Most popular Croatian films of the year revealed 

Ljeto kada sam naučila letjeti (Photo credit: Kinorama)

Croatian film in 2022: Record number of premieres and impressive international success 

Zagreb, February 3, 2023 – In 2022, Croatian audiovisual production achieved outstanding results through a number of criteria – a record 25 Croatian film premieres (17 feature-length feature films and eight documentaries) were shown in Croatian cinemas, and there were also a record number of debut productions. 

The trend of recognition of Croatian films on the international film scene, which began in 2021, continued, through numerous awards and presentations at A-category festivals. 

This is supported by the viewership numbers of Croatian films, which were watched by a total of 220,776 viewers in cinemas; thus continuing the trend started at the end of 2021, when a strong recovery of the cinema sector was established.

2022 was the fourth best year in a row since the foundation of the Croatian Audiovisual Center (HAVC). Genre and thematic diversity, as well as the diversity of the author’s poetics and aesthetics, proved to be good guidelines in the production of films, as the five most watched films achieved viewership between 10 and 50 thousand viewers, and the other five between 5 and 10 thousand viewers.

Regarding the numbers and the most watched movies last year, the most watched comedy was Marginalci, which was watched by 46,333 viewers. Children’s films, which are also minority co-productions, Kapa and Ljeto kada sam naučila letjeti had 37,084 and 33,643 viewers, respectively, taking second and third place in the rating of Croatian films.

Ljeto kada sam naučila letjeti (Photo credit: Kinorama)

This was followed by the war drama Šesti autobus, which gathered 30,682 viewers. The film received the eighth best ‘opening weekend’ of Croatian films in general (18,141 viewers). In fifth place was the comedy Nosila je rubac črleni with 18,052 viewers.

From sixth to tenth place of the most watched films the order was, Siguran mjesto with 9,012 viewers, Baci se na pod with 7,942 viewers, Stric with 6,748 viewers, Divljaci with 5,347 viewers and Illyricvm with 5,330 viewers.

(“Safe Place” /HAVC)

Next were Južni vjetar: Ubrzanje (2021), Razgovor, Nije loše biti čovjek, Garbura, Baksuzno bubanje ili bezumni pornić, Zbornica (2021), Tvornice radnicima, Nebesa (2021), Yunaci rocka, Veće od traume, Mlungu, bijeli kralj, Poslije zime, Te mračne noći, Novo kino Buje, Putevi vode, Ljubav oko svijeta (2021), Muzej revolucije, Plavi cvijet (2021), Djeca s CNN-a, Po tamburi (2021), Žica and Murina (2021).

As far as documentaries are concerned, eight of them were distributed in 2022, watched by a total of 3,849 viewers, and the most watched were Tvornice radnicima, Veće od traume and Mlungu, bijeli kralj.

(HVAC)

A total of 32 Croatian films were shown in regular cinema distribution (seven films began cinema distribution in 2021), of which 8 were minority co-productions. Through the Public Call for Distribution in 2021 and 2022, the Croatian Audiovisual Center supported as many as 25 films in the total amount of HRK 1,423,500 (EUR 190,354).

*Viewing results for domestic films and minority co-productions were collected directly from the distributors.