies to take humoristic approach towards violent break-up of Yugoslavia, this motion picture is partly based on real events that took place in September of 1991. Few months after Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia, Federal military installations are still present with previously recruited Croatian boys trapped inside. One such installation is a garrison on a small Dalmatian island, commanded by Major Aleksa Milosavljevic. Besieged by local militia, Major Aleksa threatens to blow up ammunition depots with half an island in case of any hostile action. During the stalemate, art historian Blaz Gajski comes from Zagreb in order to rescue his son from the barracks.
- DirectorGoran RusinovicStarsSven MedvesekNatasa DorcicSvebor KranjcA young man is forced to shoot a few thugs in self defence. Following the advice of his lawyer, he surrenders to the police and ends up in a mental institution. From there he escapes but his path soon becomes littered with corpses.
- DirectorKrsto PapicStarsIvo GregurevicIvica VidovicMirjana MajurecAt 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.
- DirectorNeven HitrecStarsLjubomir KerekesLucija SerbedzijaIvo GregurevicIn a small Croatian village in 1991, a carpenter Kuzma falls for much younger Ana. In spite of their surroundings' opposition towards their relationship, the couple marries and Ana gives birth to their son. Being also familiar with the statuary, he makes a sculpture of Madonna for the local church. A quiet life of the village is disturbed when the first clashes between Croats and Serbs arise.
- DirectorVinko BresanStarsDrazen KuhnLinda BegonjaIlija IvezicStipan 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.
- DirectorBruno GamulinStarsFilip SovagovicSven MedvesekLucija SerbedzijaPetar Gorjan is a 40-year-old successful propagandist and cynical strategist of consumerist society that is faced with family and identity crisis. He embarks on a journey from Zagreb to Dubrovnik, transporting humanitarian aid in his off-road vehicle, and on his way he will be accompanied by slightly mentally troubled Lukas and a vagabond girl.
- DirectorDalibor MatanicStarsOlga PakalovicNina ViolicKresimir MikicA lesbian couple rents an apartment in a seemingly normal building which happens to be populated with all kinds of freaks. Initially kind but unaware of their secret, a landlady tries to introduce one of them to his son, but after spying on them through the keyhole, the Pandora's box of hatred and violence has been opened.
- DirectorZrinko OgrestaStarsJasmin TelalovicMarija TadicZlatko CrnkovicA panoramic view over society across ten unfortunate characters whose stories sometimes intertwine.
- DirectorAntun VrdoljakStarsGoran VisnjicMustafa NadarevicIvo GregurevicThe film follows the life of fictional character Iva Kolar, including his experience as a Croatian university student, his role as a partisan fighting German troops, and his involvement in his nation's post-WW2 government.
- DirectorTomislav RadicStarsAnja Sovagovic-DespotIvo GregurevicBoris SvrtanIva is a girl who receives a small digital video camera for her fourteenth birthday. Delighted by her new toy, the girl immediately starts taping everything around her, recording a series of events surrounding her birthday celebration on her first tape. These ninety minutes form the film What Iva Recorded on October 21st, 2003.
- DirectorAntonio NuicStarsRakan RushaidatBojan NavojecFranjo DijakGoran is 30, living in a small Bosnian town. Unlike his friends, whose lives have been seriously altered by war (his best friend Miro lost both his arms in the war), Goran got away from it almost untouched. He lives off his parents' inheritance and spends his days boozing with his buddies. One day, all his friends get killed in a drunken altercation. This throws him completely off his routine, and he decides to sell all his belongings and start doing something memorable. He ends up going from town to town, spending one day in each of them, and handing away completely free drinks, for as long as the money he got after selling all his belongings lasts. In the first town he visits with his travelling bar, he decides that he himself won't drink a drop of alcohol on the entire journey. He is initially stymied by the huge distrust of people upon seeing the sign "All for Free". The distrust almost always results in initial hostility, but after the people see he has no dishonest intentions, Goran is free to go to the next town. As Bosnia is a relatively small country, the word spreads fast, and Goran encounters less and less distrust as he goes on, and people start taking to him. After a few weeks on the road, in one of the towns he meets a girl and almost immediately falls in love. This leads him to break his own word, and he starts drinking. Trying to become as intimate as he can be with the girl, he breaks his other rule too, and stays a second day in the town. The owner of the sole local bar doesn't like that, and he has Goran beaten and banished. Goran has to break his journey for a few days and book himself into a motel, until his wounds heal. He drinks the whole time, and after he gets a bit better, he takes the last of his money and goes off to the final town on his journey...
- DirectorKristijan MilicStarsFilip SovagovicVelibor TopicSlaven KnezovicIn 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.
- DirectorArsen A. OstojicStarsAlen LivericMustafa NadarevicBiserka IpsaIvan, a 36-year old ex-rock singer and a disillusioned war veteran who lost both legs in the recent Croatian Homeland War, discovers a dark family secret, which fundamentally changes his life he now wants to end.
- DirectorBranko SchmidtStarsRene BitorajacFranjo DijakRobert UgrinaFour friends from the neighborhood grapple with maintaining their relationships amid the challenges of alcohol, drugs, hooliganism, crime, and the shadows of their country's history.
- DirectorRajko GrlicStarsPredrag 'Miki' ManojlovicBojan NavojecDaria Lorenci FlatzNikola is a man who knows how to really enjoy life; he's even able to rouse sympathy for his sinful ways. His brother, Braco 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?
- DirectorTomislav RadicStarsIgor KovacSuzana NikolicBoris BuzancicA big family reunion at the weekend cottage around traditional food preparation "kotlovina" (pig on a spit and lots of drinking) with quaintly amusing and earnest situations revealing what is stronger: ties of blood and background or culture and the way of living.
- DirectorDamir CucicStarsMate GulinMilivoj BeaderFather and son review the problems in their communication that have been accumulating in years. The son cannot get rid of fears that his life is being a true copy of his father's projections of his future, so he shoots a video letter with his amateur camera in which he tries to make his father look bad and present the evidences that would indicate how he became a much better person than him.
- DirectorBobo JelcicStarsBogdan DiklicNada DjurevskaIvana RoscicWhen 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.
- DirectorKristijan MilicStarsGoran BogdanAlan KaticMarko CindricIn 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.
- DirectorDalibor MatanicStarsTihana LazovicGoran MarkovicNives IvankovicThree 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.
- DirectorZrinko OgrestaStarsKsenija MarinkovicLazar RistovskiTihana Lazovic20 years ago, Vesna moved her family to Zagreb, away from the events that almost destroyed their lives. However, an unexpected call will bring back the memory of a secret that she has been trying to hide all these years.
- DirectorIgor BezinovicStarsAnte Zlatko StolicaMladen VujcicZeljko BeljanStola has been spending his summer in the sweltering haze of festival parties. But one day, he runs into Roko, an old acquaintance, who is on a mission to discover medieval frescoes at a nearby monastery. Roko convinces Stola and a random group of partygoers to join him in his search. However, when their bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere, their brief excursion turns into an allegorical journey into the unknown.
- DirectorAntonio NuicStarsFranjo DijakVito DijakPasko VukasovicAfter spending four years in prison, a drug dealer will do anything to keep custody over his son.
- DirectorDana BudisavljevicStarsAlma PricaBiserka IpsaIgor SamoborThe story of Diana Budisavljevic, who embarked on a campaign of rescuing more than 10,000 children from the Ustasha camps in Nazi-occupied Croatia. A dramatized retelling mixed with archival material and interviews with survivors.