Between November 12th and 20th, the cinemas Europa and Tuškanac will be venues for the 14th Zagreb Film Festival, featuring the most exciting feature-length and short films from all over the world. Given that the festival has focused on debut films since the very beginning, audiences will once again have the opportunity to see the best films by authors whose first and second films will be competing for the festival’s main award the “Golden Pram”, while the nationally competitive programme, “Checkers”, will present an array of new names on the Croatian film scene. The main, international, competitive program will feature a screening of the debut feature length film “Ne gledaj mi u pijat” (Quit Staring at my Plate) by Croatian director Hana Jurišić. The film won her the FEDEORA award for the best European film at the 73rd Venice Film Festival. The director’s short films have already been screened at the Zagreb Film Festival, and she won the “Golden Pram” in 2012 for her film “Terarij” (Terrarium).
Apart from films by Croatian filmmakers, particular attention is also paid to Croatian film co-productions with authors from other countries. This part of the festival will include the “The House of Others,” a successful joint project by Russian, Spanish and Croatian authors which was directed by Georgian director Russudan Glurjidze, while films from the program “Together Again” will be competing for the “Golden Bicycle” award. This program will feature screenings of hitherto seen films by authors who have somehow grown with the Zagreb Film Festival, such as Romanian director Christi Puiu and his deadly serious comedy “Sieranevada.” With his short film, “Cigarettes and Coffee,” the author won the “Golden Pram” award at the 2nd edition of the Zagreb Film Festival, while two years ago his excellent debut film, “Stuff and Dough,” was screened as part of the “My First Film” program. New Zealander Taika Waititi is also returning to the Zagreb Film Festival for the fourth time, and continues showing his quirky comedies including “Eagle vs. Shark,” “Boy” and “What we do in the Shadows.”
Comedy and laughter will also mark the concurrent film program, “Comedies from the East of Europe,” with the very topical “Balkan Spy” by directors Dušan Kovačević and Božidar Nikolić. The film, which was made in 1984, is about the search for “invisible enemies.” It is still among the most popular comedies in the region. Apart from that, the festival will also feature a diverse selection of documentary films in the so-called mockumentary program. Therefore, fans of various film genres are bound to find plenty of reasons to visit the Zagreb Film Festival.
