This year’s 13th edition of Zagreb Film Festival, in addition to its many film treats and attractive side programs, features a few important changes: instead of October, this year ZFF takes place in November and lasts nine days!
Zagreb Film Festival this year for the first time, instead of traditional October, takes place in November, more accurately 14-22 November, on the usual city locations (cinemas Europa and Tuškanac, MSU, Zagreb Dance Centre etc.). Also, the festival this year takes one day longer, which means more screenings, films and programs.
From Wednesday, 20 May, films can be submitted for the Festival competition; the application deadline is 15 August for international competition, and 20 September for Checkers section competition. The competition, as usual, includes debut (first and second) feature and short fiction films. This year’s ZFF competition focuses on fiction films, while documentary films will be shown only in off-competition sections. Croatian filmmakers can submitt their films up to 30 minutes of duration or the Checkers competition, by 20 September. The Book of Rules and an online application form are available on the official Festival website: Book of rules / application form.
Since the very beginning, Zagreb Film Festival has been programatically focused on the presentation and promotion of debut films and new filmmakers. The main festival competition has so far included directors like Anton Corbijn, Steve McQueen, Radu Jude, Xavier Dolan, Andrei Zviagintsev, Uberto Pasolini, Alexandros Avranas, even George Clooney. The Checkers competition introduced and acquainted the broader audience with new names on the local film scene, later acknowledged not only among national filmmakers, but also on the international festival scene (e.g. Matija Kluković, Juraj Lerotić, Sara Hribar, Hana Jušić, Ivan Sikavica, Sonja Tarokić, Tin Žanić etc.), with a systematic promotion of Croatian short film. Checkers are celebrating their 10th birthday this year with additional events and activities.
Film devotees will surely be thrilled at the news that this year we are celebrating the 100th birthday and 30th death anniversary of Orson Welles with a retrospective of his films, as this director relates a large part of his work to Croatia. The film program will be accompanied by an exhibition and a publication of a collection of Orson Welles’ interviews to the local media.
My First Film, as selected by film critic Nenad Polimac, this year includes debut films by acknowledged Bosnian and Herzegovinian directors. The Great Five, traditionally, comprises five select works from five of the finest European cinemas (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain), and this year’s categories Bib for Kids and Bib PLUS will present films for children and young audience.
The Industry section, intended for educational and practical contents, is organising a series of workshops, lectures, panels and other programs intended for film professionals, young filmmakers, young filmmakers and all the interested participants, covering different aspects of film production. Industry includes the 4th edition of My First Script workshop, organised for filmmakers writing a script for their first feature film. The open call for the workshop is open and closes on 15 July, and information regarding the application procedure can be found on this link. The three previous editions included altogether 18 projects from different European countries, many of them on the safe road of realisation. For example, this year, Croatian projects The Staff Room by Sonja Tarokić and Garbura by Josip Žuvan (2013 participants), as well as the script of The Katanga Man by last year’s participant Radislav Jovanov Gonzo, were allocated funds by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre for project development.
Besides, an open call for scholarships for an MFA program of the prestigious Sarajevo-based film.factory, whose curriculum was designed by one of the greatest directors of today, Béla Tarr, was recently opened. The scholarship covers the entire tuition for a two-year course (amounting to € 25,000), and ZFF is awarding it (in association with film.factory) to one applicant from Croatia.
The general sponsor of the festival is Croatian Telecom, and the festival is financially backed by City of Zagreb Office for Culture, Croatian Audiovisual Centre and Creative Europe – MEDIA Sub-program.
The festival is organised by Zagreb Film Festival Artistic Organization.