There isn’t much of a tradition of drive-in cinema in Croatia, to be honest. So if that’s something you like, you really should go see a movie from your car in the next two weekends.
Growing up in Croatia, we just basically saw them in American (and other foreign) movies, and in the past few years, just as the drive-in cinemas are closing everywhere across the world, they started appearing in Zagreb several times a year. One of those drive-in cinemas that have been around for several years, and attract significant numbers of movie-drivers (see what I did there?) is DriveInKino Zagreb, organized by Croatian Student Organisation is taking place at the same old place, near Kockica (see map below) in the two following weekends.
Movies are projected to an Airscreen movie canvas with a diagonal of 12 meters, and you can enjoy the movies from your car, and you will be able to hear the sound through your car’s speakers, emitted on a dedicated FM frequency. The entrance to all projections is free, limited to how many cars can fit in the parking lot. On each day you can bring your car to the lot at 6:30 pm, additional events will start at 7 pm and the movies themselves will start at 9 pm (when the sun is down, obviously).
What are the additional events, you may ask? On the first day, Saturday April 28, a stand-up comedy by Studio Smijeha will take place, and on Sunday a special edition of one of many pub quizzes in Zagreb will happen, movie and TV themed, of course. Entrance fee for that is 60 kuna per team, 2 to 4 players. In the second week, on Saturday you’ll be able to see the dance troupe Plesni punktovi perform, and on the last day lanterns will be released, to celebrate love and the movie shown.
And, of course, the movies! There will be four, firstly on Saturday, 28th, Baby Driver, a 2017 action crime film. The plot follows Baby, a music lover who is coerced to work as a getaway driver for kingpin Doc. The film also stars Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James as Baby’s love interest, and Eiza González, Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx as criminals who work for Doc.
On Sunday, the 29th, one of the best Croatian movies from the last decade “Ustav Republike Hrvatske” (translated as “The Constitution“). It’s a 2016 drama directed by Rajko Grlić, starring Nebojša Glogovac, Ksenija Marinković, Dejan Aćimović, and Božidar Smiljanić. The film is a story of four people who live in the same apartment building in downtown Zagreb, but are wary of each other because they don’t share the same ethnic and religious backgrounds and sexual preferences, but mostly focuses on one of them, a radical right-wing high school professor and a transvestite.
On the second weekend, on Saturday, a timeless classic will be shown: Disney’s Lion King. You all know the plot, you’ve seen it, but it’s really worth seeing once more. We’ve not been able to confirm if it’s going to be the original version, or Croatian-synchronized version, but wouldn’t rule out the possibility that you’ll have the option of listening to either of the audio feeds.
On the fourth, last day, on Sunday May 6th, an Academy Award winner in the category of director 5 other categories in 2017, one of the biggest movie hits of 2016, La La Land. It’s a musical romantic comedy that stars Ryan Gosling as a jazz pianist and Emma Stone as an aspiring actress, who meet and fall in love in Los Angeles while pursuing their dreams.
So, basically, there’s no excuse for not coming to at least one of the movies near Sava in Zagreb and have that experience. Just remember to bring mosquito repellent with you!
