The program includes an Israeli-Palestinian film that has caused an uproar in Israel, a modern take on the story of Mother Teresa, and a queer horror comedy • Titles starring screen icons Noomi Rapace, Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder
From 21 to 26 July, the mountain air and deep shade of Fužine will become the backdrop for a dialogue on today’s most sensitive topics. Political scandals, suspenseful genre experiments and the examination of historical myths will define this year’s Cinehill film program. Gorski Kotar will host titles fresh from the world’s most prestigious festivals, bringing both aesthetic provocation and sharp social commentary. With this selection, Cinehill’s canvases will showcase stories that have stirred up controversy and sent serious shockwaves through film circles and political cabinets alike.
This is the case with the Israeli-Palestinian The Sea, directed by Shai Carmeli-Pollak. This deeply emotional and tense drama follows twelve-year-old Palestinian boy Khaled, who, after Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint refuse to let him continue on his school trip, sets off alone for the coast to see the sea for the first time in his life, while his father risks arrest searching for him.
Although the film triumphed at the Ophir Awards of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, winning prizes for Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Actor, and was selected as Israel’s entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature, the country’s Minister of Culture called it anti-state propaganda, launching a campaign against it and threatening to cut funding to the nation’s main film festival and film centre. Expressing his bewilderment at this reaction, Israeli director Carmeli-Pollak said in an interview with Večernji list that he made the film through the lens of humanity, compassion, and seeing others as fellow human beings. Cinehill visitors in Fužine will have a chance to hear the story first-hand from the film’s producer, Palestinian Baher Agbariya, who is coming to the festival.
Arriving from the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Queer Palm, comes a flick that will offer an entirely different kind of subversion. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a crispy fresh queer meta-slasher from director Jane Schoenbrun. The story follows a young filmmaker who gets the chance to direct a sequel to a cult horror franchise, and in doing so manages to talk a reclusive actress, who rose to fame in the original, into joining the project.
The cast is led by the brilliant Hannah Einbinder, star of the hit series Hacks and one of today’s most popular young comedians, and the inimitable Gillian Anderson, an icon of The X-Files, who team up in this psychosexual odyssey, brilliantly blurring the lines between reality, obsession and mutual attraction, upending traditional horror stereotypes.
Returning to the festival are celebrated Macedonian director Teona Strugar Mitevska (God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya) and her sister, producer and actress Labina Mitevska, with the historical drama Mother, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. In a fascinating piece of casting, Hollywood star Noomi Rapace, best known for playing Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium trilogy, embodies Mother Teresa in this contemporary, uncompromising take, stripping her of the usual biographical sentimentality. Set in Kolkata in 1948, the story follows pivotal moments in the life of Sister Teresa as she awaits approval to leave her convent and found her own order, confronting unexpected dilemmas that fundamentally alter the course of her life.
Alongside these major festival hits, a special highlight of this year’s Cinehill will be a retrospective dedicated to the festival’s guest of honour, Edward Berger, the German director whose film All Quiet on the Western Front won no fewer than four Oscars, while his recent political thriller Conclave thrilled audiences worldwide. Besides these two films, the festivalgoers in Fužine will have the chance to see Berger’s early work Jack, from 2014, on the big screen for the first time in Croatia. The film, which premiered in the main competition of the Berlinale, is a harrowing and critically acclaimed drama about a ten-year-old boy and his younger brother who, due to their mother’s neglect, are left to fend for themselves on the streets of Berlin over one turbulent weekend. Cinehill thus offers a rare insight into the evolution of one of the most significant contemporary European directors, rounding off six days of top-tier cinematic experience in the verdant surroundings of Gorski Kotar.
Ticket bundles for this festival experience are already on presale at the most affordable prices, and can be purchased via the following link: https://core-event.co/events/cinehill-film-festival-2026-10af
Cinehill is co-organised with the Municipality of Fužine, and is supported by the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the Kvarner Tourist Board and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.
