90 Titles in Seven Programmes

This year, the ninth edition of the international Zagreb Film Festival will be taking place between the 16th and the 23rd of October. It will feature 90 debut films by filmmakers from all over the world and the films have been divided into seven categories; some of the featured films are this year’s award winners from the Sundance and Cannes festivals. The festival will also feature a diverse concurrent programme. (more)

This year’s Zagreb Film Festival will take place in several locations across the city between the 16th and the 23rd of October. Some of the highlights of this ninth edition of the festival include: British actor Paddy Considine’s directorial debut film, “Tyrannosaur”, which won an award at Sundance this year; and the film “Las acacias” by Argentine director, writer and producer Pablo Giorgelli, which won the award for best debut at Cannes. This year’s festival will feature 90 films in seven different categories as well as a diverse concurrent programme.

The aforementioned film, “Tyrannosaur”, won an award for best directing and a special jury prize for the main cast at Sundance. It tells an unusual love story between an alcoholic and a Christian humanitarian worker, and it will surely find its way into the hearts of the Zagreb audience. The other aforementioned film depicts the remarkable tale of a truck driver and his two passengers on a 1500 kilometre long journey from Paraguay to Buenos Aires. The film has thus far intrigued organizers of numerous festivals across the world and, apart from Cannes; it was also screened at festivals in Toronto and San Sebastián in Spain.

Among numerous other titles from the festival programme, we would like to point out the Croatian premiere of the documentary film, “Marijana”, by Czech director, Željka Sukova. It is an unusual musical documentary comedy about three women, their late grandmother and the popular Czech electro-trash band, Midi Lidi. The documentary programme will also feature an interesting political documentary, “African Elections”, which reveals the tragically funny background of the political campaign during the 2008 presidential elections in Ghana.

Thematically, the overall programme will surely please even the most demanding film buffs as the 90 titles have been divided into seven different categories: The Great 5 (major European cinema), My First Film, Checkers, Bib for Kids (short films for youngsters), Sexual Education on Film, and Red Westerns. Some of the selected films will also be competing for the Golden Pram, as well as for the best feature, short and documentary film. As always, there will be a selection of the best Croatian film within the Checkers programme. Moreover, this year, the festival is introducing the Audience Award for the first time. Films will be screened at cinemas Europa and Tuškanac, the Dance Centre, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Croatia Documentary Cinema.