How Come It’s All Green Out Here?
DUTCH PREMIERE
A filmmaker accompanies his father to Croatia to rebury his refugee grandmother, on a journey that unsettles his memories of family, home and the past.
Nikola, a 34-year-old film director expecting his first child, dreams of converting an old van into a camper and travelling with his growing family. Instead, he sets off with his 74-year-old father, Mirko, to return his late grandmother’s remains to her village in Croatia, which she fled during the war. Over the course of one quiet weekend, Nikola revisits the family house he last saw as a child and discovers how little the place resembles his memories. What begins as a burial journey becomes an intimate reflection on fathers and sons, exile, home, and the stories families construct about their past.
SCREENINGS
Thursday 5 November 21:00
Saturday 7 November 19:00
Director Nikola Ležaić will be present for a Q&A on 5 November
Programme section(s): Focus: Roots | Out of Focus: Serbia | Cinema Current
Original title: Kako je ovde tako zeleno? | Year: 2025 | Runtime: 114′
Country: Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria | Language: Serbian, Croatian | Subtitles: English
Cast: Filip Đurić, Izudin Bajrović, Stojan Matavulj, Snježana Sinovčić Šiškov, Leon Lučev
Director: Nikola Ležaić | Production: Marija Lero, Nikola Ležaić – Qče; Nukleus Film, PremierStudio, Forgrade | Screenplay: Nikola Ležaić | Cinematography: Aleksandar Pavlović SAS | Editing: Jan Klemsche
FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION)
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 2025 – World Premiere | FilmFestival Cottbus, 2025 – Dialogue Prize for Intercultural Communication | Montenegro Film Festival, 2025 – Best Director | Pula Film Festival, 2025 – Best Croatian Minority Coproduction, Best Cinematography in a Minority Coproduction, Best Leading Actor in a Minority Coproduction | Sofia International Film Festival, 2026
DIRECTOR’S BIO
Nikola Ležaić (1981) is a film director, screenwriter and producer. He graduated in film directing from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. His directorial debut Tilva Roš (2010) premiered in Sarajevo, where it won the Heart of Sarajevo, and had its international premiere in Locarno. It was nominated for the best debut at the 2011 European Film Awards. In 2014, he produced the film Disobedient, which premiered at Sundance. Nikola directed over two hundred music and commercial videos. How Come It’s All Green Out Here? is his second feature film.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
I didn’t really worry about distinguishing autobiography from fiction. Everything that happens in the film could have happened – maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. I tried to be specific, but I definitely invented some things unconsciously. It was important to stay true to the events, but even more important to stay true to what I felt. In that sense, I wasn’t afraid to fictionalize certain parts, because I knew they were coming from the same emotional place. Writing was like reconstructing my own life – like I already had all the pieces laid out in front of me, and I just needed to arrange them into a film.
