Who’s Coming to ZFF?

Among the festival’s many guests are acclaimed editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis, longtime collaborator of Yorgos Lanthimos, and Tawfeek Barhom, actor and director and this year’s Palme d’Or winner for Best Short Film

From November 10 to 16, numerous filmmakers will gather for the 23^rd edition of the Zagreb Film Festival, the city’s central autumn film event! ZFF’s educational platform Industry will once again host a number of renowned international and local film professionals, offering the public an opportunity to attend a series of engaging masterclasses. Among this year’s guests is the celebrated Greek editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis, one of Europe’s most prominent editors and a longtime collaborator of Yorgos Lanthimos. Known for his bold artistic signature marked by rhythmic precision and a masterful sense of tension and dark humour, Mavropsaridis has helped bring to life the distinctive worlds of Lanthimos’ films, including The Favourite and Poor Things, both of which earned him Oscar nominations. Thanks to ZFF’s collaboration with the Croatian Film Editors Association, Mavropsaridis will hold a masterclass titled Splicing into Strange Worlds. Festival audiences will also have the chance to see the film that first made this creative duo famous – Dogtooth (2009). Director Ivana Mladenović, whose new film Sorella di Clausura screens in this year’s Together Again program, will discuss autofiction in film in a masterclass organized in cooperation with Restart, while Una Gunjak, a member of this year’s jury, will talk about working with children and non-professional actors following a screening of her award-winning short The Chicken.

The Macedonian film DJ Ahmet will open the festival. It is a touching and entertaining title that charmed audiences at Sundance. This feature debut of Georgi M. Unkovski, co-produced with Croatia (365 Films) will be presented to the ZFF audience by Arif Jakup, the young newcomer in the title role, actress Dora Akan Zlatanova, and Croatian producer Katarina Prpić. The festival will also be attended by Stefan Đorđević, director of Wind, Talk To Me, the winning film of the Sarajevo Film Festival, who will be joined on stage in Zagreb by actor Budimir Jovanović, producer Dragana Jovović, executive producer Savina Smederevac and Croatian co-producer Vanja Jambrović (Restart). Triple Pula Film Festival winner in the minority co-production category – How Come It’s All Green Out Here? – will be screened in the presence of director Nikola Ležaić, actors Filip Đurić and Izudin Bajrović, cinematographer Aleksandar Pavlović, and producers Marija Maša Lero and Siniša Juričić (Nukleus Film). This year’s ZFF will also see the long-awaited Croatian premiere of Hana Jušić’s new film God Will Not Help, attended by the director along with actress Ana Marija Veselčić (awarded for this role in Locarno), actor Nikša Butijer, cinematographer Jana Plećaš, and producer Ankica Tilić Jurić (Kinorama). Finally, Lisa Loven Kongli, the Norwegian star of the charming cramedy Solomamma, known to audiences for her role in Ruben Östlund’s hit Force Majeure, will also be among this year’s festival guests in Zagreb.

In the Croatian and international short film competition sections, numerous filmmakers will present their work to Zagreb audiences, including Palestinian director Tawfeek Barhom, whose short film I’m Glad You’re Dead Now won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film. Barhom is also a noted actor, soon to appear in Terrence Malick’s upcoming epic The Way of the Wind. ZFF will also welcome Lithuanian filmmaker Gabriele Urbonaitė (Renovation) and Slovak-Austrian director Alexandra Makarová (Perla), whose films, featured in the Network of Festivals in the Adriatic Region program compete for the Adriatic Audience Award. In the same section, but out of competition, the documentary Miyazaki: Spirit of Nature will be presented by its director Léo Favier. The Spanish Goya Award winner the gripping spy thriller Undercover (screening as part of The Great 5 program), will be presented by director Arantxa Echevarría Carcedo.

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.