Waiting for the Train

by Armin Čulić

Čakam na vlak, 2024, fiction, digital DCP, 2,00:1, 25, c, 8 min
Finished

At the railway station in Jesenice, Samir waits for the international train that might bring his father back from the Bosnian battlefield. It’s 1992, and the Yugoslav war is raging. Samir’s mother finds out that her usually well-behaved son has damaged a train. Meanwhile, Samir plays basketball with his friend Zoran. A simple lunch invitation from Zoran's father stirs painful memories of Samir’s absent father. At home, his mother insists they confront the accusations at the station, leading to deeper conversations about Samir’s actions and the truth about his father.

screenwriter
Armin Čulić
director
Armin Čulić
producer
Marko Kumer
director of photography
Tadej Pernuš
film editor
Neža Tretnjak
production designer
Maja Šavc
costume designer
Sandra Džajić
key make-up artist
Tanita Seifert
sound designers
Julij Zornik, Samo Jurca

featuring
Emil Kulović, Tamara Avguštin, Gaber K. Trseglav, Edo Kazić, Perica Jerković, Bernard Stramič, Armin Čulić

production
Zavod Rusaalka
co-funding
Slovenian Film Centre

Rusaalka
Marko Kumer
murch@rusaalkafilms.com

Armin Čulić (1995) holds a degree in nursing but is, above all, a cinephile, actor, screenwriter, and director. He is currently pursuing an MA in film directing at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana. He has worked on more than ten film projects in various capacities. In 2020, he made blackanimal69, an experimental film that premiered at the 23rd Festival of Slovenian Film and received numerous awards. In 2017, he was selected for the Kratka Scena screenwriting workshop with one of his first screenplays. At the 2022 edition of the same workshop, he developed the screenplay for his short film Waiting for the Train. In 2023, he was chosen for the international screenwriting workshop Talent Short Film Lab, which consisted of several modules, one of which took place in Cannes. Waiting for the Train is his directorial debut in the short fiction film format and is set to hit the festival circuit in 2025.

“I was born right after a long-lasting war had ended, and visits to my relatives in what was then Bosnia and Herzegovina were raw, intense, and emotional. In my early childhood, I came to understand what sadness meant. I grew up in an apartment block in Jesenice, where people were not divided by origin. We were connected, and life went on with a positive spirit. My best friend from childhood came from a Serbian family. We never argued about the war, but we had plenty of arguments about football and basketball players.”