Movies

In man's struggle for survival, the unique art of building Gru - wooden cranes for ships on the northwestern coast of Istria - was developed.

An ingenious way was devised to raise the boats above the sea surface and store them on wooden poles - grue. The method of making gru was passed down for generations within the local fishing community and has been preserved to this day. Grue were built individually or in series. Around the coast of the city of Umag, the Adriatic Sea is shallowest, rocky and in a place where there were no naturally protected coasts and safe harbors. Fishermen had to ingeniously shelter and protect their boats (most often the wooden Batana boat) from the strong southwest wind Garbina, which normally threatens and destroys the coast and harbors of northwestern Istria. This is a film about local fishermen, their community and a disappearing tradition. It is a story about the symbiosis between Gru and Batana, as well as between fishermen and their fishing stock.