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 Stafan 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.

As part of the Industry program, Martina Petrović, head of the Creative Europe Desk – MEDIA Office Croatia, will present new opportunities for international cooperation in a session titled What’s Cooking in the New Content Cluster Calls in 2026? Organized by the Department of Culture and Communication of the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), the roundtable Small Markets, Big Stories will present the findings of the CresCine research project and highlight key challenges and growth opportunities for film industries in smaller European countries.  In partnership with the Croatian Screenwriters and Producers Guild, the My First Script workshop returns, where six emerging filmmakers will develop scripts for their debut feature films: Sara Grgurić (CRO), Marko Bičanić (CRO), Laura Udra (LT), Emina Sehić (BA), Vojtěch Konečný (CZ), and Jovan Dimoski (RS). The workshop will be led by director Antonio Nuić and new mentor Jelena Paljan, an experienced script consultant, with a guest lecture by Czech filmmaker, screenwriter, and FAMU professor Pavel Marek. In partnership with the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and the MIDPOINT Institute, the Midpoint Intensive Croatia workshop will be held for the second consecutive year – an intensive four-day program focused on the creative development of short film scripts. Within the Youth Industry! Program, students from seven regional film academies will prepare and pitch their projects in a public forum. At the trailer editing workshop, led by Vladimir Gojun and Tomislav Pavlic, and organized in collaboration with the Croatian Film Editors’ Association and the Academy of Dramatic Art, five editors will focus on crafting film trailers. The Network of Festivals in the Adriatic Region will host the Film Analysis and Criticism 54+ Workshop, along with two sessions focused on sustainability in the film industry: Consultations on Sustainable Film Production and Green Practices: Recommendations for Sustainable Festivals, led by producer and green consultant Morana Komljenović. The Filmophiles program will bring together film enthusiasts from across the region, offering them the opportunity to attend screenings and open Industry sessions. Audition as Networking, a workshop for actors open to the public and led by actress Katarina Madirazza, will host director Sophie Vuković and producers Danijel Pek and Katarina Prpić. Finally, the Creative Children’s Workshop: My First Digital Picture Book shifts its focus from video games to storytelling this year, inviting children aged 7 to 12 to create their own digital stories using the Scratch tool.

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.