Film adaptations of Croatian literature are the strongest part of the country’s cinema

Film adaptations have become the most successful part of Croatian cinema, according to university lecturer, film critic and editor Zlatko Vidačković. He is a co-author of the new book “Croatian Literature, Film and Television,” published by the Metropolis Art Organization and North University.

The book examines how literary works move onto the screen. Vidačković, Rosanda Žigo and Katarina Marić look at Croatian literature adapted for both film and television, a subject that has gained fresh attention during a summer marked by a major adaptation of Homer’s “Odyssey.”

Contemporary Croatian writers such as Damir Karakaš, Balenović and Ante Tomić have often seen their works adapted. Vidačković says he would also like filmmakers to turn to major classic authors, naming August Šenoa and Miroslav Krleža as possibilities for future films or series.

Christopher Nolan’s “Odyssey,” one of the best-known works in world literature alongside the “Iliad,” has also kept alive the debate over how closely a film should follow its literary original, and whether complete fidelity is possible at all.