The main program of the 18^th Zagreb Film Festival from Thursday to Friday brings us a gripping story about growing up and emancipation in Slalom by French director Charlène Favier. In the Together Again program we have Ritesh Batra with Photograph and Carlos Marques-Marcet with The Days That Come, while in The Great 5 program we’re watching Undine, a new film by Christian Petzold. All the films are available from Thursday, November 12, from 6 PM to Friday, November 13, 6 PM and will be screened at www.kinoeuropa.hr platform, except the films from the Checkers program which are available at www.croatian.film.

The main feature film program continues with Slalom, a story about a talented 15-year-old skier who’s facing inappropriate advances from her coach. Dealing with the topic of sexual abuse, Charlène Favier tells a layered and gripping story about women growing up and emancipation, dealing with helplessness and finally taking control. The film was in the official selection of Cannes 2020.

In the Together Again program we have Photograph, the fourth film of Ritesh Batra, winner of the Golden Pram for The Lunchbox (ZFF 2013). Following a fictional relationship of a street photographer with a stranger, Batra has, inspired by Bollywood musicals and Shakespeare’s comedies, brought a different version of love in the contradictory world of urban India. In this program, we’ll also see The Days That Come, a new film by Spanish director Carlos Marquest-Marcet, screened at Rotterdam and San Sebastián. It’s an authentic story about pregnancy and fears about new life in which a camera follows the real pregnancy of the actors for nine months.

Undine, the latest film by German director Christian Petzold, an old acquaintance of ZFF, is in The Great 5 program. In this modern reinterpretation of the Little Mermaid, an urban young historian rejects the role of a rejected, helpless woman, and falls in love again. The film premiered at Berlinale, where Paula Beer was awarded the Silver Bear for best actress and it’s currently nominated in the “European Oscars” for best film and best actress.

In Checkers, a program dedicated to domestic short films, we have Tenant, a new film by Borna Zidarić, and Forest, a debut film by Sara Grgurić. In the international competition of short films we have Deer, a film by Hungarian director István Hevesi, co-produced with Croatia, and Motorway 65 by Greek director Evi Kalogiropoulou, selected for this year’s Cannes.

We have a new hit for the young ones in the KinoKino festival. The Castle by Lithuanian director Lina Lužytė is a coming of age drama about the teenager Monika, who wants to make her musical dreams a reality no matter the obstacles.

In the side program Festivals in the Spotlight we have a selection of short films brought to us by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). From the Human Rights Festival we have one of the most successful documentaries of all time. Honeyland won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, as well as Academy Award nominations for best documentary and foreign film.

The educational program Industry continues on Thursday, 7 PM, with a lecture by Bobette Buster, a creative producer and professor of practical digital storytelling, who will analyse why we love certain films, and how this art is changing the world. The masterclass will be live on the festival page, www.zff.hr, and Facebook page, @zagrebfilmfestival.