The tenth edition of Zagreb Film Festival ended tonight with the award-presentation ceremony in Cinema Europa before a packed audience. During the eight days of this jubilee edition of the festival, cinemagoers had a chance to see one hundred films in ten programs at six venues in Zagreb. All in all, there were more than two hundred screenings.

As usually, the closing and award-presentation ceremony took place in an informal atmosphere and Festival Director Boris T. Matiæ and Executive Director Hrvoje Laurenta said a few words for the end. "The tenth edition of the festival is now behind us. It was great, it was hard and the weather was merciful. With some minor technical problems, we have survived the introduction of DCP and new technology", said Boris T. Matiæ. "We would like to express our gratitude to the festival crew who have done their job like never before, which resulted in dark shadows around their eyes and a total loss of weight of around 500 kilos", he added.

"As always, we are very grateful to the City of Zagreb, Croatian Audiovisual Center, European Union's MEDIA Program, our general sponsor Hrvatski Telekom and other friends and sponsors. We especially thank our faithful audience who has been with us all these years. They packed all six auditoriums where the screenings took place. Thank you so much", said Hrvoje Laurenta.

The first award to be presented at the ceremony was the one of Palunko Scriptwriters' Workshop. Twelve young scriptwriters took part in it this year, under mentorship of Dalibor Mataniæ, Tomislav Zajec and Danilo Šerbedžija. The jury consisted of Lana Brèiæ, the winner of Palunko Workshop 2011, Dalija Dozet, film director and Tin Žaniæ, the winner of Checkers Program 2011. Special mentions went to Kristina Vukoviæ and Hrvoje Sutliæ and the main award went to Josip Sunko. A short film based on his script will be made by the next ZFF. It will be produced by Croatian Audiovisual Center and will be shown in ZFF's Checkers Program.

This year's first Golden Pram went to the best film in Checkers Program. The jury for this award consisted of Christian Denier (a member of National Selection Committee at Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival and film director), Hristina Popoviæ (actress) and Danilo Šerbedžija (director and screenwriter). They decided that the best short film by a young Croatian author was Terrarium by Hana Jušiæ. As Christian Denier explained, "Short film is a place where director has a freedom of exploring various ways of feeling the story. Hana’s signature is strong, unique and highly aesthetical. It is a synergy of astonishing cinematography and mature sense for dramaturgy". Special mention of the jury went to Babysitter by Ivan Sikavica.

Golden Pram for Best Documentary Film and a cash award in the amount of EUR 1,000 went to Rob Stewart's Slaughter Nick for President. The jury who selected the winner in this category consisted of Hana Kulhánková (Director of One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival), Miroslav Sikavica (film director whose documentary film The Cloud premiered at last year's ZFF) and Michael Glawogger (Austrian film director, screenwriter and cinematographer). As the jury explained, the award was given "for the absurdity of life and politics, for a sexy hairy chest, for Hawaiian shirts against Miloševiæ, for Nick living with his mother, for Slaughter for president, for charm and integrity and for the fact that everybody should have a chance to play punk rock in Novi Sad". Special Mention in documentary competition went to the Israeli film Life in Stills by Tamara Tal because it is "a sensitive and deep portrayal of the relationship between a grandparent and her grandchild, shown with lots of respect, love, caring and patience".

The jury for the fiction film category consisted of Jovan Marjanoviæ (producer and Head of Industry at Sarajevo Film Festival), Maurizio Braucci (Italian writer and scriptwriter) and Markus Schleinzer (long-time casting director and the author of Michael – last year's winner of Golden Pram for Best Fiction Film). The award for Best Short Fiction Film and the amount of EUR 1,000 went to Shay Levi for his Return. As Markus Schleinzer explained, the film was awarded for "tackling a burning issue in contemporary Israeli society, while exploring a universal human theme of family psyche in a cinematically very mature way". Special Mention went to Bartlomiej Zmuda's Barbakan. As Jovan Marjanoviæ explained, " Barbakan showed us a real story but with the rhythm and atmosphere of a great thriller. A frustrated man, under attack of a bad destiny, tries to remediate it in a wrong way, which brings him close to death. This short film is well realized, the actors are believable and the train, which is in reality the main character, goes on".

The winner of the main festival award is Everybody in Our Family by Radu Jude. It was proclaimed by Markus Schleinzer: "The nearness with all the characters that we sense from the very beginning, the simplicity and at the same time the complexity of the storyline, and especially the outstanding work with all the actors have very much convinced the jury. Everybody in our family does not try to tell a completed story, nor it tries to lead its story-line to just one possible ending. And this is its very strength. After its ending on screen it holds numerous possible stories in our heads. What more can you ask for?" Actress Michaela Sirbu received the Golden Pram and cash award in the amount of EUR 4,000. She said she had a great time in Zagreb and she thanked to the big Zagreb Film Festival family on behalf of the film crew.

The award-presentation ceremony and the screening of Zagreb Stories Vol. 2 marked the formal end of the tenth Zagreb Film Festival. Still, a selection of the films from this year's programs of ZFF can be seen on Sunday in Cinemas Europa and Tuškanac, Museum of Contemporary Art and Dokukino KIC.

The Sunday program also includes the official premiere of the U.S. documentary Marina Abramoviæ: The Artist Is Present by Matthew Akers. The screening takes place in the Museum of Contemporary Art at 8p.m.