Once Upon a Youth

“Imagine if we went back 30 seconds into the past. Imagine that! We just go back, for no reason whatsoever.” Croatia in the 1990s: Marko takes photos, Ivan wants to make movies. Together they make radio shows and play computer games, hang out with friends, listen to Fela Kuti, travel to the Croatian coast without money, or to Slovenia to see new movies – even if they have to spend a cold winter’s night in a worn-out Renault 4 without working heating. 

Croatia today: Ivan is alive, Marko is no more. A collaborative film is made 13 years after his death in which the story of Marko's life is told through the captivating black-and-white photos he took and off-screen narration from Ivan, Marko's sister, his girlfriends, and members of his clique at the time. This intimate story about a particular youthhood in 1990s Croatia is about abysses and a touching tribute to friendship and lightheartedness set against the backdrop of a destructive war that is omnipresent and yet not broached as a topic.