ZAGREB FILM FESTIVAL
14.-21.10.2012.
04.10.2012
As many one third of feature films directed by women
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This year one third of the feature live action films from the official selection were directed by female authors! As many as four films were directed by women, while the fifth resulted as a project of a male-female team of authors.

After the Venetian Mostra, we will have a chance to see Wadjda, directed by Haifaa al Mansur the first woman director in Saudi Arabia, whose previous short films uncompromisingly inspire discussion and speak about taboos in the local culture. Haifaa al Mansur is the first female director in Saudi Arabia and is considered one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in the kingdom. The success of her three short films, as well as international merits she has won for her documentary Women without a Shadow (2005), has influenced on a whole new wave of Saudi filmmakers, while the topic of opening movie theatres in the country got her to the new covers.

Lore is the second film by the Australian director Cate Shortland, her long expected new work after the magnificent debut Somersault, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes Film Festival and at ZFF. Her second feature-length work is an adaptation of the novel The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert. It is a sensual and complex tale which explores the suffering of young people after World War II.

Our region is represented by two female filmmakers: Aida Begiæ has already made a name for herself in the film world and we are very glad that after Snow in 2008 this year we screen her second feature film Children, which has already won the merit of the Cannes jury in the programme Un Certain Regard, and was recently chosen as the Bosnian and Herzegovinian Oscar candidate. Children are a story about Rahima (23) and Nedim (14), orphans from the Bosnian war. They live in Sarajevo, in a transitional society that lost the sense of morality and stopped caring for the children of people who died defending their city.

Maja Miloš is a new up-and-coming Serbian filmmaker, whose debut Clip, in which she wryly portrays the world of teenagers in Belgrade’s suburbs, caused a great stir in the film world. Despite explicit scenes of sex and violence, due to which the film was banned in Russia, the critics agree that the film realistically portrays today’s Facebook generation. At Rotterdam International Film Festival, Clip won the main festival award (Tiger) and Dutch film critics’ award. At Motovun Film Festival it won the award for best film in the region.