Tuesday at ZFF

Following Monday’s opening of the 24th ZFF at a packed Gavella Drama Theatre with a restored version of the Croatian cinema classic Rondo, the second festival day continues at Kaptol Boutique Cinema with screenings of Club Kid (10:00 and 18:00), the witty debut feature on father-son bonding by American comedian Jordan Firstman. The film premiered at Cannes and is screening in the main competition programme at the 24th ZFF.

The main feature competition programme continues at 12:30 and 20:30 with the Zagreb premiere of Petty Thieves by director and screenwriter Mate Ugrin. With his tense, atmospheric insight into the everyday life of seasonal workers which premiered at Karlovy Vary, where it received the FIPRESCI Prize, Ugrin returns to ZFF five years after winning a Special Mention of the jury in the Checkers programme for his short film Everything Ahead (2021). Following the evening premiere (20:30), a Q&A session will take place where the film crew led by director Mate Ugrin will share details about the making of the film with the audience. The discussion will be moderated by ZFF programme coordinator Barbara Gregov. Screenings of Dua, the new film by Kosovan director Blerta Basholli (Hive, ZFF 2021), will follow at 15:00 and 21:00 at Kaptol Boutique Cinema, also competing for the main festival prize at the 24th ZFF. Having premiered at the 65th Cannes Critics’ Week, where it won the screenwriting award, the film follows thirteen-year-old Dua (Pinea Matoshi) growing up in Pristina on the eve of the outbreak of the war in Kosovo.

Visitors to Kaptol Boutique Cinema at 18:30 can look forward to this year’s Cannes Grand Prix winner—Minotaur by two-time ZFF laureate Andrey Zvyagintsev (The Return, ZFF 2003 – Golden Pram; The Banishment, ZFF 2007 – Golden Pram). Through an intimate story of infidelity inspired by Chabrol’s La Femme infidèle, the renowned exiled Russian director speaks to the political, spiritual, and moral state of contemporary Russia, delivering a condemnation of his homeland skilfully crafted through complex layers of irony, rage, and the blackest humour. The film is screening in the Together Again programme. Also competing for the Golden Bicycle award is the minority Croatian co-production For Love by Marko Škop (Let There Be Light, ZFF 2019), with which the Zagreb-based Slovak director completes his trilogy dedicated to parent-child relationships, focusing on a controlling mother whose manipulative behaviour deeply unravels her adult daughter’s life. The film will screen at 21:00 at Kaptol Boutique Cinema, followed by a Q&A session with director Marko Škop and producer Marina Andree Škop (PomPom Film). The discussion will be moderated by film critic Nino Kovačić.

At 18:30 at Kaptol Boutique Cinema, the PLUS programme kicks off with a touching, multi-award-winning coming-of-age story about 11-year-old Romani girl Adela, who uses her passion for skateboarding to save her sister from a forced marriage. Having premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival where it won the Nora Ephron Award dedicated to female directors with a distinctive voice and vision the film Skateboarding Is Not for Girls by North Macedonian director Dina Duma is competing for the PLUS Youth Jury Award at the 24th ZFF. Following the screening, the film crew, led by director Dina Duma, co-producer Vanja Sremac, and composers Jure Ferina and Pavao Miholjević, will discuss their film project with Nino Kovačić.

The Great 5 programme opens at 18:30 at Kinoteka Cinema with The Beloved by Spanish master Rodrigo Sorogoyen, an insightful and tense psychological study of a painful confrontation between a father and daughter. Sorogoyen has participated at ZFF four times to date, and his latest work follows fictional director Esteban Martínez (the brilliant Javier Bardem), who offers his daughter Emilia (Victoria Luengo – The Room Next Door, ZFF 2024) a role in his new film. Following this, Kinoteka Cinema will host the first block of films from the Short Film Competition programme, starting at 21:30. The national competition, Checkers, features films by Luka Galešić (Patch) and Matej Matijević (Ruffian), while international directors presented to the Zagreb audience on Tuesday include Palestinian filmmaker Sabrine Khoury (A Tenderness), Slovenian director Dan Grabnar (Neighbour), and Chilean filmmaker Alba Gaviraghi (A Fortress). Admission is free, with mandatory ticket pickup at the official festival box office.

For those who cannot get enough of short film programming, a selection of films from the Toronto International Film Festival’s Short Cuts section will screen at 19:30 at Cinema Surogat KIC as part of the Festivals in the Spotlight programme, with free admission until capacity is reached.

Awarded a Special Mention in the Platform programme at the Toronto International Film Festival, Hen by Hungarian director György Pálfi (Taxidermia, ZFF 2006) will screen at 18:00 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cinema. Dancing on the boundary between absurdity and horror, this unusual and inspiring story of a hen’s survival is presented as part of the Network of Festivals in the Adriatic Region programme. The programme at MSU continues at 20:30 with a screening of the intriguing historical drama Only Beautiful Things to Look At by Slovak director Ivan Ostrochovský. Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at Karlovy Vary, the film follows the unfolding friendship between gynaecologist Ingrid and charismatic Romani woman Agáta, who takes a job as a nurse in a district hospital in 1980s Czechoslovakia.

On Tuesday, the Industry programme presents a Masterclass by Norwegian actress Lisa Loven Kongsli, who is also a member of this year’s main competition jury alongside Serbian director Bojan Vuletić and Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson to decide the best feature film of the 24th ZFF. Acclaimed for her roles in critically celebrated European productions (Fjord, 2026; Force Majeure, 2014) and Hollywood blockbusters (Wonder Woman, 2017), Kongsli will share her experience of working across both small independent productions and American blockbusters with the Zagreb audience. The masterclass will be held in English from 16:00 to 18:00 at F22 (Frankopanska 22) and will be moderated by actress Hrvojka Hella Begović.

We invite you to join us at Koncept Bar (Tkalčićeva 63), ZFF’s official festival hub for socialising and informal film talks. Happy hour awaits every day from 17:00 to 18:00, and from 20:00 onwards on Tuesday, Felver will be taking care of the music and atmosphere.

The 24th Zagreb Film Festival will take place from 9 to 15 November with the support of the City Office for Culture and Civil Society, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Creative Europe – MEDIA Sub-programme, the Kultura Nova Foundation, and the Zagreb Tourist Board.