The Film Artists’ Association of Croatia has announced that The Blacks, directed by Zvonimir Juric and Goran Devic, has been selected as Croatia’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at next year’s Academy Awards.

The drama, about the crimes of a Croatian paramilitary formation in the civil war in former Yugoslavia, won best film awards at the Ljubljana International Film Festival, Belgrade Festival of Auteur Film and Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz, Austria.

The film also won best director and the FIPRESCI award at FilmFestival Cottbus in Germany.  

In Croatia, The Blacks was also awarded best director, best supporting actor and best sound design at the Pula Film Festival in 2009, while at this year’s Motovun Film Festival it received the newly established Bauer Award for the best film in theatrical distribution in former Yugoslavia.