The Witnesses

Colour, 35 mm
Croatia, 2003, 88 min
Section: East of the West

Synopsis

The year is 1992 and the Croatian town of Karlovac is dangerously close to the frontlines of the fratricidal war. Just as a trio of soldiers is getting ready to blow a local house to smithereens, its owner appears on the doorstep. Shots are fired more out of surprise than a desire to kill, and the man falls. The next day the local police investigate the incident as a murder, and they seem to have found a chance witness. The three young men need to come up with an alibi, and Joško knows that his mother will gladly help them. Joško’s influential uncle is also aware of his responsibility as a relative. Entrusted with the investigation, Inspector Barbir clearly intends to proceed with circumspection in order that justice may be served. But he too is just one of the local inhabitants, affected by a war that has changed his take on the surrounding world and forced new moral values upon him. Reporter Lidija would also like to know the truth, as she is personally tied to the case too. Each of them sees the situation and judges it from his or her own differing perspective...

About the director

Vinko Brešan (b. 1964, Šibenik, Croatia) studied in Zagreb: literature and philosophy at the School of Humanities, and television direction at the Academy of Dramatic Arts. The student short Our Exchange (Naša burza) was awarded at the 1987 Oberhausen IFF, and his professional documentaries have done well at festivals too. With the help of his father, the well-known Croatian author and screenwriter Ivo Brešan, he shot his award-winning feature debut How the War Started on My Island (Kako je počeo rat na mom otoku, 1996). The tragicomedy Marshal Tito’s Spirit (Maršal) was also a Brešan “family project”– son (director), father (co-writer) and son’s wife Sandra (editor); the film took Best Director at Karlovy Vary in 2000. He based his latest movie, the family-involved war drama The Witnesses, on Jurica Pavičić’s Alabaster Sheep (Ovce od gipsa).