Saturday at ZFF

Saturday at ZFF will be marked by the announcement of the winners and the awards ceremony, which will take place at CineStar Branimir at 8 PM, ahead of the screening of Jim Jarmusch’s new film. As a reminder, the festival’s official award, the Golden Pram, is presented in three categories: for Best Feature Film, Best International Short Film, and Best Croatian Short Film in the Checkers program. The Golden Bicycle will be awarded to the best film in the Together Again program, while the PLUS Award of the young jury goes to the film that explores coming-of-age themes in an innovative and bold way. The KinoKino Award is given to the best children’s film, and the votes of the Zagreb audience will be added to those of audiences at regional festivals in the selection for the best film in the Network of Festivals in the Adriatic Region program.

After the awards ceremony, the 23rd edition of the Zagreb Film Festival will close with the Golden Lion–winning comedic triptych Father Mother Sister Brother by legendary American indie director Jim Jarmusch, which is being screened at ZFF out of competition.

The sixth day of the festival at CineStar Branimir will see repeat screenings of films from the KinoKino and Together Again programs. The film Pixie by Polish director Krzysztof Komander, intended for younger audiences (ages 7+), will screen at 4 p.m., while the 6 p.m. slot is reserved for the moving docudrama The Voice of Hind Rajab by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin, ZFF 2020), about the six-year-old girl of the same name trapped in a car under Israeli fire. Crowned with numerous awards in Venice, including the Grand Jury Prize, the film is Tunisia’s Oscar submission, and all proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to humanitarian medical organizations working on the ground in Gaza. At 8:30 p.m., the final part of director Dag Johan Haugerud’s trilogy, Dreams, will be screened again. The first Norwegian winner of the Golden Bear in the history of the Berlinale follows 17-year-old Johanne, who is in love with her French teacher — something she writes about in her diary.

The day at Kinoteka cinema begins at 11 a.m. with the First Time at the Cinema program. With reduced sound levels, dimmed lighting, and shorter screening duration, the program is fully adapted for preschool children accompanied by adults, and is designed to ensure that their first encounter with the big screen remains a wonderful memory forever.

Saturday at ZFF also brings Miroirs No. 3, the new work by Christian Petzold, one of the most prominent contemporary German directors. The film follows piano student Laura (Paula Beer) who, after a car accident in which her boyfriend dies, ends up in the care of Betty, a passerby who witnessed the crash. This intriguing psychological drama, named after a composition by Maurice Ravel, will be screened at Kinoteka cinema at 6 p.m. At the same cinema at 9 p.m., the documentary Miyazaki: Spirit of Nature by French director Léo Favier is on the program. The film explores the work of legendary animator and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki from an ecological perspective. At the 23rd ZFF, it is screened as part of the Network of Festivals in the Adriatic Region program.

The Festivals in the Spotlight program brings a rich selection of films from prominent international festivals every day during ZFF. On Saturday, the lineup features a selection of Spanish short films awarded at the most recent edition of the Goya Awards, Spain’s equivalent of the American Oscars. The program begins at 7:30 p.m. at KIC cinema, and admission is free.

At 6:00 PM, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) program features a repeat screening of Urchin, the feature debut of British actor and director Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness, ZFF 2022). The film follows young homeless addict Mike (Frank Dillane) as he wanders the margins of London on his path to recovery. The film won the FIPRESCI Award and Best Actor at Cannes, where it was screened in the Un Certain Regard program. At 8:30 PM, the Norwegian Oscar submission, director Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value explores the family dynamics between director Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård) and his daughter Nora (Renate Reinsve; The Worst Person in the World, ZFF 2021), a renowned stage actress who refuses a role in her father’s new film. The film is screened at the 23rd ZFF as part of the Together Again program.

The Industry program enters its final phase as well. In collaboration with the Croatian Film Editors’ Society (HFM) and the Croatian Directors’ Guild (DHFA), one of the most significant contemporary film editors and longtime collaborator of director Yorgos Lanthimos, Yorgos Mavropsaridis, will hold a masterclass at Kinoteka cinema starting at 4:00 PM. His credits include Dogtooth, The Lobster, The Favourite, Poor Things, and Bugonia, and he has been nominated twice for both the Oscars and BAFTA Awards. Through a conversation with editor Iva Ivan, Mavropsaridis will discuss his creative process, the shaping of film rhythm and emotion, and the relationship between director and editor in constructing a narrative. The masterclass will conclude with the announcement of the winners of the Trailer Editing Workshop, whose participants have developed their own projects throughout the week under the mentorship of Vladimir Gojun and Tomislav Pavlic. The masterclass will be conducted in English.

At 10:00 AM today at KIC, the two-day workshop Audition as Networking begins, led by actress Katarina Madirazza. Through practical exercises and discussion, participants will explore self-tape techniques, presentation, and communication during auditions. The program is open to the public and offers viewers the opportunity to see firsthand the audition process and the interaction between actors and directors.

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.