Croatian Audiovisual Center Under Fire for Alleged “Censorship” of LGBT-Themed Oscar-Contending Film

Oscar season is almost upon us, which means that controversies surrounding the awards will become increasingly more reported on. The latest controversy is tied to an international award contender – ‘Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day’ or ‘Lijepa Večer, Lijep Dan’ in Croatian.

‘Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day’ (2024) is a Croatian drama directed by Ivona Juka, featuring actors like Emir Hadžihafizbegović and Elmir Krivalić. The film, selected as Croatia’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards, follows four friends who fought against the Nazi regime and later become famous artists.

Despite their past as war heroes, they face criticism from the government for their films and personal lives, leading to an agent being hired to undermine their work.

In the case of “life imitating art” the producer of Ivona Juka’s movie says that the Croatian governing body neglected its Oscar contender because of the film’s LGBTQ+ themes. The Croatian Audiovisual Center apparently provided much less funding to promote ‘Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day’ for the Oscars compared to last year’s contender.

The film received €69,550 ($73,250), which is less than half of what was given to ‘Traces’ (€153,000 or $161,140) for its campaign, even though it wasn’t nominated.

Anita Juka, the movie’s producer claims that the budget is “ridiculous” and discriminatory in nature:

Our film deals with difficult topics from our country’s past and features explicit LGBTIQ+ content, so I cannot shake the feeling that the Croatian Ministry of Culture, along with the Croatian Audiovisual Center, cut our budget with clear intent to weaken our chances in the Oscar run.

We are in a position where we need to cut back on the whole strategy and advertising, and this close to the actual [Oscar] voting. It’s ridiculous that the Croatian Audiovisual Center made such a disproportionate allocation of the promotional budget between a feature film and a short film.

The movie’s plot overall might be a sensitive topic in Croatia as the country is still reeling from the consequences that the communist regime left behind, the consequences that are still felt today.

The plot of the movie is based on the true stories of around 500 gay men who were persecuted and imprisoned under Tito’s regime in Yugoslavia. Some were sent to Barren Island (Goli Otok in Croatian), a penal colony for political prisoners.

Homosexuality was criminalized in 1959, with the ban lifted in Croatia and Slovenia in 1977, and later in the rest of Yugoslavia after the country broke up in the 1990s.

Croatian Audiovisual Center was reached for comments and responded by dismissing the claims of discrimination. A spokesperson for the Croatian Audiovisual Center told THR that the film’s producers applied for awards funding late, and only a few board members watched the film before approving the grant.

They acknowledged the funding was lower than in previous years but said it’s unclear if more money would have changed the Oscar results. Since Croatia became independent in 1991, it has never been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best International Feature category.

The Croatian Audiovisual Center also explained that for example, ‘The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent,’ received a higher grant because it won the Palme d’Or for best short film at Cannes and is a source of national pride for Croatia. They also mentioned that the film’s producers submitted a strong application early on.

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