Good things are happening around Zagreb…
There has been considerable promotion of the goumet scene in Zagreb County in recent times, part of the strategy to better connect the county with the city through the excellent Around Zagreb initiative. The year started with the presentation of the Gault & Millau Zagreb restaurant guide, which included many restaurants from the county in an English guide for the first time, and it has been a very useful addition to to the city’s culinary scene. And the year is now ending with more recognition, this time for yet one more award for the excellent Zagreb County wine promotional film, Taste above Everything, which has just picked up its second presitigious award at ART&TUR in Portugal, a short time after success at the Zagreb TourFilm Festival, as previously reported on TCN.
The official press release below.
The wine film of the Tourist Board of Zagreb County entered the top 10 in the world with awards at these two festivals
The best wine film of the Zagreb TourFilm Festival “Taste above Eveything” of the Zagreb County Tourist Board won another international award at the prestigious XV International Tourism Film Festival ART&TUR in Portugal. At the awards ceremony, which took place on Friday, October 28, 2022, in the city of Ourém, in competition with tourist films from as many as 16 countries, the film “Taste above Everything ” was awarded a silver award for second place in the Wine Tourism category, thus with awards at these two festivals, entered the top 10 in the world.
ART&TUR as well as ZAGREB TOUR FILM FESTIVAL are members of CIFFT (International Association of Tourist Film Festivals), an organization that evaluates the best tourist films in the world.
With awards from prestigious international tourist film festivals, the destination film Tastes first and foremost, created in cooperation with the Zagreb County Tourist Board and the production company Sekunda, is a strong move and incentive in the promotion of tourism and the wine roads of Zagreb County. “Being among the top 10 best tourist films in the world is a great recognition for the Tourist Board of Zagreb County and a great compliment to our work of three and a half years, as well as to destination marketing and the direction we have set. The wine roads of Zagreb County were introduced to many festival participants and the expert jury through the film, which allowed us to successfully continue the promotion of the unforgettable locations of our county,” said the director of the Tourist Board of Zagreb County, Ivana Alilović. “In addition to destination campaigns such as the Via VINO film festival in the vineyards and wineries of the county, which we have been successfully conducting for the last two years, we are glad that our activities in the promotion of tourism in Zagreb County have been recognized and rewarded on international markets.”
A particularly important award from the wine country, Portugal
For a wine-themed film, the awards of film festivals in wine countries are especially important. Portugal is one of the most important European wine destinations, which makes the award from the ART&TUR festival even more important in the international promotion of Zagreb County’s wine routes.
“Participation in international film festivals, where the films of the world are evaluated together and the best ones are chosen, is a strong indicator of how well you can convey a message through a film. On the production side, we are proud of the success in the international film competition, where we were able to highlight the destination of the wine roads of Zagreb County and, together with the Tourist Board of Zagreb County, make a film that was awarded at all the film festivals where it was submitted,” said the film’s producer, Martina Miličević.
This year’s films were evaluated by an expert jury of 35 members from numerous countries around the world, from Brazil, Mauritius, Iran to Canada. The Croatian representative in the jury, Spomenka Saraga, film producer and director of the Zagreb Tour Film Festival did not hide her enthusiasm and pride for the award-winning films submitted from Croatia. “Croatia presented itself in the best possible way, several Croatian tourist films were shown on the big screen, which entered the competition for one of the awards, and in addition to the film program, accompanying activities were also prepared for festival guests, such as a tasting workshop that showed how wine and extra virgin olive oil, the perfect accompaniment to film art and tourism. The sugar in the end was definitely the four prizes that went to Croatia. I am proud of the fact that thanks to the Zagreb Tourfilm Festival, the trainings held with the support of the Croatian Tourist Board, these excellent films got the chance to compete and eventually win significant awards. I hope that this will be a wind at everyone’s back and that these and other Croatian tourist films will continue to be submitted to festivals and win a number of awards. I congratulate the awardees and the Tourist Board of Zagreb County on the film “Taste above Eveything”, which was another wine and gastronomic invitation to the guests of the festival in Portugal to come to Zagreb and its surroundings and the next Zagreb Tourfilm Festival.
(Ivana Alilovic with the award at Zagreb Toufilm Festival)
Watch the award-winning wine film of Zagreb County!
The film takes us through the preparation of the wine cellar of the Šoškić family, the production of genuine wines by the Tomac family, otherwise the first ecologically certified winery in Zagreb County, which recently completed the construction of an impressive new winery. In the film, you will also see the fairy-tale manor house Nespesh, on the Zelina wine road, where the Litterarii winery is located today. The bearers of the tradition of Zagreb County’s wine roads are families that have been producing wine for generations, such as the Kos winery.
In the Braja vineyard house, we follow the preparation of the homemade Plešivica copanjek, and the free domestic animals on the slopes of Žumberac are a reminder that the genuine wines of the Zagreb County follow the originality of the ingredients found on the menus of recognized restaurants.
