The best of domestic production

The jubilee 20th “Days of Croatian Film” will be taking place at the Student Centre between the 4th and the 9th of April. Once again, it will offer the best of contemporary domestic production within six official categories; there will also be presentations of films outside the competition and an array of other events that should not be missed.

The “Days of Croatian Film” festival is celebrating its 20th jubilee this year, between the 4th and the 9th of April. The event’s main goal is to gather, screen and evaluate the best Croatian films and audiovisual creations, and present them to the public. Screenings will be organized within Zagreb’s Student Centre, the SC cinema, Teatar &TD, MM centre and the SC Club. A total of 115 films will be competing for several prestigious awards, including the Festival Grand Prix, the Octavian, the Jelena Rajković Award, the Zlatna Uljanica Award, and the Audience award. The competition consists of the following categories: feature film (17 titles), documentary (16 titles), animated film (16 titles), experimental film (15 titles), music video (25 titles), and utilitarian film, in which “Zagreb, Zagreb” – a promotional video by the Zagreb Tourist Board – will be competing against 26 other entries. There will also be an award ceremony called “The Reject Salon”, for the best entered films that did not make it into the official selection.

There will also be a number of appealing concurrent events; hiding under the name “Critical Days” is an interesting workshop on film critique. Festivalgoers who want to meet the filmmakers and heads of production houses will have an opportunity to participate in a forum called the “Idea Market”. Anyone interested can also take part in a programme consisting of home commercial videos, conceived as a competitive amateur’s category. There will also be screenings of films from last year’s Pula Film Festival, in a programme called “Little Pula”, in addition to projections of films about the skate culture in a programme called “Skate Pool Cinema”. Film buffs, and all of those who think they deserve to be regarded as such, may try their luck at an interesting film quiz: “How a quiz started on my island”. This year’s event will also feature some new concepts such as the first hosting of the cult “Marathon of short films” – a renowned project that unites interested filmmakers whose works, filmed during the festival’s duration, will be screened on the final day of the event. The programme “The Spot for a Special Moment” will present animated and experimental films that won awards in previous editions of the festival.

Organizers would also like to extend invitations to a great homage dedicated to Vatroslav Mimica, this year’s recipient of the Octavian award for life’s work. There will also be a remembrance tribune of the first “Days of Croatian Film” and a programme dedicated to the recently-deceased Croatian documentarist, director and longstanding editor of Documentary programming at the Croatian National Television: Miroslav Mikuljan.