The last of the ten Croatian minority co-productions will be screened at this year’s Pula Film Festival, and was presented today at a press conference.

Father is a drama directed by Srdan Golubović, and has already had a lot of success at film festivals in Berlin, Belgrade, and Sofia.

The film is based on true events, and the main character of the story, which follows a man fighting to get custody of his children, is played by Croatian actor Goran Bogdan. “I had a very difficult job, but it was a joy to play this character and work with Golubović. I got the role when Nebojša Glogovac, who already started playing the role, died suddenly”. Bogdan was uncomfortable with joining the film due to this unfortunate event, but he agreed because he wanted to work on a film directed by an extraordinary director, for whom he says is very dedicated and a wonderful man he enjoyed working with. “It is a difficult role, and the struggle of the father to get his children is ongoing. We needed to find a balance between work and emotions, and to keep a cool head”, Bogdan said.

Croatian producers Lana Matić and Boris T. Matić have known Golubović for 20 years, and are familiar with all his stories, sometimes even before he starts working on the screenplay. Golubović planned the screenplay for this film with Ognjen Sviličić. Lana Matić said that Golubović is an exceptionally thorough director, and that they filmed for 51 days. She highlighted that people always eagerly await his films. Boris T. Matić said that Golubović knows how to create “small stories”, and that his films always deal with big, important, difficult topics. “It’s as if he’s carrying the problems of entire Serbia on his shoulders”, he said.

Considering these uncertain times, the Croatian producers were unable to talk about releasing the film to Croatian cinemas, but they emphasised that 12,000 people watched the film in Serbian cinema prior to the lockdown.