Black Birds1967

Director
Eduard Galić

Actors

Vojislav Mirić (Engineer Robert)
Fabijan Šovagović (Ustasha Lieutenant)
Ivo Serdar (Prisoner)
Vanja Drach (Marijan)
Rade Šerbedžija (Crni)

WW2 story about group of prisoners who are trying to escape the death camp, run by local pro-Nazi militia.
The story takes place on the last day of WW II. Partisans are approaching a concentration camp in which the Ustashas intend to execute the prisoners. The Ustashas plan to transport the prisoners to a bridge, which they will blow up in order to stop the partisans from advancing further. However, the prisoners have plans of their own.
By the time Eduard Galić set out to direct „Black Birds“, his debut feature film, he was already an established television director and an author of award-winning documentaries. He developed an interest in a screenplay written by a legendary Croatian art historian Grgo Gamulin, Galić’s former father-in-law, that drew heavily on Gamulin’s personal experiences in World War II. But, Galić’s work on the screenplay created a conflict with Gamulin. While the Gamulin’s original work was a straightforward action drama, Galić preferred the then highly influential auteur film. Together with Zoran Tadić, the assistant director, Galić developed a new outline of the film in which three central characters were a psalm-quoting Ustasha lieutenant (Šovagović), an engineer tasked with blowing up the bridge (Mirić), and an enigmatic prisoner (Šerbedžija, in his first major film role).
In 2012, the film was digitally restored by the Croatian and Slovene Film Archives.
„A sensation! The most interesting discovery of the Subversive Film Festival. A re-encounter with the film reveals an interesting accomplishment, of exceptional visual expressiveness.“ – Jutarnji.hr
„Masterful amalgamation of art and genre” – Damir Radić, Film presentation at Kino Tuškanec
„Possibly the best [directorial] debut in the history of Croatian cinema.” – Tomislav Šakić, Film presentation at Kino Tuškanec