The 24th ZFF Starts on Monday!

Here are a few film recommendations, along with a reminder that early-bird ticket presales at lower prices run for three more days, until 8 November

On Monday, 9 November, the 24th Zagreb Film Festival kicks off, and Zagreb’s favourite autumn cinematic adventure will open with a screening of the landmark domestic masterpiece Rondo. The debut feature film by the great director and screenwriter Zvonimir Berković, which also stands as the first feature-length title in his filmography, will be screened in a digitally restored version following its recent premiere at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon. Until the end of the week, running through Sunday, 15 November, across several venues—Kaptol Boutique Cinema, Kinoteka Cinema, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU), and Cinema Surogat KIC—as well as online at zff.hr, the festival will present over a hundred film titles to the audience.

One of them is Petty Thieves, a tense, atmospheric film exposing the other, darker side of tourism—one filled with insecurity, pressures, and the trials of seasonal labour. The feature-length debut by director Mate Ugrin (Everything Ahead – ZFF 2021, Special Mention) was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and will compete for the festival’s main award at ZFF. Also competing for the Golden Pram is the Berlin Silver Bear winner Queen at Sea by Lance Hammer, a delicate reflection on old age. Devoid of sentimentality, the story follows a middle-aged woman, played by Juliette Binoche, facing an avalanche of ethical and intimate questions surrounding the care of her mother, who has dementia. Starring in the title role is Anna Calder-Marshall, a guest at this year’s ZFF, who won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale for her layered acting performance alongside co-star Tom Courtenay. The titular protagonist of director Blerta Basholli’s Dua, known to Zagreb audiences for her acclaimed debut Hive (ZFF 2021), which made the Oscar shortlist, is a thirteen-year-old girl from Pristina whose entry into turbulent adolescence coincides with the outbreak of war. Inspired by the director’s own personal experiences of growing up in the shadow of conflict in the late 1990s, the film premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week, where it won the SACD Award for screenwriting and authorial work, and is screening at ZFF as part of the main competition programme.

The heavy themes of coming of age are also addressed in the feature debut by director Kosara Mitić, selected as North Macedonia’s official candidate for the Academy Awards. The deeply moving film 17, based on a true event that shook the region, is an uncompromising portrait of the Balkans today; beyond trauma, silence, shame, and isolation, it also speaks to female solidarity. At the Sarajevo Film Festival, it won three awards—the Audience Award, the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actress, and a Special Award for Promoting Gender Equality, and at ZFF, in addition to competing for the main festival prize, it will also contend for the PLUS Award awarded by the youth jury. Arriving in the aforementioned ZFF competition programme—which brings together works featuring an innovative and bold approach to coming-of-age themes—with the Grand Jury Prize from the Venice Film Festival is the film Oasis. This chillingly tense work follows a small group of teenagers who, following a humiliating incident at school, take refuge in a nearby forest where they resort to macabre rituals. The acclaimed feature debut by director Jannis Lenz has been compared to the landmark works of the celebrated Michael Haneke and the detached, “elevated realism” of Austrian director Jessica Hausner.

Information regarding this year’s programme is available on the official festival website as well as on its official Facebook and Instagram profiles. Tickets can be purchased online at kupiulaznicu.zff.hr, with prices set at €7 or €6, depending on the programme and screening time. During the presale period through 8 November, prices are reduced by €1. On-site ticket sales begin on 9 November at the main festival box offices at Kaptol Boutique Cinema and Kinoteka Cinema, while the box office at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) will open on 10 November. Full details on prices, discounts, and admission to free programmes are available at the following link.