ZAGREB: The shooting of the Sci-Fi fantasy thriller Štriguni (working title) by Croatian director/screenwriter Aldo Tardozzi has started in Završje (Istria).
Kemal Rizvanović, Rade Šerbedžija, Tihana Lazović, Ozren Grabarić, and Jadranka Đokić are in the main cast, according to the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.
An old Istrian town has been transformed into a modern genetic laboratory called Origolab, which is researching the possibilities of extending human life. Ambitious biologist Boris, who gets a job at Origolab at the same time that a boy is kidnapped near the town, suspects that some of his colleagues are involved in experiments with missing children. A terrifying realisation comes to mind: Origolab is exploiting children to prolong the youth of wealthy clients.
The film is based on Istrian legends about štriguni (mythical creatures that steal people’s children), and it is produced by Croatia’s Produkcija Živa in collaboration with Deblokada from Bosnia and Herzegovina and in coproduction with De Productie from the Netherlands.
The Croatian Audiovisual Centre and Creative Europe MEDIA are backing the project.
Štrigun was developed at the European Genre Forum, organised by Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event of the Black Nights Film Festival, Imagine Fantastic Film Festival from Amsterdam, and Fantastic Zagreb Film Festival
The shooting started on 23 November 2025. The film is being shot in Istria and Zagreb surroundings in November – December 2025.
Production Information:
Producer:
Produkcija Živa (Croatia)
in collaboration with Deblokada (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Coproducers:
De Productie (the Netherlands)
Credits:
Director: Aldo Tardozzi
Scriptwriter: Aldo Tardozzi
DoP: Branko Linta
Sound: Marko Grgić
Set designer: Ivan Veljača
Costume designer: Ivana Zozoli Vargović
Makeup artist: Tina Jesenković
Main cast: Kemal Rizvanović, Rade Šerbedžija, Tihana Lazović, Ozren Grabarić, Jadranka Đokić
