Jim Jarmusch’s New Film to Close the 23rd Zagreb Film Festival

Zagreb audiences among the first in the world to see acclaimed films from Venice, Toronto, and San Sebastián

The recently announced program of the 23rd Zagreb Film Festival, which this year features 120 films across ten sections, will be rounded off by the latest work from legendary American director Jim Jarmusch — Father Mother Sister Brother, winner of the Golden Lion for Best Film in Venice. On Saturday, November 15, following the official awards ceremony, Zagreb audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy a film whose humorous and intimate exploration of complex family relationships won over the jury at the prestigious Venice Film Festival.

A filmmaker whose dark humour and defiance of genre conventions have profoundly influenced contemporary independent cinema, Jim Jarmusch explores the relationships between parents and their adult children in his latest work. Steeped in melancholy and Jarmusch’s signature irony, Father Mother Sister Brother follows characters moving through family homes and apartments, drinking coffee, engaging in small talk, and quietly carrying unresolved tensions — all while being forced to confront their emotionally distant parents. The result is a triptych of subdued emotion with an extraordinary cast (Adam Driver, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps), where, true to Jarmusch’s long-standing aesthetic and thematic sensibilities, what remains unspoken often carries more weight than what is said.

Jarmusch’s film will screen in Zagreb just two months after its Venice premiere, placing it among a select few titles in this year’s programme that ZFF audiences will be among the first in the world to see. Another such title is The Voice of Hind Rajab, a powerful reconstruction of the true story of a six-year-old girl trapped in a car under Israeli fire alongside her slain family members. Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin, ZFF 2021), the film is Tunisia’s Oscar submission and was made to raise awareness of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. Awarded the Silver Lion in Venice, it will be screened at the 23rd ZFF within the Together Again program, which features new works by filmmakers already familiar to ZFF audiences. The festival will also welcome actor Motaz Malhees, and all ticket proceeds will be donated to humanitarian organisations working on the ground.

Also screening in the same programme is the intriguing film Ungrateful Beings by Czech-Slovenian director and screenwriter Olmo Omerzu (Family Film, ZFF 2015; Winter Flies, ZFF 2018), who held a memorable masterclass at the packed Dokukino KIC during the Industry section of the 21st ZFF. Premiered in late September at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, this provocative look at adolescence and the pitfalls of modern parenting was filmed on the stunning Pelješac peninsula. The story follows recently divorced David, who decides to take his children on a holiday to the Adriatic — only for their relaxing summer break to turn into a nightmare when his teenage daughter Klára’s new boyfriend becomes a suspect in a local murder investigation. Co-produced with Croatia (Kinorama), the film explores how family conflicts and tensions can deeply affect a child’s psyche.

As part of The Great 5 program, dedicated to films from Europe’s five major national cinemas, ZFF will also screen a new work by acclaimed French filmmaker and master of sensuality François Ozon (By the Grace of God, Golden Bear 2019). His fresh adaptation of Albert Camus’s existential classic The Stranger relocates the detached Meursault (Benjamin Voisin) to the sweltering Algiers of the 1930s, where he faces trial for murder. Shot in black and white (with cinematography by Manu Dacosse), this film about the absurdity of human existence reexamines the core concerns of Camus’s original text from a modern perspective, revealing the timeless universality of its message.

This November, Zagreb will also be home to Bouchra, an impressive animated film with anthropomorphic characters that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, directed by Orian Barki and Meriam Bennani, about a queer artist from Morocco who is transported back in time by a phone call with her mother. The film will be screened at the 23rd ZFF in the PLUS program, which presents authors who approach the topic of growing up in an original and daring way.

The 23^rd Zagreb Film Festival will take place from November 10 to 16, 2025 at CineStar Branimir, Kinoteka, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU), and Dokukino KIC.

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.