Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.5673/sip.64.2.2
The Affective Dimension of Home in Croatian Feature Films on the Croatian War of Independence
Tatjana Lacko
; University of Zagreb, Academy of Dramatic Art, Department of Scenography, Croatia
Nevena Škrbić Alempijević
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Croatia
Abstract
This article explores the affective dimension of home in Croatian feature films addressing the
Croatian War of Independence. Drawing on ethnological and cultural anthropological approaches
to space, home, and affect, the authors examine the ways in which filmic representations
of home participate in the articulation of the affects of dwelling in wartime and post-war
contexts. Methodologically, the research is based on the analysis of selected Croatian feature
films released between 1991 and 2023, with particular attention paid to the visual, auditory,
and narrative devices through which domestic spaces are constructed in film. The interpretative
framework combines insights from the anthropology of home, affect studies and film theories
on emotions and affects in cinema. The analysis focuses on two interrelated affective components
of cinematic home: the production of a sense of domesticity and the production of the
affective atmosphere in domestic space. The results show that, in the analyzed films, home
transcends its function as a site of dwelling and emerges as a significant symbolic and affective
locus of collective and individual experiences. The authors conclude that filmic representations
of home simultaneously reflect social processes associated with the war and its aftermath and
contribute to the construction of cultural imaginaries of home and homeland within wartime
conditions in wartime and post-war contexts. The article thus affirms that the filmic space of
home constitutes a productive analytical framework for understanding contemporary social
and cultural processes in Croatia.
Keywords
anthropology of home; affect; Croatian feature film; Croatian War of Independence
Hrčak ID:
352848
URI
Publication date:
21.10.2026.
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