Dead Night
view in croatian- 2011
- 27'44"
- color
- Orig. Title: Mrtva noć
In Rašćani, a group of hamlets between Vrgorac and Imotski, there is a paraliturgical folk custom of bell chiming to honour the deceased on the Night of the Dead, between All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. The residents manually pull the ropes to ring the bells of the parish church, creating a sound equal to the one which accompanies a burial procession. However, on this night the bells chime in pair, their ropes pulled by anyone – the only thing important is that the chime never dies out.
- Director
- Branko Ištvančić
- Screenplay
- Aleksej Pavlovsky
- Cinematography
- Branko Cahun
- Editing
- Mladen Radaković
- Music
- Pere Ištvančić
- Sound Design
- Robert Stanić
- Producer
- Damir Čengić
- Production
- Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT)
Branko Ištvančić (1967) graduated in film and TV directing from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb in 1999. Deeply rooted in the Croatian documentary tradition, Ištvančić pays special attention to the humane, but also uses humour in the treatment of his subjects. His documentaries include the award-winning short film Wellman (2003) and the critically acclaimed The Cormorant Scarecrow (1998). His first feature film The Ghost in the Swamp (2006) was Croatia’s second-highest grossing film at the box office in 2006 and marked the resurgence of interest in home-produced feature films for children.