Festival winners announced tonight!  The grand finale of the 22nd ZFF will be held on Saturday, announcing the winners at the gala awards ceremony. Find out who gets the Golden Pram at the awards ceremony starting at 19:30 at Cinestar Branimir (D7).

The official festival award, the Golden Pram, is given in three categories – Best Feature Film, Best Short Film and Best Croatian Film in the Checkers Program. The best film from the Together Again program will receive the Golden Bicycle award, the PLUS Award goes to the best film according to the decision of the Young Jury, while the KinoKino Award will go to the best film according to the decision of the Children’s Jury. The awards are decided by 5 separate juries, and the Candidate for the Prix Vimeo Award for Best European Short Film will also be announced on Saturday.

The official closing of the Festival will follow at Cinestar Branimir, with a title out of competition – the winner of this year’s Venice Golden Lion and the Brian Award – The Room Next Door, Pedro Almodóvar’s latest and also his first feature film in English, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. At 22:00 at Cinestar Branimir (D7), we’re watching Audrey Diwan’s contemporary rendering of the cult erotic novel and even more iconic series of films from the 70s, Emmanuelle, a drama in which the heroine goes on a business trip to Hong Kong in search of pleasure she can no longer experience.

The last title in the Together Again program, also screening out of competition, is Observing, a psychological crime drama of Slovenian director Janez Burger, on the programme at 18:00 at Cinestar. The program at the venue ends with a title from the Festivals in the Spotlight and the representative of the Mediterranean Film Festival Split – My Favourite Cake. This touching romantic tragicomedy about finding love and new zest for life in later years is on the schedule at 22:00 (D1).

While are wait for the announcement of the KinoKino awards, on Saturday, the program at Kinoteka kicks off with animated shorts from the First Time at the Cinema program intended for ages 3+. The program at Kordunska 3 continues at 19:00 with a film from The Great 5 program. The Other Way Around, the latest title by award-winning Spanish filmmaker Jonás Trueba, is a twisted anti-romantic comedy about love turned upside-down. The program at Kinoteka ends with the restored copy of Vatroslav Mimica’s anthological suspense thriller An Event (21:30). Awarded the Golden Arenas for Best Film, Best Director and Best Cinematography at the Pula Film Festival, An Event is a gripping and gritty thriller with elements of horror, representing a departure from Mimica’s modernist style of the period and the ultimate return to genre film.

On Saturday, at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU), we’ll watch the sumptuous pop opera Emilia Pérez of the famous French director Jacques Audiard (18:00). Premiering in Cannes, the perennial Cannes-favourite didn’t rest on his laurels, once again garnering success and taking home the Jury Prize and the Best Actress Award (for Selena Gomez, Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Adriana Paz). The day at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) continues with a film from the Together Again program, When the Light Breaks (20:30). The latest film by Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson (Volcano – ZFF 2011, Sparrows – ZFF 2015, Echo – ZFF 2021), a well-known name to ZFF audiences, is a minority Croatian co-production, which opened the Un Certain Regard program in Cannes this year.

On Saturday, the Industry section program takes place at three locations. At Dokukino KIC, we follow the Industry Youth! Pitching Forum workshop, in which young students, screenwriters and directors will be given the opportunity to present their projects to a panel of experts, who will reward the best project with services of their studios. Scenoteka is reserved for the workshop Audition as Networking, intended for future actors who want to get a better, behind-the-scenes understanding of the audition process. The workshop leader, professional actress Katarina Madirazza, will coordinate the participants in presenting their acting work to the selected jury, which will offer tips on how to improve their performances. The workshop is open to spectators and free of charge, but seating is limited.

Lastly, at 16:00 head over to Kinoteka for a masterclass by Italian editor Marco Costa. The editor of some of the famed Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s most well-known films will discuss his experience working on the film Challengers (2024), with the magnificent Zendaya in the lead role. The masterclass is open to the public, and the language of the event is English.

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