‘Croatia: Defining A Nation’ wins world’s best sports documentary award
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
(Photo: FIFA+)
The documentary film titled ‘Croatia: Defining A Nation’ has won at the fifth edition of the AIPS Sport Media Awards, held in the capital of South Korea last night.
The feature-length film premiered on FIFA+ in May last year, and offers a compelling and intimate portrayal of how football played a pivotal role in unifying a nation during Croatia’s fight for political independence in the 1990s.
‘Croatia: Defining A Nation’ won in the Video Documentary category, beating Benjamin Unger’s ‘Olympics 1972: The GDR and the terror – NDR’ and ‘The Figo Affair: The transfer that changed football’ by David Tryhorn.
(Photo: FIFA)
‘Croatia: Defining A Nation’ delves into the journey of Croatia off the football pitch, and the lives of a group of players who were integral to the birth of the nation and its subsequent success on the field.
Through in-depth interviews with former Croatian national team players who were synonymous with this period of football and political history, including Igor Štimac, Slaven Bilić, and Zvonimir Boban, the documentary showcases how football brought hope and optimism to a nation in times of extreme adversity.
Zvonimir Boban (Photo: FIFA)
The film is directed by the acclaimed director Louis Myles, who has previously worked on notable football documentaries such as ‘Kaiser: The Greatest Footballer Never to Play Football’ and ‘Liverpool FC: The 30-Year Wait.’ The film’s producers include Mark Pougatch, Ana Muhar Blanquart, David Kempshall, and James Craggs.
Zlatko Dalić (Photo: Fifa+)
Slaven Bilić (Photo: FIFA)
“Thanks to all the people that helped us doing a film like this, and to all the people that talked and remembered the difficult past. Massive appreciation to all of them,” said Myles.
(Photo: FIFA+)
Croatia: Defining A Nation is available across all web and mobile devices on the FIFA+ platform in five language editions (English, Spanish, French, German and Portuguese).
You can see a list of all the winners here.
