In an interview with Southeast Europe: People and Culture, Branko Ištvancic said: “This film is the result of the work of Vid Bagura, the scriptwriter and myself. Vid likes wandering around and tracking down old folk customs, songs and dances throughout the country. He does research in places where people still remember the past. This is how the idea of shooting Izgubljeno blago, a documentary about Bukovica´s shepherds, started.”

The plot of the film evolves at a slow, authentic pace. Dara and Rade Mitrovic live in Medvida near Obrovac, Croatia. They still lead their lives using traditional means: Rade builds furniture the same way his father did, whilst Dara takes her flock of goats and sheep to the meadows every day. Dara has perfected the art of leading her flock and by always been attentive to her dog’s behaviour, can sense if there is ever a threat of wolves. However, the ability to guide the flock and to protect the animals is not a simple task.

The film portrays Dara’s efforts to find a lost sheep by investigating carefully where it could be. The film also presents Dara as a “good housewife” showing how she is responsible for taking care of the household. Lost treasure depicts the daily fight of the human being trying to survive in the country.

“We had seven days to shoot this documentary,” says Ištvancic. “We were lucky because the weather was constantly changing, so in the end it looked like we had been filming through the seasons. One day it was raining, on the second there was a snow storm, and on the third day we had sun."