An authentic and emotionally charged record of true events that took place during the Croatian War of Independence. With as many as eight Golden Arena Awards, Number 55 is the runaway victor of this year’s Pula Film Festival.
In the autumn of 1991, a small group of Croatian soldiers go on patrol in an improvised armoured vehicle. Soon, they are ambushed, the vehicle gets destroyed and they are forced to hide in a nearby house. Their resistance to the rebel Serbs, Yugoslav Army and Serbian Special Forces lasts for 24 hours, while their fellow combatants are trying to get them out.
»Having based the film on true events that had occurred in 1991, we wanted it to have a documentary feel but still didn’t wish it to resemble a TV news item. Through special light treatment, Pivčević (director of cinematography) aimed at creating an apparently defected picture, but one that would still look great. That is why nothing is over-emphasised or pronounced in the close-up, many things unfold somehow incidentally; what we found important was the spontaneity that is characteristic for such wartime situations.« (Kristijan Milić)
Kristijan Milić
Born in1969 in Zagreb, Milić studied Film and TV Directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. He first made several short films and in 2007 directed his first feature film, The Living and the Dead, which won as many as eight Golden Arenas at the Pula Film Festival, and subsequently seven international awards.
filmography (selection)
2002 Sigurna kuća (Safe House) (short)
2007 Zamka (Trap) (short)
2007 Živi i mrtvi (The Living and the Dead)
2010 Šampion (Champion) (short)
2013 Soba 3 (Room 3) (short)
2014 Broj 55 (Number 55/Številka 55)