Friday at ZFF

On the eve of Saturday’s Golden Pram awards ceremony, two final titles from this year’s feature film competition will be screened at CineStar Branimir. The day starts at 10:30 a.m. with A Poet, the second feature by Colombian director Simón Mesa Soto, Colombia’s official submission for the Oscars. The film follows Oscar, a middle-aged man who takes a teaching job at a secondary school after his poetic integrity fails to bring him fame. There, he discovers a talented student, Yurlady, and becomes determined to make her a celebrated poet. A Poet premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, where it received the Jury Prize. An evening screening of the film will follow at 6:30 p.m.

Also competing for the Golden Pram this year is My Father’s Shadow (1:00 PM, 9:00 PM), an intimate family drama inspired by the life of Nigerian-British director Akinola Davies Jr. Set over the course of a single day, the film follows two brothers and their estranged father as they navigate Lagos amid the political unrest of 1993. The film received a Special Mention in the Camera d’Or category at Cannes and at the 23rd ZFF it is also competing for the PLUS Young Jury Award.

As part of the Together Again program, on Friday at 6:00 PM the Museum of Contemporary Art will screen the exciting dystopian story The Blue Trail by Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro, about an elderly woman, Teresa, who refuses to see her age as a limitation. When the Brazilian government decides to relocate the elderly population to a special colony to increase economic efficiency, she embarks on a journey through the Amazon to fulfil her final wish. The film received multiple awards at the Berlinale, including the Grand Jury Prize. The program continues at CineStar Branimir with Ungrateful Beings, a new film by Slovenian director and screenwriter Olmo Omerzu, which premiered at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. This intriguing drama explores adolescence, parental dilemmas, and the shifting dynamics within a family.

The screening of If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart Into Your Mouth and Smile by Austrian director and punk musician Marie Luise Lehner takes place at 6:00 PM at CineStar Branimir. The film follows a girl, Anna, who only becomes aware of her unique life circumstances when she starts secondary school. This vibrant story about identity, class differences, and the complex mother-daughter relationship is part of the PLUS program, which focuses on films that explore the theme of growing up in innovative ways.

Every day during the festival, KIC hosts a selection of films chosen for ZFF by the program directors and selectors of prominent international festivals, starting at 7:30 PM. On Friday, the lineup features a selection of short films nominated for the European Film Awards, in which the Zagreb Film Festival participated for the first time. The winning film will be announced on January 17, 2026, at the official European Film Awards ceremony in Berlin.

On Friday, Kinoteka screens the family story Familia by Italian director Francesco Costabile. Premiered in Venice, this drama with elements of psychological thriller and horror is part of the Great 5 program, which showcases films from the five largest European national cinemas, and it is also Italy’s official Oscar submission. The screening is at 6:00 PM. In the same program at the Museum of Contemporary Art, audiences can see the latest adaptation of the world literature classic The Stranger by cult French director and master of sensuality François Ozon. The 8:30 PM screening offers another chance to see the film, whose first ZFF screening sold out on Tuesday.

The day concludes with screenings of domestic and international short films at Kinoteka, starting at 9:30 PM. On Friday, festival audiences will discover the work of Palestinian director Tawfeek Barhom (I’m Glad You’re Dead Now), Swiss director Sinan Taner (1:10), Singaporean director Giselle Lin (Children’s Day), as well as two Croatian directors — Jozo Schmuch (Shallow Ground) and Luka Galešić (Grand Finale).

The Industry program, designed for networking among film professionals, continues Friday at 10:00 AM at KIC with the final Industry Youth! Pitching Forum, where participants from regional film academies will present the short film projects they have been developing over the past week. Their ideas will be showcased to an international panel of experts, this year consisting of Klasja Habjan, Čedomir Kolar, and Nikica Zdunić.

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