Alongside films for children and young audiences, the program brings compelling titles from the region and captivating Greenland • Fužine to host the original Oscar statuette Dušan Vukotić received for The Substitute
While the rest of the country slowly migrates from scorching city pavements to overcrowded seaside beaches, the cool, deep shade of Fužine offers an altogether different summer experience – one brimming with content for children and families, as well as for dedicated cinephiles. Cinehill Festival functions as a kind of cultural sanctuary, drawing audiences thirsty for light-hearted titles, alongside cinematic heavyweights: titles that address anything from local Balkan absurdities to broader global narratives – from subversive Polish altar boys to activism from distant Greenland.
The festival officially opens on 21 July at 9 p.m. at the festival centre in Rakov Jarak with the family comedy The Altar Boys, directed by Polish filmmaker Piotr Domalewski. The film follows a group of teenagers who, disillusioned by the Church’s hypocrisy and their parents’ indifference, decide to take justice into their own hands – literally redistributing church funds by stealing from greedy priests and giving to the poor. This inspired study of the collision between youthful idealism and harsh reality arrives in Fužine having earned the Best Film and the Audience Award from the prestigious Gdynia Film Festival.
A special spotlight shines on Greenland – an island that has attracted growing global attention in recent times due to US territorial ambitions and the awakening of its indigenous culture. Audiences will have the opportunity to see the acclaimed documentary Sumé: The Sound of a Revolution, the story of a progressive rock band whose Greenlandic-language lyrics became the sonic backdrop of the struggle for emancipation from Danish rule in the 1970s. Also on the schedule is the harrowing, multi-award-winning documentary Twice Colonized, about Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter, who – despite profound personal tragedy – fights for the rights of Arctic indigenous peoples.
This edition will also be marked by regional cinema, spearheaded by Montenegro as this year’s partner country. Equally intriguing titles will arrive from Slovenia too. The first is Stealing Land, directed by Žiga Virc – a scathing social grotesque in which what begins as a seemingly innocent children’s quarrel at a school playground escalates into an absurd, politicised dispute between parents around the kitchen table. The second is OHO Film by Damjan Kozole, a documentary drawing on rich archival material to tell the story of the legendary Slovenian avant-garde group OHO, who blurred the boundaries between conceptual art, philosophy, and economics in the late 1960s Yugoslavia.
One of the most emotionally resonant festival segments unfolds within the focus on Montenegro, dedicated to the life and work of Dušan Vukotić – the only Oscar-winning filmmaker from the region. The documentary Vud, You Won! directed by Senad Šahmanović, maps the extraordinary rise and painful decline of a genius who left an indelible mark on world animation, drawing on the intimate recollections of Vukotić’s wife and colleagues. Thanks to a collaboration with Zagreb Film, Fužine will exclusively host Vukotić’s original Oscar statuette from 1962, offering visitors a rare chance to see – and photograph themselves with – the most significant statuette in the history of regional cinema.
Alongside Vukotić’s Oscar-winning animated short, The Substitute, and the self-ironic feature-length foray into science-fiction, Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy, audiences will also be treated to another science-fiction gem for children and youth: The Crystal Planet by Arsen Anton Ostojić, based on a story by Dušan Vukotić.
In addition to the already mentioned titles for younger audiences and the opening film, the festival will offer even more family and children’s content – including an eco-film drawing workshop with illustrator Yellow Yuri, author of the Baby Lasagna picture book. Birds of prey once again return to Cinehill this summer: alongside an educational workshop, both children and adults will have the chance to pose with the owl named Scar and the hawk called Braco. As the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County is this year’s European Region of Sport, the final day of the festival, 26 July, will be devoted to sport – ranging from hiking and the SUP rowing school, to sports films and a visit to Vrelo Cave.
The full program may be found on Cinehill’s website, cinehill.eu – where individual tickets for the film program are also available for advance purchase.
Cinehill is co-organised with the Municipality of Fužine and supported by the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the Kvarner Tourist Board, and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.
