Written by Natasa Drakulic and directed by Predrag Antonijevic, Dara of Jasenovac follows a little girl named Dara, played by Biljana Cekic, during the Holocaust in the Balkans to the infamous extermination camp complex Jasenovac — coined as Balkan’s Auschwitz. The story takes place in the Nazi-occupied Croatian Ustasha regime “NDH” in former Yugoslavia during WWII. They are told through the eyes of Dara, who the Nazis sent as a child during the Holocaust, ruled by sadistic camp commander Maks Luburic until the liberation. It is the first modern WWII movie that takes place in or shows the NDH-era camp.

It begins during the summer of 1942 when the family of twelve-year-old Dara is taken away and separated into two concentration camps. She witnessed all the horrors of the Ustashe regime. After they kill her brother and mother, she tries to save her younger brother’s life, hoping that her father is still alive.

Probably one of the most overlooked parts of history, Germans do not run Jasenovac, but the fascist Ustase runs the complex. He brutally murdered Jews, Serbs and Roma people, which included many women and children. As unspeakable atrocities unfold, Dara must summon tremendous courage to protect her infant brother from a terrible fate. At the same time, she safeguards her own survival and plots a precarious path toward freedom. The movie is the Serbian selection for the Academy Awards for Best International Feature.

The movie has English subtitles, and the rest of the talented cast includes Vuk Kostic, Natasa Ninkovic, and Nikolina Jelisavac.