The film will first be shown in Japan, the United States, and Italy as part of a package of the world's ten most important war movies chosen at the Moscow International Film Festival, Bulajic said this past week.

The Battle of the Neretva has been seen by some 550 million people around the world.

"It's great that people all over the world will again see, after so much time, the Battle of the Neretva, which was a turning point for Croatian cinematography of the time and created numerous possibilities for co-productions and cooperation with foreign partners," Bulajic said.

The Battle of the Neretva is one of the most watched European films in the world, and in Croatia alone it was seen by 1.4 million people. It has won 20 prestigious awards at international and domestic film festivals, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The film is based on the true events of World War II. The Battle of the Neretva was due to a strategic plan for a combined Axis powers attack in 1943 against the Yugoslav Partisans. The plan was also known as the Fourth Enemy Offensive which took place in the area of the Neretva river in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

At the 32nd Moscow International Film Festival the movie was selected from 120 competing films and included on a list of the ten most important films on World War II. The other films on the list include The Bridge on the River Kwai by David Lean, The Longest Day by Ken Annakin, Is Paris Burning? by Rene Clement, and Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun.

The Battle of the Neretva was shown on Croatian Television on Saturday night.