10th ZAGREB FILM FESTIVAL / ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
14th-21st October 2012

CINEMA EUROPA, CINEMA TUŠKANAC, ZAGREB DANCE CENTER, DOKUKINO KIC, MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

The tenth Zagreb Film Festival will be taking place from 14-21 October 2012. The screenings and events will be taking place in six venues in Zagreb: in cinemas Europa, Tuškanac, Grič, Dokukino KIC and in Zagreb Dance Center which will be turned into an attractive cinema during the festival week. A part of the program will also be shown in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Novi Zagreb. By spreading across the Sava River, Zagreb Film Festival will merge with the city more than ever and will remain the biggest and most important film festival for the people and visitors of Zagreb. Some 100 films will be shown in ten programs. On average, the festival screenings are seen by around 30,000 viewers.

The main competition program of the festival will present new first or second films of international directors: twelve long feature films, including one which will be shown out of competition, ten short feature films and sixteen documentary films. The films will be competing for Golden Pram Awards in their respective categories. Besides its international program, the festival will also present Checkers, the national short film competition program. It will include leven films made by new Croatian authors in order to boost and promote Croatian film production.

As in previous years, the festival's main program will be accompanied by three regular side programs: Bib for Kids – films (mostly European) for children, including a block of short films; My First Film program, inspired by Stephen Lowenstein's book of the same title and selected by film critic and editor Nenad Polimac, presents five first films of acclaimed international directors; and Great 5, the program that includes topical films of five great European cinematographies (Spain, France, Italy, Germany and UK) and that has captivated Zagreb audience, becoming one of the most popular side programs.

Every year, Zagreb Film Festival presents a few additional programs the purpose of which is often educational. These programs are realized in cooperation with Croatian and foreign selectors and international festivals and institutes. Some of such previously presented programs include Red Westerns and Wheel (in cooperation with Rotterdam International Film Festival), Film: Protest, Film as Propaganda (selector: Daniel Rafaelić), Bunker (selector: Bernd Buder, Berlinale)... and many others.

Also, in order to help promote Croatian authors and short film production, for the third year in a row we are cooperating with relevant short film festivals (last year it was Tampere Film Festival). In addition to film programs, the festival features numerous presentations of festivals and institutes, book promotions, lectures, photo exhibitions and – in cooperation with Croatian Film Association – Palunko Screenwriters' Workshop.

Keep checking for updates of this year's program on our official website.

The festival's general sponsor is Croatian Telecom. It is financially supported by the Zagreb City Office for Culture, Croatian Audiovisual Center and MEDIA Program.

The festival is organized by the Zagreb Film Festival Artistic Organization.

Dear friends,

Nine years have passed since we embarked on the adventure called Zagreb Film Festival. We have been through a lot since our humble beginnings with merely two silver screens. Figures have multiplied in all spheres: from viewer ratings, number of programs, films we show, theaters, guests we have – to the number of people working for the festival.  He have survived – and are still surviving – the crisis and budget cuts. We are finding new partners and we are all happy to see yet another edition of our festival. For its tenth anniversary we have prepared some one hundred films from almost 40 countries in ten different programs which are to be shown in six theaters.

Feature-length films, short films and documentaries from around the world, including from the countries that have never been present at ZFF – like Saudi Arabia or our neighbor Montenegro – will compete for Golden Prams. Young Croatian authors will compete for the same award in Checkers Program – with the exception that, this year, the winner will also receive HRK 10,000.00, awarded by Croatian Film Directors Guild as stimulation to younger colleagues for their work. There will be Bib for Kids again – our program for the youngest ones, seen by some 3,000 little viewers every year. The cooperation with EUNIC Network has been extended and consists of two programs now. In addition to our permanent Great 5 program, we will present spy films made during the Cold War. We are introducing one more new program that will become regular as of this, 10^th festival edition: My Third Film. It includes films of the authors whose first and/or second films have already been screened at our festival. In cooperation with Austrian Cultural Forum we will show the debutant works of acclaimed Austrian directors. We will also have a retrospective of the films of one of the most significant European directors – our jury member and our friend Michael Glawogger. Since the very beginning, we have been introducing other festivals and various films schools to Croatian filmmakers and audience. This year it will be one of the biggest short-film festivals – the one in Clermont-Ferrand. In return, they will show a selection of the past winners of our national Checkers program. We will also present Rencontres Henri Langlois – an international student film festival.

However, the biggest and most relevant innovation for our tenth anniversary is consolidation of all our workshops under one umbrella – Youth Industry! In addition to our traditional Palunko Workshop that we have hosted from the very beginning in cooperation with Croatian Film Association, we are now introducing the scriptwriting workshop My First Script. It is intended for filmmakers who have already made some short films and are now working on their first feature-length fiction film. This workshop is co-financed by Croatian Film Directors' Guild. As for the kids, we have prepared Bib for Kids Workshop where they will have an opportunity to make a short film. In cooperation with the British Council, we have organized the visit of London-based organization Film London Microwave. They will help the workshop attendants to prepare their low-budget projects. We are doing all this because we hope that our audience will have a chance to see a film developed during Zagreb Film Festival as soon as possible.

I am using this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the people and organizations that have been with us in the past ten years. Their efforts and assistance are also woven into our ten-year-long work. We are particularly grateful to the City of Zagreb, our general sponsor T-Com, Media Program, Croatian Audiovisual Center and other faithful sponsors and partners.

Dear authors, guests, audience, sponsors, partners and festival crew – let us all celebrate and enjoy the 10^th anniversary of Zagreb Film Festival!

Boris T. Matić, Director of Zagreb Film Festival

Dear artists and film art lovers!

I wish a warm welcome to all participants, guests and audience of Zagreb Film Festival, which, to the satisfaction of all Zagrebers and our cultural public, is celebrating its tenth anniversary. 

Past experience, critical acclaim and satisfaction of the audience tell us that, owing to its program, concept, genres it presents, filmmakers' poetic and turnout, Zagreb Film Festival has become the leading film festival in Croatia and the surrounding region. Not only to the joy and satisfaction of film lovers and film workers, but also of all Zagrebers and numerous audience who have a chance to see the best and latest film stories. Through eight festival programs and one hundred screenings, we will once again have an opportunity to see the best debutant films, as well as previously awarded feature-length and short films offering inspired portrayals of the Facebook generation.

We are particularly glad that this year's ZFF, with its main and side programs, will be taking place in renovated or newly-built cultural venues such as: Cinema Europa, Cinema Tuškanac, Zagreb Dance Center and Museum of Contemporary Art. I would like to express my gratitude to all filmmakers and production houses from Croatia and abroad who, in the days to come, will turn Zagreb into an attractive motion-picture capital. To all the participants of the Festival I wish a pleasant stay in our City!

Milan Bandić, Mayor of Zagreb

Europe loves European Festivals

A privileged place for meetings, exchanges and discovery, festivals provide a vibrant and accessible environment for the widest variety of talent, stories and emotions that constitute Europe’s cinematography.The MEDIA Programme of the European Union aims to promote European audiovisual heritage, to encourage the circulation of films outside their own borders and to foster audiovisual industry competitiveness. The MEDIA Programme acknowledges the cultural, educational, social and economic role of festivals by co-financing more than 90 festivals each year, programming more than 20 000 screenings of European works to nearly 3 million audience across Europe. We are especially proud to look back on how much the European film industry has developed since there is MEDIA, and to stress our continued commitment to supporting the EU film industry in the future.

MEDIA is pleased to support the 10^th edition of the Zagreb Film Festival and we extend our best wishes to all of the festival goers for an enjoyable and stimulating event.

MEDIA PROGRAMME

European Union

For more information on MEDIA please visit our website:

www.ec.europa.eu/media