Alumni
NIGHT WAVES / Croatia
FILIP HERAKOVIÄ
Filip HerakoviÄ (Pula, 1989.) graduated in film and television directing from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. Films made during his studies participated in domestic and international film festivals.  He works as first and second assistant director and is currently preparing to direct the short film Crocodileâs Teeth, supported by Croatian Audiovisual Center.  Member of Croatian Directorâs Guild.
SYNOPSIS
DANIJEL is a young Uber driver, who moved to the coast in order to try to earn as much as he can during the tourist season. Being a stranger in the city he spends his days oriented on work, without many social contacts. He only speaks to IVA, a waitress in her mid-forties, who works in cafeÌ near the gas station where he likes to go. His brother BORIS also visits him, trying to make the most of the fact that Danijel is renting an apartment close to the beach. Boris tries to get Danijel into partying but is only moderately succesful.
One night, he receives a ride request from someone named Sara. He needs to pick her up near the gate of electronic dance music festival that takes place in old fort near the city.
He initially accepts the request but cancels it after he is offered more money by group of tourists in desperate need of a ride. The next day, he sees police vehicles parked in front of the gate of the festival and officers making inquiries and checking the surrounding area. A image of a crying girl being questioned by the police makes a real impression on him. Later that night, he reads news reports about a young Danish tourist named Sara who disappeared without trace and was last seen in the festival area. His mind becomes preoccupied with thoughts about her.Â
He is increasingly drawn to her life as he watches pictures and videos on her Facebook and Instagram profiles. Consequently, Danijel decides to join the search party as a volunteer. While searching, he spots her friends Andreas and Katrin who also joined. He is determined to make a contact with them. He ultimately succeeds, with Katrin even opening up to him about circumstances under which Sara dissapeared.Â
When Katrin doesn\’t show up on a search party, Danijel is furious. He breaks in their hotel room using keycard they once forgot in his car. He feels like he came to center of his obsession when he finds Sara\’s perfume and childhood photo in the room.Â
Ultimately, Sara\’s body is found and Danijel decides to leave town and go back home. His parents are surprised to see him back home. He realizes that his father has already made some plans with the money that Danijel earned. One evening, when burning weeds in the backyard, Danijel decides to destroy the money he earned by tossing it in the fire. Film ends with Danijel as he watches black smoke fill the sky.Â
DIRECTOR'S STATMENT
Night Waves is a detective story without detectives. It is a story of how by searching for someone else we end up finding ourselves.
The main character and the focal point of the story are Danijel, a young Uber driver who becomes preoccupied with the fate of a young Danish tourist who vanishes without a trace after he cancels her ride. Being a stranger in the city himself, he spends his days alone, focused only on work, and making as much money as he can, so the new obsession helps him to fill his days with something he feels is meaningful. He is drawn to finding more about her life and consequently questions his own attitude towards life.
Inspiration for this story came from my desire to tell a story set in an environment I feel deeply connected to. Having grown up in a town in which summers are overtaken by tourism, I wanted to explore some themes that are inherent to that setting. One of the more prominent ones is the life of seasonal workers, a group where our protagonist, Danijel, belongs. With a very small window to make a living, a few months during a tourist season, during which he is exclusively work-oriented, subdued to this impersonal driver, measured only by rating on his app and money he earns. Â The story in its core is about the identity crisis of an individual. That crisis can be brought upon wider economical factors, but can nevertheless be resolved only by the inner search for yourself.
Another side of this story is its detective part, the mystery surrounding the girlâs sudden vanishing. This film will take upon many elements inherent to genre films; plot centered around crime, voyeuristic use of subjective shots, tense atmosphere akin to those in crime, and thriller films, but in its essence will stay character drama.
Being born in Pula myself, I see the city as a perfect shooting location, especially as the city itself experienced an expansion of the electronic dance music festival scene, very similar to one described in the treatment. Â I want to create a powerful atmosphere in this film that stays with the viewer long after the film is finished. Itâs very important to convey the rich atmosphere of a hot, sultry, summer night to really bind all ingredients of this film together.