Croatian Film Association Launches ‘Without Barriers’ Programme

The new programme represents the first step towards the systematic inclusion of blind and partially sighted people, as well as Deaf and hard of hearing people, in the regular film programme of Tuškanac Cinema

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On 2 July, the Croatian Film Association launched a new programme entitled Without Barriers, making selected film titles accessible for the first time to blind and partially sighted people, as well as Deaf and hard of hearing people. The programme is aimed at removing sensory and social barriers and creating conditions in which the cinema experience becomes accessible to a broad and diverse audience.

The first screening within the programme took place on 2 July at 9 p.m. at the Cultural Information Centre (KIC). On that occasion, the modernist classic The Birch Tree (Breza, 1967), directed by Ante Babaja, was screened with audio description for blind and partially sighted audiences and standardised subtitles for Deaf and hard of hearing audiences. Admission to the screening was free.

Based on the novella of the same name by Slavko Kolar, The Birch Tree tells the moving story of Janica, a gentle village girl whose life is tragically destroyed by primitive living conditions and the harshness of human relationships. The film is distinguished by the powerful performances of Fabijan Šovagović and Velimir “Bata” Živojinović, as well as the understated appearance of Slovenian model Manca Košir. At the 1967 Pula Film Festival, it received the Silver Arena, the Golden Arena for Best Actor, awarded to Bata Živojinović, and the award for cinematography, presented to Tomislav Pinter.

By introducing the Without Barriers programme, the Croatian Film Association continues its long-standing efforts to develop audiences and ensure access to film content for different groups of viewers. For the past ten years, the Association has organised a Sensory Screenings programme intended for children with sensory disabilities and their families, making it one of the pioneers of this model of film exhibition in Croatia.

The new programme is a natural continuation of this work and the first step towards the systematic inclusion of blind and partially sighted people, as well as Deaf and hard of hearing people, in the regular film programme of Tuškanac Cinema.

The audio description for the films was produced by the Centre for Audio Description, a business specialising in the production and adaptation of audiovisual content owned by Antonio Pavlović, while the standardised subtitles for Deaf and hard of hearing audiences were prepared by the Zaželi Association.

The Croatian Film Association points out that the Without Barriers programme is part of the project Film Programmes Beyond Tuškanac Cinema: Audiences at the Centre, implemented with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.

– The Without Barriers programme is part of the Croatian Film Association’s project Film Programmes Beyond Tuškanac Cinema: Audiences at the Centre, implemented with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia. Through the Tuškanac on Tour programme, we will gradually seek to include films with audio description for blind and partially sighted people and subtitles adapted for Deaf and hard of hearing people in our regular programme. The pace at which these screenings are introduced will depend on the availability of screening slots at the institutions we visit, as well as on the financial resources secured for the implementation of the programme. The next adapted screening is planned for the autumn, when we will present Rajko Grlić’s film Once Upon a Time There Was a Country (Samo jednom se ljubi). From 2027 onwards, our goal is to have at least one film per month in our regular programme adapted for blind and partially sighted people, as well as Deaf and hard of hearing people – the Croatian Film Association said.