Thirty-seven villages around Koprivnica in Croatia's Podravina region held more than 2,500 residents three decades ago. By the 2021 census, fewer than 1,000 people remained across them all, and in the smallest, Mali Botinovac, just six people are left. That quiet collapse is the subject of Disappearing Homeland, a documentary now in its final production stage.
The film is the work of geographer Vedran Šikić and director Vedran Štefan, who started out cycling through the region's smallest settlements and ended up spending two years documenting them. They visited 37 villages — all with populations under 50 — recording over 20 hours of footage and more than 25 interviews with the people still living there. The result pairs those personal stories with footage of Podravina's countryside, aiming to show both the demographic decline and what these communities still have to offer.
Money is the immediate hurdle. After the Croatian Audiovisual Centre's public funding call didn't come through, the filmmakers turned to crowdfunding on the Bona Fides Invest platform, hoping to raise €15,000. The cash would pay for professional editing, an original score, sound design and animated historical maps. Pledges start at €10, and every supporter's name goes into the end credits. The City of Koprivnica, the municipalities of Rasinja, Novigrad Podravski and Legrad, and the company Hartmann have already backed the project.
The plan is to finish the film in 2027, with festival and TV distribution plus free open-air screenings in the villages themselves. A photography exhibition is set for spring 2027.
For travellers, this is a window into a side of Croatia most visitors never see — the flat, rural north near the Drava river, far from the Dalmatian coast. Podravina's depopulation isn't unique in Europe, but it's rarely documented this closely, and the film could shape interest in a region that already has reasons to visit: Koprivnica's old town, local cuisine, and quiet cycling roads linking villages where traditions are fading fast. Anyone who cares about rural Europe — or wants to see a community documentary come to life — has until the campaign closes to chip in.
Story via Croatia Week.
