23rd Zagreb Film Festival Unveils Its First Titles

Although just under a month of the calendar summer remains, the new film season is already in full swing, as are preparations for the key cinematic event of Zagreb’s autumn program – the Zagreb Film Festival. The 23rd edition of ZFF will take place from November 10 to 16 at several venues across the city – Cinestar Branimir, Kinoteka, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and Dokukino KIC, as well as online (croatian.film). Around a hundred titles will be screened, some of which will compete for the festival’s main award, the Golden pram. As a key visual symbol of ZFF’s consistent commitment to showcasing filmmakers at the very start of their careers, the Golden Pram has also found its way into this year’s festival poster. Under the creative direction of the design studio Šesnić&Turković, it has been applied to a photograph from the mid-1970s in front of Zagreb’s oldest department store – one of the city’s key architectural markers of modernization – taken by the legendary photographer Marija Braut.

In the run-up to Zagreb’s favourite film adventure, the first highlights of the main competition program have been revealed: the two fresh titles by directors already known to ZFF audiences – Croatian filmmaker Hana Jušić and Serbian filmmaker Stefan Đorđević. Bothare previous winners of the Golden Pram in the short film category (Jušić in 2012 for Terrarium, and Đorđević in 2019 for The Last Image of Father). At the upcoming edition of the festival, they will present their feature-long films, both awarded at the recently concluded Sarajevo Film Festival.

Premiering in early August in the main program of one of the world’s most prestigious and long-standing film festivals – Locarno – God Will Not Help, directed and written by Hana Jušić (Quit Staring at My Plate, ZFF 2016 – Special Mention), is an unconventional genre-blending story about Teresa, a Chilean woman who, at the beginning of the 20th century, travels to visit the family of her late husband on Mount Dinara. Boldly combining themes of migration, historical drama, and elements of mystery and the occult, Jušić delivers a “strikingly atmospheric” film (Variety) which is “contemplative and intense” (Screen Daily) – a wholly original Balkan take on the western, which critics have informally dubbed an eastern. The film stars Chilean actress Manuela Martelli and Croatian actress Ana Marija Veselčić, who shared the award for Best Performance in Locarno. Its regional premiere was held at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where it received a special award for the promotion of gender equality.

Stefan Đorđević’s feature-length debut Wind, Talk to Me, awarded the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Film, is a deeply personal and poetic meditation on life, loss, transience, and pain – but above all, an honest tribute to the bonds we share with our loved ones and with the world around us. In this evocative work of autofiction, the director reconstructs his own life experience following the death of his mother, with members of his family appearing in the film. The result is an original work of form, which gently and subtly weaves together elements of intimate documentary, fiction with non-professional actors, and diary-like video recordings. The film premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and was produced in co-production with the Croatian company Restart, which also stands behind this year’s festival hit Fiume o Morte! By Igor Bezinović.

In addition to its rich film program, ZFF also offers a wealth of educational content through its Industry platform, and once again this year the festival will bring together a wide range of filmmakers and other professionals from the audiovisual sector. For all the latest news, follow the official website, Facebook and Instagram.

The Zagreb Film Festival is held with the support of the Zagreb City Office for Culture, Intercity and International Cooperation and Civil Society, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Creative Europe – MEDIA sub-programme, the Kultura nova Foundation, and the Zagreb Tourist Board.