Küstenparadies Kroatien

From a bird's eye view, the film approaches Split, the centre of central Dalmatia. The origins of the old town date back to the third century. Melodious a cappella singing can be heard from winding alleys, then the camera discovers a group of singing women: Adela Zoric and her friends are rehearsing near Diocletian's Palace for their next performance. They are singing klapa, the polyphonic song that originates from the region around Split. The nine women are one of the few female klapa choirs in Croatia. The island of Brac is only an hour's boat ride from Split. Like everywhere in Dalmatia, the landscape is dominated by stone. But on Brac it is special. The white, marble-like limestone is quarried in more than 20 quarries and embellishes representative buildings all over the world, such as the White House in Washington. Fifteen-year-old Tonci Nizetic has always been fascinated by stone: so it stands to reason that he attends the island's famous school of stonemasonry and would later like to work as a restorer. Further south in the bay off Split, the artist Zoran Tadic collects what the fishermen throw overboard as rubbish every day: Bones and bones. Tadic works exclusively with organic material. In his open-air studio he makes sculptures and jewellery from animal skulls, fish vertebrae, fur, wood and stone. In this way, he breathes new "life" into seemingly dead matter. An unusual art, which at first irritates the viewer, but then draws him under its spell. For a long time, the interior of the island of Hvar was characterised by lavender cultivation - Hvar was considered the "blue island". But due to the dry summers, the harvests have been burnt again and again - today hardly any lavender is grown. The small mountain village of Velo Grablje was once the largest lavender oil producer in Europe - today six people still live there. The young graphic artist Ivan Zaninovic is trying to save the place of his childhood by renovating old buildings and organising festivals, hoping to give the village a new future. The waters around Vis are known for great abundance of fish - traditional researcher Josko Bozanic is investigating the shipbuilding skills of the seafarers in the small village of Komiza . Bozanic built a replica of the Falkusa, the traditional boat of the Dalmatian fishermen. The first trip in spring is an adventure for the crew, but also a test of endurance for the material.