Zagreb Film Festival has been taking place since 2003, presenting to the audience the best of recent independent international and domestic film production. From its beginning, ZFF is oriented towards discovering and promoting contemporary independent film and debut films of directors from around the world, and special category Checkers is dedicated to Croatian directors. In 2020, ZFF launched the internet platform croatian.film which became the central place for the online promotion and viewing of Croatian films worldwide. With more than two decades of their activity as a festival, and later also as a distribution platform, ZFF played a crucial role in bringing up generations of audiences who enjoy film art.
Zagreb Film Festival will present a selection of short films from their official Short Competition Programme and Checkers 2024.
FILMS:
Spot, Sara Alavanić, Croatia, 2024, 20'
Fleka does not stray far from his building. He hangs out with his neighbours and sometimes skateboards. Ever since his mom ended up in a mental institution, his best friend is his only family. Sometimes he spends time with a mentally challenged neighbour who has adopted a pig in his apartment. He soon realises this is the only friend he has.
The Stag, An Chu, Taiwan, 2023, 15'
On a farm in Taiwan, a father and his two sons raise deer. A sense of playful complicity between father and sons gives way to the solemnity of the antler harvesting ritual. Winner of the Jury Award for Best Short at Sundance.
The Idea of an Island, Carmen Pedrero, Spain, 2024, 18'
Bombs drop while a mother sings to her daughters. Nature shivers. Houses become empty. Nine-year-old Emilia is about to learn that the war all around her is not a game anymore.
Ark, Mladen Stanić, Croatia, 2024., 24'
A coming-of-age story about a thirteen-year-old boy from a small coastal town in Croatia. The first signs of teenage rebellion are not welcomed in his strict and somewhat conservative family. One day, he decides to ignore the rules and skip school with a girl he likes. Together, they board the bus and make a day trip to a nearby big city. Those few hours will shake his world and make him question everything he was raised to believe in. New film by Mladen Stanić, winner of the Golden Pram for Best Croatian Short Film in 2018.
Yoghurt, Juice, Cigarettes, Josip Lukić, Croatia, 2024, 26'
Sara is a young mother with a few more weeks at the hospital ahead of her, along with its slow routines and daily struggles. The film follows her long day on the psychiatric ward. Yoghurt, Juice, Cigarettes is Josip Lukić’s latest short, whose graduation film It’s Not Cold for Mosquitoes, co-directed with Klara Šovagović, was awarded the Golden Pram at ZFF 2022.
*films are in original language with English subtitles
