SUMMER TEETH

The island of Mala Glava does not exist in Croatia. The witty filmmakers populate this fictional place with deliberately cliched but immensely charming and colorful characters. Among them there are relaxed cops, used to the fact that nothing happens around them, and local old-timers, who keep the memory of Yugoslavia, and young people working part-time at the resort, and, of course, naive foreign tourists, attracted by the azure sea and the hot Adriatic sun. In a way, this is Croatia in miniature. Unsurprisingly, the island also hides a military secret. During the Yugoslav era, it was home to a military base where experiments were conducted to isolate the nationalist gene. Whether they succeeded or not, the eternal student Vatroslav will have to find out the hard way. Director Dražen Žarković cleverly plays with Balkan stereotypes, piles on the jokes and places his characters not so much in dangerous as in ridiculous and absurd situations. But behind all the fun lies a serious warning: nationalism and xenophobia is a straight path to hell.

Text: Ksenia Reutova

10.11.2024 | 21:00 | Stadthalle (original version with english subtitles + simultaneous translation into German)