14/11/2023 - The focus of this year’s edition, which also hosted some strong master classes, was mainly on education in the different fields of filmmaking

A photo taken during Bettina Böhler's master class, moderated by Iva Ivan

The 21st edition of the Zagreb Film Festival (6-12 November) served up a wide and varied selection of Industry events, some of which could be regarded as old traditions, while others were more recent, perhaps intending to become staples in the future, alongside some that were brand-new, launched this very year. All of the events were successful in terms of attendance levels and the interest generated, but this year, the master classes stood out particularly.

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My First Script is considered one of the oldest and most successful traditions of the Zagreb Film Festival Industry programme. So far, it has resulted in films such as Ognjen Glavonić’s The Load [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ognjen Glavonić
film profile], Sonja Tarokić’s The Staffroom [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sonja Tarokić
film profile] and Josip Žuvan’s Carbide [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Josip Žuvan
film profile], among others, which were all shown at previous editions of the festival. Under the regular mentorship of screenwriters and filmmakers Antonio Nuić and Pjer Žalica, with a guest appearance by Slovenian-Czech auteur Olmo Omerzu (known for his award-winning titles such as Family Film [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olmo Omerzu
film profile], Winter Flies [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olmo Omerzu
film profile] and Bird Atlas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olmo Omerzu
film profile]), the projects, which hailed from Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, North Macedonia and Croatia, were further developed and polished.

This year’s edition also saw the introduction of a new script-development workshop aimed at short films, organised in partnership between the festival, the Talents and Short Film Market (TSFM), the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the North Macedonia Film Agency and the Italian Cultural Institute, in which seven Croatian and one Macedonian project participated. They were mentored by filmmaker Nolwenn Guiziou and editor Gabriele Alfieri, and the event ended with a public pitching session in which Marko Bičanić’s Sunburn Paradise emerged victorious and will thus be presented at the eighth TSFM, which will take place in Turin from 27-29 November.

On the other hand, Industry Youth! has established itself as part of the Zagreb Film Festival Industry programme, and it is organised by the festival in conjunction with six film academies from the region. It consists of a workshop and a final pitching forum for six projects, presented by 12 students. Three of them went home with awards, comprising services from the sponsors. Greed, directed by Aleksandra Stošić and produced by Milan Bajčetić, from the University of Nova Gorica School of Arts, won services in the VFX department from the company Poster. Death, Sea, Colour Blue, directed by Milutin Milošević and produced by Jelena Čeivanović from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, was awarded with colour grading at Eclectica, while the project from the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Arts Boiling Frog, directed by Sara Alavanić and produced by Lucija Perić, won poster design by the company Šesnić&Turković.

The festival’s traditional partner, Creative Europe - MEDIA Desk Croatia, was back this year with two presentations. One, titled “Support for Creative Innovation Lab”, was presented by head of Culture Office Anera Stopfer, while the programme “MEDIA Info Day: What’s There for Me?” was presented by Martina Petrović, head of Creative Europe - MEDIA Desk Croatia. One more traditional partner, Hub385, contributed to the Zagreb Film Festival Industry programme in its usual way: through the My First Video-Game Workshop, mentored by Nika Tilić.

This year saw three master classes given by the festival guests. The main competition jury member, producer Renée Hansen Mlodyszewski, talked in depth about her involvement in the Oscar-nominated 2021 feature The Worst Person in the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile] by Joachim Trier, covering aspects from funding and production to post-production and promotion, while also reflecting on her other projects and collaborations with different screenwriters and filmmakers. The talk was followed by the screening of the film in focus. In his master class, guest lecturer Olmo Omerzu focused on the incorporation of improvisational acting methods into a script. The filmmaker often combines professional actors, teenage non-professionals and animals in his movies. Editor Bettina Böhler also gave a master class in which she discussed her work on projects such as Valeska Grisebach’s Western [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonas Dornbach
interview: Valeska Grisebach
interview: Valeska Grisebach
film profile] (2017) and Christian Petzold’s Afire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christian Petzold
film profile] (2023), also touching on her collaborations with other German filmmakers.

Two workshops introduced last year also made a comeback at this year’s edition. Film critic Nino Kovačić led the “54+ Workshop” for mature amateur film critics from Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which consisted of watching the films in the Network of Festivals in the Adriatic Region programme as well as daily get-togethers and discussions. Also, editors Vladimir Gojun and Tomislav Pavlic held a trailer-editing workshop, which was also a competition, with the award being the opportunity to make a trailer for Bruno Anković’s upcoming feature Celebration [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bruno Anković
film profile]. The participant Petra Šobak was eventually declared the winner.

Here is the full list of My First Script Workshop projects and participants:

B.P.R.S. (Breeze/River/Plant/Sun) – Dušanka Belada (Montenegro)
Between Earth and Sky – Gledis Bica (Albania)
Perfect Place for Unhappines – Marko Kovač (Serbia)
Zora – Radovan Petrović (North Macedonia)
Pushback – Bojan Radanović (Croatia)
Bambina – Ana Tonković (Croatia)

The list of Industry Youth! projects and participants is as follows:

Boiling Frog – Sara Alavanić, Lucija Perić (Croatia)
Strangers – Jaka Florjančič, Nina Bevk (Slovenia)
We Don’t Have the Picture of the Lake Because We Have Never Been at The Lake – Ismira Mašić, Adna Rizvan (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Death, Sea, Colour Blue – Milutin Milošević, Jelena Čeivanović (Serbia)
Dose – Tadea Pavlovska, Roze Simonovska (North Macedonia)
Greed – Aleksandra Stošić, Milan Bajčetić (Slovenia)

And finally, here is the list of TSFM projects and participants:

Sunburn Paradise – Marko Bičanić (Croatia)
Sleigh Queens – Tamara Bregović (Croatia)
2+2 – Marija Georgiev (Croatia)
Asparagus Bear – Ivan Grgur (Croatia)
Malala – Filip Lafazanovski (North Macedonia)
Unclean Spirit – Matej Matijević (Croatia)
Vespa – Marko Škobalj (Croatia)
At the Table – Ivan Veljača (Croatia)