9th ZAGREB FILM FESTIVAL / ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
16th-23rd October 2011

CINEMA EUROPA, CINEMA TUŠKANAC, DOKUKINO CROATIA, DANCE CENTER, MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

The nineth edition of the Zagreb Film Festival is going to be held from October 16th-23rd 2011. This year the programme is going to be shown on several locations in Zagreb – at the cinemas Europa, Tuškanac, and Dokukino Croatia as well as the Zagreb Dance Centre, which is going to function as a cinema for a week for the purposes of the festival. A part of the programme is going to be screened in the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in Novi Zagreb. With its expansion over the banks of the river Sava, the Zagreb Film Festival is going to blend in with the city life more than ever and it is going to remain the biggest and most important film festival for the inhabitants of Zagreb. The festival is going to host about 90 films in seven different programmes!

The main programme (at the cinemas Europa, Tuškanac, and Dokukino Croatia) is, again, going to present new film debuts – there will be 12 feature films, 10 short films, and 16 documentaries. Films in the competition are going to compete for the festival's award – the Golden Pram.

Checkers (at the Tuškanac Cinema) is a programme in which Croatian short films compete for the prize. Its aim is to promote and stimulate Croatian film-making.

Bib for Kids (at the Europa Cinema and MSU), for the fifth year in a row, is going to make the youngest audience satisfied by screening five films, five titles from the world's cinematography, intended for children of different age. The aim of this programme is to familiarize children with films and encourage them to become cinemagoers.

My First Film (at the Zagreb Dance Centre), a programme which is inspired by the homonymous book by Stephen Lowenstein, is celebrating its fifth edition this year. Selector of this programme is Nenad Polimac, film critic and editor.  The programme My First Film is going to be focused on Danish directors, whose film debuts are going to be screened at the Dance Centre.

The Great 5 (at the Tuškanac Cinema and MSU) is a programme which includes movies from five important European cinematographies, and which has conquered the hearts of the Zagreb audience and become one of the most attended side programme. It presents new European films from Spain, France, Italy, Germany, and Great Britain + guest country Austria.

The program Sexual Education on Film (Zagreb Dance Centre), a selection by film critic Daniel Rafaelić – presents films made in various parts and social circumstances of the 20th century which tend to educate the audience about sexuality.

Red Westerns (Zagreb Dance Centre), program presents the films of the specific Communist western genre made in Eastern Europe in the 1960s and 70s as a response to the decadent genre of American western. The latter program has been realized in cooperation with Ludmila Cvikova and Rotterdam Film Festival.

Special programs of this year's ZFF include presentation of a couple of relevant European festivals: goEast from Wiesbaden, a festival of Central and Eastern European film, and Tampere Film Festival, one of the leading short film festivals in the world. Also, in the spirit of international cooperation, this year we have organized a side program called Red Westerns, in cooperation with Rotterdam International Film Festival.
With the elections coming up in Croatia, ZFF will show selected political clips from Croatian election campaigns. Acclaimed British photographer Nick Wall will be a guest of the festival and his works will be shown on a special exhibition.
In the Modern Art Museum, a retrospective of the short films of Bosnian artist Šejla Kamerić will be shown. As part of the special programs of the 9th ZFF, 'Street Kids United', a film by director, journalist and writer Tim Pritchard will be shown. Pritchard is a member of this year's documentary film jury. ZFF will also present Casanovafest, a festival of love and erotica that has recently taken place in Vrsar for the third time. As every year, the screenwriters' workshop Palunko will be organized by Croatian Film Association. Stella Artois film parties, organized in numerous downtown clubs, will again contribute to great atmosphere at ZFF.  

T-Com is the festival's general sponsor, and it is financially suported by the City of Zagreb and its Office for Culture, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and the MEDIA programme.

Dear friends,

We have almost spent all the nine lives of a cat to prepare the ninth edition of Zagreb Film Festival and to show 90 films in seven different programs in eight days.
As in previous years, feature-length films, shorts and documentary films will be competing for Golden Pram. The best Croatian authors in Checkers program will also be awarded. I am using this opportunity to thank the jury members who will be spending the festival days with us and decide on the best films in the end.
In addition to our usual side programs – Bib for Kids, Great 5 (this year reinforced with a film from Austria, the sixth represented country and a member of EUNIC network – our long-time fruitful collaborator) and My First Film (dedicated to Danish authors this year) – we have come up with two new programs. The first one is realized in cooperation with the Rotterdam International Film Festival and is called Red Westerns. It presents films from former Communist countries that were made as an Eastern European answer to the popular American genre. The second new program is Sexual Education on Film. These films – to be screened as late shows – will give you an idea how sexual horizons were pushed by means of film.
As in last year, a workshop will be organized in cooperation with MEDIA Desk Croatia and, this time, with Croatian Audiovisual Center (HAVC). The workshop is called Moving Danes and will introduce to us the 'Danish film miracle', with participation of Danish filmmakers. In cooperation with the Academy of Dramatic Arts, we will present Finnish Tampere Film Festival, its winner, and Wiesbaden Film Festival. One of our guests this year is Fernanda Silva, director of Portuguese Festroia Film Festival. In its next year's edition, that festival will present Croatian cinematography in Portugal. The third meetingn of the authors of the yet-to-be-made international omnibus film dedicated to Slovenian city of Maribor as the European Cultural Capital 2012 will take place during the festival. Also, in the last three days of the festival and in cooperation with HAVC, we will host the members of the board of the European Film Academy.
I would like to express our gratitude to the City of Zagreb, our general sponsor T-Com, MEDIA Program, Croatian Audiovisual Center and other faithful sponsors.
We also wish to thank authors, guests and audience for their participation in Zagreb Film Festival and we wish you all to enjoy these eight days and nights in Zagreb.

Boris T. Matić
Director, Zagreb Film Festival

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. This year the MEDIA programme is celebrating its 20th Birthday so we are especially proud to look back on how much the European film industry has developed over this period, and to stress our continued commitment to supporting the EU film industry in the future.
MEDIA is pleased to support the 9th 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 http://ec.europa.eu/media