Croatia is hardly known to be a prolific source of queer movies, but maybe that is about change. Of the 11 movies so far in its history, two of them have been released this year. First was SANDBAG DAM, a superb coming-of-age drama that was nominated for the prestigious queer Teddy Award at the Berlinale, and now there is Beautiful Evening Beautiful Day Croatia’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards and one of the most memorable films we have seen all year
It/s a sweeping epic shot in black and white that starts in WWII and spans the following decades. Lovers Lovro (Dado Ćosić) and Nenad (Đorđe Galić) and their lifelong friendship with Stevan (Slaven Došlo, Celts) and Ivan (Elmir Krivalić), a group of gay partisans, are highly decorated heroes for playing their part in the fight against both the Fascists and the Nazis.
After World War II, Yugoslavia became the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), a communist federation of six republics under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito. It modeled itself on the strict Russian Comnunist system, but in 1948 when Tito split from Stalin the country was caught between Western capitalism and the Soviet Union and end up pursuing an independent “third way”
The four friends returned to filmmaking after the War and for a whie their status as war hereos allowed them an element of freedom, but very soon they were forced to use their talents to make propoganda for the State . And although their homosexuality had been tolerated in the past , it was very much an issue now and they were considered ‘enemies of the staite because of their sexuaity. When one of studio heads was recruited to spy on of them and also sabotage their films, then the end was in sight for the four of them
Despite the extreme bleakness of this sitution, underlying is a remarkable love store that resonates so deeply with you. Written and directed with such passion by Ivona Juka who cut her teeth on ‘Facing The CIty’ which she shot in Lepoglava, one of the most notorious penitentiaries in Europe. She is all for realism and her insistence on explicit queer sex had some well known actors shaking their heads, but it made sense with such a tight group of friends who valued this and lnsisting of iiving life in its entirety
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But for this viewer it was all about timing. If I had seen the movie back in 2024 just after it was completed I would have lauded if for the execllent piece of queer history that it is never ever imagining that such a violent change of Admistration in this country could result in the reality of history actually repeating itseif . An alarmist thought but one that could be put into action any day |
P.S. ‘Croatia not supporting Beautiful Day” compared to previous Croatian Oscar submissions. The film, which was Croatia’s official entry to the Academy Awards in 2024, but they allocated Juka far less funding for an Awards campaign
Member of G.A.L.E.C.A. (Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association) and NLGJA The Association of LGBT Journalists. and The Online Film Critics Society. Ex Contributing Editor The Gay Uk & Contributor Edge Media Former CEO and Menswear Designer of Roger Dack Ltd in the UK ‘one of the hardest-working journalists in the business‘ Micheal Goff of Towleroad
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