The Golden Years

A Croatian cinema classic from 1994, THE GOLDEN YEARS is having a retrospective screening at this year’s Adelaide Croatian Film Festival 2022.

Brothers Jakov and Mislav Petras were student participants in the “Croatian Spring”of 1971 - a precursor rebellion against the repressive Yugoslav government of the day.

The uprising’s failure causes Jakov to flee abroad and sees his brother Mislav imprisoned.

Sunčana, a girl with whom both brothers were in love and who was also an active student demonstrator, dies in suspicious circumstances soon afterwards. In 1990, Jakov Petras returns to Zagreb and begins to probe the facts into Sunčana’s mysterious death.

The deep rift between the two brothers may become insurmountable after the results of his investigation lead to explosive revelations of lies and betrayal.

Writer/Director Davor Žmegač captures the fervid events of 1971 and brings us to the fateful year of 1991 in which Croatian aspirations for freedom and self-determination finally become realized but not without great cost, both collectively and individually, to the Croatian people.