Australian-Croatian documentary Countryman screens at the TEF Festival in Krk

Countryman (Zemljak), a documentary following a 10,000-kilometre journey across Australia — and the extraordinary discovery made along the way — will screen as part of the 4th TEF Festival of Tourism and Ethnographic Film, co-organised by DUBoak and the Rijeka Branch of the Croatian Heritage Foundation, on 23 September 2026 at 7pm at the DUBoak Interpretation Centre in Malinska, followed by a discussion with director Peter Pecotić, and again on 25 September at the Krk cinema. 

The film follows a journey undertaken in 1958 by Pecotić's late father, from Sydney to Cairns, to visit fellow Dalmatians from his father's home island of Korčula who were cutting sugar cane in North Queensland. On that journey, Pecotić met Joseph Williams Jungarrayi (Orlović), an artist and cultural storyteller from the Warumungu people of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory — and discovered a connection between them that neither had expected. Their friendship, and the realization that they share an unbreakable bond to the land of their ancestors, became the backbone of the film Countryman. 

“Our film began as an ethnographic odyssey across Australia, exploring the influence of Croatian heritage on Australian identity, but after meeting Joseph the story took on a life of its own,” Pecotić said. “We are sincerely grateful to TEF and to the Croatian Heritage Foundation's Rijeka branch for making these screenings possible.” 

Everyone is invited to attend the screenings and the discussion with the director.