August 24, 2019 – The first edition of the Rab Film Festival opened on Friday at the Summer Cinema in Rab with a screening of the French film Les Misérables. The opening was attended by the film’s director Ladj Ly and actor Djibril Zonga.
The Rab Film Festival held the Croatian premiere of the film, which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, reports Jutarnji List.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v=YmvHzCLP6ug
The first edition of this event, which continues until Tuesday, August 27, will feature 13 screenings and five concerts. Danish debutant Ulla Salim’s Sons of Denmark, a story about Islamic radicalism set in the broader context of the rise of neo-Nazi ideologies in Europe, will also premiere at the festival, as well as Ken Loach’s new drama Sorry We Missed You, about the fight for survival in an increasingly ruthless British labor market.
The festival program also features Silver Bear winner at the Berlinale By the Grace of God by Francois Ozon, which tells the story of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, Serbian film Stitches (Šavovi) directed by Miroslav Terzić, about a mother’s search for her child she believes was stolen at a maternity ward 18 years ago and, outside the competition, Diary of Diana B (Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević) will be presented to the audience by the director Dana Budisavljević.
The documentary program highlights the Belgian film Green Gold, a shocking background story about biofuels filmed in the remotest corners of the world for ten years, the German film The Cleaners, which takes viewers to the shady underworld of the Internet – a place where questionable content is removed, and the Dutch Bellingcat, which offers a unique perspective on the world of investigative journalism and the truth seeker in the reign of fake news and alternative facts.
The Rab Film Festival will also feature two award-winning films from this year’s Sundance Festival. Exploring the mysterious death of a UN Secretary-General in Cold Case Hammarskjöld, Danish director Mads Brügger takes viewers into the darkest abyss of African history, while Sea of Shadows reveals the effort to rescue the Earth’s smallest whale – the Vaquita – from extinction and bringing the international crime syndicate to justice.
The only Croatian title in the competition program is That’s the Way It Is by Arsen Oremović, which tells the story of a father’s attempt to exercise his right to see his daughter after a divorce.
The festival is competitive in nature, and the best awards will be presented in three categories: Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, and Audience Award. The awards will be decided by a jury consisting of festival selector, film lecturer, critic, and director Rada Šešić, actress Tihana Lazović and director Antonio Nuić.
The Rab Film Festival program is led by film critic and journalist Vladan Petković (feature films) and Lejla Dedić, program editor at Al Jazeera Balkans (documentary program).
The music program will feature Zdenka Kovačiček & Greenhouse Blues Band, Urban & 4, Elemental, Nipplepeople, and De-tour.
The RAFF GENERATION program is aimed at film professionals and includes lectures by prominent local filmmakers including founder and director of the ZagrebDox International Documentary Film Festival and director of Factum Production Company Nenad Puhovski, director Dana Budisavljević, cinematographer Raul Brzić and writer and screenwriter Marjan Alčevski.
The organizers of the festival are the City of Rab, Rab Open University and Toro Laboratory in Zagreb, and the festival director is Robert Tomić Zuber.
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