The Priest’s Children scored the best Croatian film opening since the Country's independence (i.e. in the last 22 years), exceeding the number of viewers of the current theatre hit Sonja and the Bull by Vlatka Vorkapić (9,949 viewers), as well as of previous hit films such as Lara’s Choice: The Lost Prince by Tomislav Rukavina (11,105) and What Is a Man Without a Moustache? by Hrvoje Hribar (10,337). With its 33,759 viewers (comparing favorably to the 52,000 admissions for The Hobbit in its first weekend) and grossing three times more at the box-office than the current Croatian record-breaker (Sonja and the Bull), The Priest’s Children has conquered the title of the most successful Croatian film opening.

I am, naturally, thrilled that the over 30,000 people saw The Priest’s Children in Croatia on its first weekend. Many will say that the rates are not critical, but we are all aware of the fact that films are made with public money and therefore it is important that the Croatian public is showing an interest in them. The synergy between Sonja and the Bull, The Priest’s Children and later The Mystery Boy can establish the reputation of Croatian film as the most important cultural product in Croatia, said Vinko Brešan.

Judging by the promising beginning, 2013 might be the year of Croatian film – as announced by the first box-office statistics for The Priest’s Children, but also the fantastic rates achieved by Vlatka Vorkapić’s comedy, which still scores outstanding results (69,718 people so far).

Congratulations to Vinko and Vlatka and others who made these films. With equal joy I congratulate the actors, producers, filmmakers and especially Croatian distributers, broadcasters and media. I thank the Croatian Audiovisual Council for reaching the decisions that made this happen. In order to win the lottery, it is important to first buy the ticket: in our case, it is primarily important to make several good and interesting films for the audience. Excellent results achieved by these two Croatian films are not a matter of luck, but hard work by all who knew how to read and implement the National Programme in which rates and visibility are some of the most important goals. Croatian Television also helped tremendously by opening space to Croatian films this summer, as well as RTL and Nov@TV, who participated in the advertising campaigns, said Hrvoje Hribar, Head of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.

The protagonist of The Priest’s Children is a young and zealous priest don Fabijan (Krešimir Mikić), who arrives at a small island in Dalmatia as a part of his service. Concerned about the dramatic decline in birth rate, in the spirit of Catholic faith he launches an unusual action – piercing holes in new condoms! Two of the island’s ridicules soon join him at his home office – the local newsstand clerk (Nikša Butijer) and the crazed pharmacist (Dražen Kuhn), who join forces to quickly abolish all the existing birth control methods on the island. Their action results in a series of births and weddings, which catches the interest of the main bishop and motivates him to visit the island.

The film stars Krešimir Mikić, Nikša Butijer, Dražen Kuhn and Marija Škaričić, as well as Jadranka Đokić, Goran Bogdan, Lazar Ristovski, Zdenko Botić, Filip Križan and many others. The script and music were written by Mate Matišić, the cinematographer was Mirko Pivčević and the producer is Ivan Maloča.

The Priest’s Children was produced by Interfilm in co-production with Zillion Film from Belgrade. It was co-funded by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and supported by Eurimages. The film distributer is Continental Film.

Stills from the film are available for download here.