Sunday, 25 October 2026 at 7 pm
Directed by: Nikola Tanhofer
Yugoslavia, Jadran film, 1958, b/w, 106'
Action drama and disaster film incorporating the fates of bus passengers and the drama of lorry drivers. These two vehicles collide on the motorway one rainy night, and only some of the bus passengers survive the crash. H8 is all that is known about the vehicle responsible for the accident; only part of its registration number.
The major traffic accident caused by the owner of a passenger car, in which witnesses, after his flight, remember only the initial digits of the H-8 registration plate, long occupied the Yugoslav public. Zvonimir Berković, Tomislav Butorac and Nikola Tanhofer devised a story based on the event, preserving the authenticity of the accident's details but creating the passengers as entirely fictional characters.
The result is a Croatian film classic which, like Golik's One Song a Day Takes Mischief Away, is equally adored by audiences and critics, who in a 2020 poll voted it the best Croatian film of all time. Besides the brilliant performances by prominent Yugoslavian actors and the meticulously crafted characters of ordinary “little” people, the most praised aspect is Nikola Tanhofer's virtuoso direction, dynamically realised within the confined spaces of the bus and lorry. (with shorter scenes set outdoors before the journey begins and during a rest stop).
The thriller-like tension is created by the passengers constantly changing their seats on the bus, meaning that until the end of the film it is not known which characters will die, with the seat changes also signifying shifts in the relationships between the characters. The exterior scenes of the vehicles are also notable and convincing, achieved using models (Tanhofer, a cinematographer by profession, enjoyed experimenting with film effects). At the Pula Film Festival, the film won the award for Best Film, Golden Arenes for screenplay, direction, supporting male role (Antun Vrdoljak) and supporting female role (Mia Oremović), and the Jelen Audience Award.
The Croatian Film Archive of the Croatian State Archives, with the help of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, digitally restored this film in 2020. The 2K resolution restoration was carried out at the Ater and Klik film studios in Zagreb. For the image restoration, the original negative was used, and for the sound restoration, the film's sound negative.
Admission to the screening on 25 October 2026 at 7 pm is free.