What Wind Beneath the Wings is about
Wind Beneath the Wings is a 2026 Croatian short drama that centers on two people who have, by almost every measure, stopped fighting for themselves. Anica is sixty, undergoing chemotherapy she doesn't want, and finding her daughter's well-intentioned care suffocating — an intrusion on the last scraps of autonomy she's trying to hold onto. Vlatko is also sixty, an alcoholic who's been quietly written off by his coworkers and, it seems, by himself. They separated long ago. They share mutual contempt. And yet both are drifting toward the same unnamed edge, each searching for someone — anyone — who will hear them out. That's the whole premise. Not a twist, not a thriller. Just two people trying not to disappear.
How Wind Beneath the Wings came together
Produced by Eclectica, Wind Beneath the Wings arrives in 2026 under the direction of Sonja Tarokić, whose name is attached to the project according to its Letterboxd listing. At just 26 minutes, it sits firmly in short-film territory — which, frankly, is a format that rewards exactly this kind of material. Short films can hold a single emotional note without needing to resolve it neatly, and the premise here — estrangement, illness, addiction, dignity — doesn't lend itself to tidy endings anyway.
Eclectica as a production banner suggests an independent, likely festival-circuit orientation, though no confirmed premiere dates or festival selections have been publicly documented at the time of writing. Hard to say if that's because the film is still making its way through the circuit or simply hasn't been widely indexed yet. There are no aggregated scores on Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic as of now, and trade coverage from outlets like Variety or The Hollywood Reporter hasn't surfaced. The IMDb page exists but carries no rating yet — not unusual for a short film this early in its release window.
What is documented is the creative intent. The title itself carries a certain irony worth sitting with. "Wind Beneath My Wings" is a song most people associate with Bette Midler's 1988 recording — a ballad about gratitude, about someone who lifts you up without recognition. The film's title seems to be in conversation with that idea, except here the lifting is complicated, the gratitude is absent, and the wings are clipped. That's not an accident.
Cast details haven't been widely published, which is common for short-form productions outside major studio systems. Tarokić's directorial approach, based on what the premise signals, appears to favor restraint over spectacle — two characters, two arcs, one very short runway to make you feel something.
The performances that anchor Wind Beneath the Wings
What's striking is how much the premise trusts its characters to carry the weight without plot machinery doing the heavy lifting. Anica's resistance to chemotherapy isn't framed as irrational — it's framed as a woman who still wants to be the author of her own life, even if that story is ending. Her daughter's care reads to her as control. That's a specific, painful, recognizable dynamic, and it doesn't require explanation to land.
Vlatko is the counterweight. An alcoholic loner who's been written off — not dramatically, not in some explosive falling-out, but quietly, the way people get written off when they stop being useful or present. His colleagues have simply moved on. He has too, in the worst possible direction. The contempt between him and Anica isn't the hot kind. It's the cold, settled kind that comes from years of disappointment calcifying into indifference.
I keep coming back to the phrase "drawn-out paths toward oblivion" in the film's own synopsis — because it's doing real work. It's not saying these characters are suicidal exactly. It's saying they've stopped resisting the drift. And the film's central question seems to be whether one human connection, however unlikely, can interrupt that drift.
For a 26-minute film, that's an ambitious emotional target. The craft required to get there — in performance, in pacing, in the specific silences between dialogue — is considerable. Short drama at this level lives or dies on the actors' faces. Everything else is scaffolding.
Where to stream Wind Beneath the Wings online
Wind Beneath the Wings is currently available on major OTT platforms, and the quickest way to find out exactly where is the "Where to Watch" widget at the top of this page, which Movie OTT updates in real time as availability changes across services. Streaming rights for short films can shift faster than for features, so checking the widget before you search manually saves time.
For readers who follow international short-form drama across multiple platforms, movieott.com tracks streaming availability across services like Netflix, Prime Video, and others, making it a useful first stop rather than opening six different apps. Wind Beneath the Wings, given its Croatian production origins and independent pedigree, may appear on platforms with strong arthouse or international catalogs — but the widget will tell you exactly where it's landing right now.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Who directed Wind Beneath the Wings (2026)?
Wind Beneath the Wings was directed by Sonja Tarokić, as documented in the film's Letterboxd listing. Tarokić is credited as the director of this Croatian short drama produced by Eclectica.
Q: How long is Wind Beneath the Wings?
The film has a runtime of 26 minutes, placing it squarely in short-film territory. That brevity is intentional — the story's emotional scope is concentrated rather than sprawling, which suits the material.
Q: Where can I watch Wind Beneath the Wings?
Wind Beneath the Wings is available on major OTT services. Movie OTT maintains a live "Where to Watch" widget at the top of this page that reflects current platform availability, which is the most reliable way to find it without guessing.
Q: Is Wind Beneath the Wings based on a true story?
There's no public documentation indicating the film is based on specific real events. The characters — Anica and Vlatko, both sixty, both navigating different forms of self-destruction — feel drawn from observed life rather than a single source, but that's an inference from the material, not a confirmed production note.
Q: What is the tone of Wind Beneath the Wings?
The film is a drama with no apparent genre elements beyond its core character study. Based on its premise, the tone is quiet, unsentimental, and focused on two people in late-life crisis — not a feel-good narrative, but not nihilistic either. It's interested in the will to live, which implies there's something worth holding onto.
Who should watch Wind Beneath the Wings
Wind Beneath the Wings is for viewers who don't need a film to be comfortable to find it worthwhile. At 26 minutes, it asks very little of your time and quite a lot of your attention — the kind of short drama that works best when you're not half-watching something else. Fans of European arthouse, character-driven short fiction, or stories about aging with dignity will find the premise immediately recognizable. If you track this kind of cinema, Movie OTT is a good place to monitor where it surfaces as distribution expands. Quiet film. Real stakes.