BOYS WILL BE BOYS

ZEČJI NASIP

2025 / 88 min / color

Marko (Lan Novosel) lives with his parents and younger brother in a small Croatian village. Although he’s a gifted athlete and only getting better, he’s expected to become a car mechanic after finishing school, just like his dad. When his home is threatened by a flood, the locals start building embankments out of sandbags — and Marko’s life becomes increasingly unpredictable. Slaven, his old love, comes home for his father’s funeral, throwing Marko’s relationship with a local girl into crisis. Marko does his best to save his home from the flood and escape from the heightened feelings that are tormenting him. Croatian director Čejen Černić Čanak uses the motif of water taking over everything in its path to tell a story of forbidden desires that, once awakened, break down walls built on a foundation of oppressive, patriarchal norms that govern young masculinity.