Train in the Snow

A class from a small village travels to the city to see a printing works. On the way back their teacher falls ill, the children have to carry on alone, and then the train is stopped by a snowstorm. Adapted from Mato Lovrak's novel, this 1976 film became one of the best loved children's pictures in Croatian cinema. Mate Relja shot it across three years, Arsen Dedic wrote the score, and Slavko Stimac, who plays Ljuban, went on to a long career in the region's films. It was the first children's film to win the audience prize at the Pula festival. What it is about is not adventure but a group of children learning to hold together with no adult in the carriage.