Film buffs, you’re in for a treat!
Everything is ready for the grand opening of the 15th edition of Zagreb Film Festival (which we’ve already announced here) on Saturday, November 11, 2017, reports Večernji.hr. During the nine days of the festival, more than 30 thousand people, among which 70 guests and film artists from all over the world, are expected to watch more than 100 screenings, films and programmes.
This year’s main competition programme is as always focused on debut achievements. “What we show in the competition section is the director’s first or second film, which sets us apart from other film festivals around the world. The festival maintains this special identity and brings new authors and their works into focus, many of which later become famous,” says Hrvoje Laurenta, executive director of the festival.
Such world-renowned directors such as Steve McQueen, Cristian Puiu, Radu Jude, Xavier Dolan, Andrej Zvjagincev, Taika Waititi, Jeff Nichols and others have been competing in the main competition programme with their first or second films. Besides foreign filmmakers, ZFF also supports a domestic movie scene with its special competition programme called Checkers (Kockice), which presents new (debut) works of Croatian authors and film directors.
The main competition programme of 15th ZFF includes 13 feature films, including Men Don’t Cry by young Bosnian-Herzegovinian filmmaker Alen Drljević and The Frog by his fellow countrymen Elmir Jukić, which was created at the last year’s Zagreb Film Festival workshop and the first such movie to be shown in the ZFF’s main programme.
“The ZFF is also important to authors because they know that it can be a stepping-stone, that it is here that the ‘stars’ are discovered,” says Laurenta, adding that developing the debut programme is always a challenge. “Actually, it’s not a problem to make such a programme because we look at the quality of movies no matter who made them, but it’s harder to attract the audience to go see these movies. It’s easy when you have ten world-renowned independent movie stars that need no special introduction, but what we’re doing is something that’s really unknown to people,” Laurenta explains and points out that this is why the ZFF and the accompanying programme boast great names.
Among many great movies on the ZFF’s repertoire, you shouldn’t miss the hypnotic thriller Loveless by the renowned Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev, who has twice won the main festival prize in Zagreb (the Golden Pram). The film was this year’s Cannes Jury Award winner. This time, his film competes within the programme titled Together Again, which presents new films by directors whose debuts were screened in the main competition in previous editions of ZFF. Another director together with us again is Sofia Coppola, whose film Lost in Translation was screened at the 10th ZFF. This year we will be watching her latest film The Beguiled, a lavish period drama starring Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning and Colin Farrell, the winner of this year’s Cannes best director award.
The Great Five section of the programme traditionally features new titles from five largest European cinemas (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain). This year, this section will screen the latest film by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino titled Call Me By Your Name and The Party by British director Sally Potter.
Apart from feature films, short films will also be running for the Golden Pram award in the International short film competition programme, which includes ten films from all over the world, from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary, to Brazil and New Zealand. The Croatian short film competition, Checkers, will also see 10 titles competing for the prize.
Apart from the screenings, there will be an Industry section intended for film professionals and anyone interested in learning about all aspects of film productions, including workshops such as My First Script workshops. More than 70 guests from around the world will present and host workshops, including British author James Watkins, director of the “McMafia” series, as well as the episode of Netflix’s “Black Mirror”.
The 15th Zagreb Film Festival will be held from November 11-19, 2017 at Cinema Europa (Kino Europa), Cinema Tuškanac, The Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) and F22 – New Academic Scene. Tickets can be bought at the ticket offices in Cinema Europa, Tuškanac Cinema and MSU or online via zff.kupiulaznicu.hr.
For detailed information about the programme, click here. For schedule, tickets and other info, visit ZFF’s official website here.
Excerpts translated from Večernji.hr
