Friday, March 24, 2006
“New Croatian Films” at Silver Lake Film Festival
The Arc Light theatres
"WHAT IVA RECORDED ON OCTOBER 21, 2003" (US Premiere)
"Sto je Iva snimila 21, listopada 2003"  (Croatia, 2005, 92mins.)
Director: Tomislav Radić; Screenwrwiters: Ognjen Sviličić, Tomislav Radić

Proclaimed by the Croatian Film Critics Association as the Best Croatian Film of 2005, a teenaged girl receives a digital video camera for her 14th birthday and decides to film her birthday party, while her stepfather is using the party as an opportunity to negotiate with a possible new business partner. Events begin to spin wildly out of control, as her family and guest begin drinking and arguing, while the camera complacently records their antics.

Sunday, March 26, 2006
“New Croatian Films" Reception
ArcLight Cinema Lounge
Sponsored by the Republic of Croatia, Los Angeles Consulate
4:30-6:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 26, 2006
“New Croatian Films” at Silver Lake Film Festival
The Arc Light theatres
"LONG DARK NIGHT"
"Duga Mracna Noc" (Croatia, 2004, 195 mins.)
Director/Screenwriter: Antun Vrdoljak Producers: Antun Vrdoljak, Goran Višnjić, Jadran Film, Mirko Galić

Croatia's official submission for the 2005 Academy Awards for Best Foreign-Language Film, LONG DARK NIGHT is an emotional portrait of an entire country caught in the devastation of WWII, and the consequences brought onto one small village of Croatians of German ethnic background during the 1940's - 1950's. Iva (Goran Visnjić), a college student devoted to his family and friends, finds himself forced to fight with the communist partisans when war erupts and his best friend, Mata, ends up fighting on the opposite side with the Nazi-allied Ustasha. The path of these two former friends, both troubled by their respective choices, mirrors the complex and difficult transformation of Croatia during that time.

Sunday, March 26, 2006
“New Croatian Films” at Silver Lake Film Festival
The Arc Light theatres
"SORRY FOR KUNG FU"  (Los Angeles Premiere)
"Oprosti za King Fu"  (Croatia, 2004, 71mins.)
Director: Ognjen Sviličić; Screenwriter: Ognjen Sviličić; Producer:
Vesna Mort

Winner of the Grand Prix at the Warsaw International Film Festival, this comedy examines the cultural divide: Returning to Croatia after a long absence in Germany unmarried and pregnant Mirjana must face her traditional family and the rumors surrounding her circumstances.
Circumstances get very complicated when Mirjana gives a birth to a boy with Asian features.

Monday, March 27, 2006
“New Croatian Films” at Silver Lake Film Festival
The Arc Light theatres
"A WONDERFUL NIGHT IN SPLIT"
"Ta Divna Splitska Noć"  (Croatia, 2004, 100mins.)
Director/Screenwriter: Arsen-Anton Ostojić; Producer: Jozo Patljak

Croatia's official submission for the 2006 Academy Awards for Best Foreign-Language Film. It's New Year's Eve on the narrow cobblestoned streets of the ancient port town of Split on Croatia's Adriatic Coast and everyone's up for a celebration. Stylishly shot in black and white and constructed around three very human stories, Ostojic's debut feature follows a smalltime drug dealer involved with a war widow and her son, a young female junkie in crisis mode and a depressed American sailor, and a teenage couple. Shot entirely in the hauntingly beautiful Ghetto of Split, these three love stories unfold, and each character will have irreversibly changed hir or her life by the stroke of midnight.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006
“New Croatian Films” at Silver Lake Film Festival
The Arc Light theatres
"WHAT IS A MAN WITHOUT A MOUSTACHE?"  (U.S. Premiere)
"Sto je Muskarac bez Brkova"  (Croatia, 2005, 109 mins.)
Director: Hrvoje Hribar; Screenwriters: Renato Baretic, Hrvoje Hribar;
Producers: Hrvoje Hribar, Mirko Galić

An international hit and winner of the Audience Award at the 2005 Zagreb Film Festival. A romantic comedy about a young widow, an aging immigrant who has returned home from Germany, and a priest from a bankrupt parish with whom she falls in love, all of whom are struggling to come to terms with the post-war environment, complete with its prejudices and illusions.

Thursday, March 30, 2006
“New Croatian Films” at Silver Lake Film Festival
The Arc Light theatres
"WITNESSES"
"Svjedoci"  (Croatia, 2003, 90mins.)
Director/Screenwriter: Vinko Brešan; Producer: Ivan Maloča

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Medfilm Festival Roma, Peace
and Ecumenical Film Award at the Berlin Film Festival and many other prices at the festivals around the world. In a small Croatian town defending itself against the Serb army, this story unfolds from a number of different view points.
A grieving wife and mother mourns the death of her husband, while her young son murders a Serbian man in his home. The woman's other son suffers from a war wound, while his girlfriend conducts an investigation into the Serbian man's death. Brešan's political drama explores ethnic hatred and moral ambiguity against the back.