ORIGINAL TITLE

Poker

english titlE

Poker

director

Branko Schmidt

DIRECTORS BIO

Branko Schmidt (1957) was graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, with a degree in film and tv directing.
Throughout his career he has directed eleven feature films and lot of documentary films and tv series.

LOGLINE

The dead are dead

synopsis

The film theme is the struggle of a Croatian war veteran Hunta with his sense of guilt. It has been 25 years since, as a commanding officer, he refused to help save life of a wounded comrade-in-arms Džoker. Only Dinko left to help Džoker. Neither of them returned. Hunta is constantly guilt ridden. Although he knows Dinko is dead, he keeps seeing him in the city, rides with him in a car, talks to him ...

Film starts with a prologue and a shocking scene of a male body floating in a swimming pool of a luxurious villa. Who is that? Was he murdered? Or did he commit suicide?

The story goes back twenty five years.

In the end, the epilogue is in reality: Hunta gives back the gun and the badge to the fired security guard, he has forgiven him. He gets into a car; he is not surprised to see Dinko is already there. He will never get rid of him anyway (clear his conscience of his friend's death), except for the only possible way. Hunta orders the Driver to take him home, to his villa, where soon his own body will float. It becomes clear that the body from the beginning of the film is Hunta and that he committed suicide.

directors statement

The "tent" theme in the Poker motion picture is processed through the perspective of a "little Croatian veteran," from his microcosm filled with unfulfilled dreams about free and prosperous Croatia, the lack of enthusiasm and misunderstanding of the environment. Although the story also contains notes of criticism and does not treat the veterans with corny glorification, it affirms them with true empathy and humaneness, following their suffering and sacrifice (from war traumas, PTSD, to suicides, dystopia) and their state today.
The film evokes one of the most important events in the newer Croatian history (the protest/the tent) which started new society trends and that is why I decided to deal with this sensitive topic. Besides, the postwar dystopia of war veterans is a frequent topic of film and literature.

production company profile

TELEFILM D.O.O. Company Profile
Telefilm d. o. o. is a motion picture production and distribution company found in 2001.
The company has three full-time employees, hiring additional help on demand for certain projects.
The company owns an AVID editing system as well as a sound dubbing studio.

producers bio

Rođen 1945 godine u Zagrebu. Diplomirao 1968 god. ekonomiju na fakultetu u Zagrebu. Od 1970 do 1989 godine radio kao predstavnik za TV Beograd, TV Titograd i TV Pristinu u Republici Hrvatskoj. 1990 god. osnovao vlastitu produkcijsku kuću u Beču - Austrija. 2001.god. osniva i u Zagrebu vlastitu produkcijsku kuću —TELEFILM d.o.o. Preko nje počinje i s produkcijom dugometražnih igranih filmova.

MAIN FILMOGRAPHY & SELECTION IN MAIN FESTIVALS OF DIRECTOR

AGAPE / 2017 UNGIVEN I IMENA VIŠNJE (2015) VEGETARIAN CANNIBAL I Ljudožder vegetarijanac (2012) METASTASES / Metastaze (2009) THE MELON ROUTE / Put lubenica (2006) QUEEN OF THE NIGHT / Kraljica noći (2001) THE OLD OAK BLUES / Srce nije u moth (1999) CHRISTMAS IN VIENNA /1132ie u Beču (1997) VUKOVAR: THE WAY HOME / Vukovar se vraća kući (1994) DJUKA BEGOVIĆ / Đuka Begović (1991) SOKOL DID NOT LOVE HIM /Sokol ga nije volio) (1998)

MAIN FILMOGRAPHY & SELECTION IN MAIN FESTIVALS OF PRODUCER

2003. god. KONJANIK — režisera Branka Ivande 2006. god. PUT LUBENICA — re2isera Branka Schmidta 2009 god . METASTAZE re2isera Branka Schmidta 2011. god. UUDO2DER VEGETARIJANAC - re2isera Branka Schmidta 2013. god BROJ 55- redatelja Kristijana Miliea 2015.- god „MINISTARSTVO UUBAVI "-redatelja Pave Marinkovi6a 2016. god. AGAPE * redatelja Branka Schmidta

project type

Feature Film

shooting format

2.35

length

90 min

color / B&W

Color

based on

Original script

languages

Croatian

locations

Croatia

budget

900.000.- Euro

finance in place

500.000.- Euro

production company

Telefilm