New Films, New Programs

The audiences of this year’s Zagreb Film Festival will have an opportunity to see 90 films throughout nine different programs, three of which are new. Many of the record number of films shown at the festival will never reach regular distribution.

This year’s seventh annual Zagreb Film Festival, organized in several locations around town, will offer audiences a significantly larger number of films than any previous year.

A total of 90 films will be shown throughout nine different programs, three of which are new, at the following venues: Student Center, Europa, Tuškanac and Movieplex cinema theaters. The festival will take place between the 18th and the 24th of October.

The main program will present 10 to 12 long features, 15 shorts and 12 documentaries, all competing for the first prize, the Golden Pram.
This year’s program, “My first film”, focuses on Spanish directors, so the audiences will have an opportunity to see debut films by Alejandro Amenábar, the director of “Abre los ojos”, and Julio Médema, who won awards at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival for his film “The Red Squirrel”.

The program “Great 5” will also continue, featuring films such as “Somers Town” by British director Shane Meadows, and “Caos Calmo” by Antonio Grimaldi.

The program “Kockice” will premiere at least five Croatian debut films, while the afternoon program, “Vip Bibijada”, will promote children’s films.

One of the three new programs, “Film as Propaganda”, will show films made in totalitarian countries portraying totalitarian regimes in a positive way. Encouraged by the upcoming premiere of the film “Zagreb Stories”, the program “Omnibus” has been designed to present stories from various cities around the world, such as New York, Montreal, and Tokyo, while a special program will be dedicated to the producers of debut films. One of them is “The Turtle's Song”, a fascinating documentary which follows turtles throughout their life cycle.

The Zagreb Film Festival is specific for its repertoire of films, most of which will not be shown through regular distribution, which makes the festival a unique opportunity for true film aficionados to see them. And, obviously, many people do not miss that opportunity as the festival is attended by some 30,000 visitors every year.