Waiting for the Train

by Armin Čulić

Čakam na vlak, 2025, fiction, digital DCP, 2,00:1, 25, c, 8 min
Finished

At the railway station in Jesenice, Samir waits for a train he hopes will bring his father back from the war in Bosnia. It is 1992. Yugoslavia is collapsing, and the news reaching Slovenia is devastating . When Samir’s mother is told that her son is suspected of vandalism at the station, the day gradually opens into a landscape of grief, anger, and unspoken truths. Their return to the station leads to a confrontation in which the accusation becomes a catalyst for uncovering a painful truth about Samir’s absent 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) is a graduate film directing student at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT) in Ljubljana. In 2017 and 2022, he took part in the screenwriting workshop Kratka scena, and in 2023 he participated in the international Talent Short Film Lab, held in several modules, including in Cannes. Waiting for the Train is his first short fiction film as a director.

“I was born shortly after the Yugoslav wars, and visits to relatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina were raw and emotional. I learned about sorrow early on, but also about the solidarity of people shaped by war. I grew up in an apartment block in Jesenice, where people were not divided by origin or religion. My best friend was Serbian; we never argued about the war, but we often clashed over basketball players.”