As Journal writes, the last publicly spoken sentence at the end of each film festival is the first of the new season: preparations began last year, with the last day of the last festival. The details may vary, but at the core, it is always the same: the preparations for the festival last all year. There is only enough time for the final moves in the months leading up to the festival. ZagrebDox is no exception; on the contrary, it brilliantly demonstrates how accurate the previous sentence is.
Less than a year ago, the European Film Academy of Zagreb included ZagrebDox in the narrowest circle of elite world festivals, whose films compete for the annual award of this umbrella film institution in the documentary category. Thirty-seven festivals from all over the world, ZagrebDox being a proud member, greatly define the documentary scene, and therefore it should not be surprising that as many as fifteen films competed for one place in ZagrebDox in 2023. Numerous quality film applications (almost 1500 of them!) have caused sweet sorrows for the selection team, with the founder and director of ZagrebDox Nenad Puhovski, leading it since the first day.
“Since in the recent period, due to the pandemic, the completion of documentaries has been slightly slower, this year we faced the wealth of truly great Doxes, so the selection process was long and complex. The fact that we have decided to return the extremely popular ‘Music Globe’ and ‘Happy Dox’ programs may be the best witness to this. On the other hand, the increasing popularity of documentaries is probably best demonstrated by the fact of ‘overcrowding’ of the Masters Program with the films of Herzog, Ivory, Schlöndorff … As always, we are showing the most awarded documentaries of last season, such as the winner of the Golden Lion from Venice, ‘All Beauty and Blood’ by Laura Poitras. The latest films are, of course, there as well, which will only have their world premiere at ZagrebDox, such as the ‘Eastern Front’ by Vitaly Manski, which is eagerly expected at Berlinale. Last but not least, ZagrebDox continues its commitment to the Croatian documentary this year with as many as twenty latest films,” said Nenad Puhovski.
The nineteenth edition of ZagrebDox will be scheduled at the five halls of Kaptol Boutique Cinema & Bar from March 26 to April 2. In addition to more than a hundred excellent films, numerous guests, accompanying events, and talks are expected, in short, a documentary film festival in all its colours, durations, thematic focus, and artistic achievements. This year’s edition of ZagrebDox will primarily focus on the audience who demonstrated last year that it loves documentaries on the big screen despite all the changes brought on by the era of streaming services.
The ZagrebDox documentary selection in 2023 is receiving its final contours, but its visual identity has been ready for some time, this year signed by Studio Sesnic & Turkovic. This year, the designer creatives have reached out to the festival’s very foundations in designing its visual identity. The colour is recognizable, and the key element is highlighted and anchored in the unmissable ZagrebDox Rubik’s Cube for announcements. The nineteenth Zagrebdox is just around the corner, burdened only with the desire to show the best documentaries in the world!
All news and information about ZagrebDox are available on the official website and the social networks of the festival.
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