The 9th Zagreb Film Festival will be held from 16th-23rd of October 2011, on  on several locations in Zagreb, showing about 90 films in seven sets of programmes including : new film debuts – 12 feature films, 10 short films, and 16 documentaries, competing for the festival’s award – the Golden Pram, Croatian short films, Bib for Kids, My First Film, The Great 5 (new European films from Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Britain and Austria.

For more detailed info and full programme visit ZFF homepage: www.zagrebfilmfestival.com

Read more about Mljet and other Croatian Islands

Beside Dubrovnik , the video shows short clips from variety of places in Dubrovnik County, including Peljesac, Mljet, Korcula, Lastovo, Elafiti.. Soothing instrumental music in the background brings alive the ambience

Have a look & enjoy:

Find out more about Dubrovnik, Dalmatia and Croatian Islands

This lovely 29 minutes film documentary, made by German broadcaster ARD.de (read here about ARD) is filmed around Adriatic islands of Dalmatia:  Lastovo, Korcula, Vrnik and Palagruza.
It is in German language and includes a lot of nice shots of local people and natural beauty of the area.
To watch the video, click on above picture or at this link..and enjoy!

The venue is Student Centre Cinemas in Croatian capital – Zagreb.

The festival promoted the latest production of cinematography from Croatia.

The selection includes feature films, documentaries, animations, experimental and short films.

Click here to see complete programme of the festival.

The 5th ZagrebDox, an international documentary film festival, opened its door on Monday in Zagreb to all documentary fans and is still running until 01.03.09

The Festival was officially opened with the screening of Pinuccio Lovero  A Midsummer Death’s Dream, a documentary about a frustrated undertaker who is having a tough time because none of his fellow citizens has died yet.

Just before the screening, festival director and chief selector Nenad Puhovski expressed gratitude to the audience for visiting the festival in ever growing numbers every year.

He also greeted Croatian president Stjepan Mesić who attended the opening ceremony.

Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandić , who officially opened the festival, greeted everybody and said that the city has had faith in ZagrebDox form its very beginnings, but that the fact that more than 50,000 viewers saw its films in the past 4 years has exceeded all expectations.

I was also there, sitting  in the audience (see me in lower left corner of above photo), enjoying the opening night – click to see the large photo of ZagrebDox audience

The festival has three programs – the Regional Competition, the International Competition and the Documentary and Other program.

At the festival that is celebrating its fifth birthday,  the audience will have a chance to see over 120 contemporary documentary films, among which will be musical documentaries, films about current crisis of modern capitalism as well as Happy Dox program.

The Fifth ZagrebDox will be taking place in Zagreb Student Centre, Savska 25, Zagreb, Croatia ( www.sczg.hr )

See detailed programme: www.zagrebdox.net and check last year’s festival info

An exhibition dedicated to travel writer and the author of numerous TV documentary films, Mario Saletto, opened at the Technical Museum in Zagreb on Friday.

The exhibition is titled ‘The World Revealed – TV Studio in a Backpack’ and documents Saletto’s body of work filmed with a 16mm Bolex camera, from mountain landscapes to the animal kingdom, sailing and skiing, and many others. Mario Saletto died in 2006.

The exhibition will be opened until end of January 2009 in Tehnički muzej, Savska 18, Zagreb, telefon: 01/ 4844 050 www.tehnicki-muzej.hr

Mario Saletto was journalist and cameraman who worked at the HRT/Croatian Television. He belonged to  first TV generation of the Academy for Theatre, Film and Television in Zagreb which has implemented its knowledge and experience into the Zagreb Television ever since it was established in 1956.

Saletto was a distinguished TV author with a specific approach to his work and a special relation to the TV medium. Within the scope of his genre – the adventure documentaries, he works with the energy of a high-quality journalist and discoverer. As an experienced mountaineer, ski instructor, diver and sailor, he always finds the right motive and the right moment to record that particular detail which relates his story on the basis of one impressive picture. He was both a visual and a textual author, director and editor. He managed to reduce his team, that accompanied him in his travels around the globe, to two or three people who are, according to his own words, the centre of a small mobile TV studio that could fit into a backpack.

His projects included:

1968 – 1970 – he was a co-author of a TV documentary on the national parks in ex-Yugoslavia
1970 – he published “The Beauty of Camping” (2nd edition, 1985)
1972 – 1976 – TV series “Secrets of the Adriatic Sea” (first Croatian documentary on life under the sea)
1981 – 1995 – TV series “Through the Endless World”, 56 thirty-minutes travel documentaries
1989 – book “Through the Endless World” (“Stvarnost” edition), a collection of Saletto’s reports from his travels
1989 – 1995 – TV series “Cruising the Globe”, 45 thirty-minutes travel documentaries
1997 – 2001 – TV series “Croatian Adventure”, 24 thirty minutes documentaries
2000 – TV series “5000 km through Mexico”
2001 – TV series “The US National Parks”, 9 thirty minutes travel documentaries currently on air Thursdays on HTV 1st Channel
1997 – 2001 TV series “Croatian Adventure”, 24 thirty minutes travel documentaries – last 5 episodes currently on air Fridays on HTV 1st Channel
2002. TV series “DESTINIES” – documentaries about unusual life stories of Croats in South America

Over 50 films will be competing to win the Golden Bib award in the main programme, and the whole programme includes over 80 films from around the world. 

The international competition for the Golden Bib award will feature 11 films, 15 short movies, 12 documentaries and 10 new Croatian films as a part of the Checkered programme.

Zagreb Film Festival was established in 2003. Besides organization of festivals and public events, the basic activities of the house are film and video production as well as creation and production of creative event solutions and campaigns.

For more info, please visit: www.zagrebfilmfestival.com

The 4th Dubrovnik‘s Libertas Film Festival  will take place from June 27th to July 4th 2008.

Libertas Film Festival will once again combine the excitement of World and European premieres, discovery of new International and Croatian filmmakers, and the rich culture and history of the region and the city itself.

In the previous years Libertas attracted industry professionals such as Gila Almagor, Woody Harrelson, Owen Wilson, David Dinerstein, Lakeshore Entertainment, Milan Trenc, ‘One Night at the Museum’ (writer of the comic book), Nina Kusturica, producer, Michael Ohoven, the producer of ‘Capote’, Maria Joao Sigalho, producer of ‘Odette’ from Portugal, Trevor Groth, programming director of CineVegas FF, Sanja Vejnovic, actress and producer, Albert Kapovic, producer, Vinko Bresan, director, and Goran Navojec, actor.

The first Libertas Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Mr. Relja Basic, one of Croatians best known and most favorite actors of all time who performed in over 50 Croatian and over 70 foreign films, and in over 4500 theatre shows. The second one went to one of the top actresses of the world, Mrs. Gila Almagor, the star of Israeli cinema, last seen in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Munich’.

Film submission are opened until March 15th, so hurry up –  submit your film + Read about Dubrovnik

This short introduction to Dubrovnik , which starts with ’ Five hundred years ago, Dubrovnik was a major power with the third biggest navy in the Mediterranean. Today, Dubrovnik is the pearl of the Adriatic, jutting confidently out the sea. The city’s 15th Century walls, kid-friendly squares, … ‘ and continues with introduction to Dubrovnik’s history, architecture and culture.

Link to Dubrovnik, download : http://podcasts.ricksteves.com/videos/92Dubrovnik.m4v

Other free podcasts of Rick’s radio shows, audio tours and video clips, sponsored by American Airlines, are available at this link : http://www.ricksteves.com/news/podcast_menu.htm

The festival program includes over 140 films from more than 30 countries of the world.

While 61 films will be competing for Big Stamp Award in the International and Regional Competition, Little Stamp will be awarded to Best Film by an author of up to 30 years of age.

Two more juries will be introduced this year – Critics’ Jury and Amnesty International Croatia Jury…

This year, the retrospective is dedicated to Japanese documentaries, Polish author Marcel Lozinski and the Zagreb Academy of Drama Arts. ‘ZagrebDox Pro’, the program organized for film professionals, will again host European television editors who will take part in the Pitching Forum. Exclusive guests, authors and producers of the films included in the program will also visit the festival.

Read more about ZagrebDox Film Festival

The video include some great shots of Bisevo - a small island in vicinity of Vis, Croatia, well known for its Blue Cave (Plava Spilja), which is one of the most popular sailing destinations in Croatia.

Also, what I liked about this video, is well presented beauty of ‘bad weather’ while sailing – rain, wind, rough seas, gray colours and similar in ‘you get rain, rainbow and sun’ part.

The video, uploaded at YouTube is split in two parts: reasons 1 to 5 and reasons 6 to 10 – have a look:

10 Reasons to Sail in Croatia – Part one: 

10 Reasons to Sail in Croatia – Part two: 

Find out more about Weather in Croatia, Sailing in Croatia, Island of Vis and Bisevo and Modra Spilja (Blue Cave)

This animated film, beautifully made, is shot at Dolac, the Zagreb‘s food market, where local people shop for fruit and vegetables.

The film lasts for just under 10 minutes and is available on youtube (for all of us that can not make it to the Festival) – have a look:

More info about Ana Husman: www.anahusman.net

Grand Off – European Off Film Award was given to the best European independent filmmakers in nine categories (best director, scriptwriter, cinematography, editing, actor, actress, feature, documentary, animation). Following the ceremony, awarded films will be shown simultaneously in 12 Polish cities.

The Award was officially established in 2006 by representatives of 17 European countries in order to initiate an exchange between all Europeans countries and facilitate emergence of the best European productions of independent cinema.

Leviatan Awards (so far):
Best animation, Days od Croatian Film; Best music and sound, Days od Croatian Film; Golden Zagreb, 2nd Jury Prize, Animafest, Zagreb; Honourable Mention, Darklight Digital Festival, Ireland; Grand Prix, Days of croatian animation, Zagreb; Special jury Prize, International Short Film Festival Badalona, Spain, Special Jury Mention, Animateka 2006, Ljubljana.

More info about Leviathan: http://www.kenges.hr/

This short promotional film is made by Dubrovnik Tourist Board.

This is what they say about winter in Dubrovnik on their site :

” Dubrovnik is different in winter, undiscovered, unknown. It becomes a real city, a city of history and science, but also a city for the pleasures of the soul…

..To walk through Dubrovnik in winter, whether with a guided group or alone, or with someone dear, will enrich your soul, more than you think possible. You will get to know a wonderful, amazing city, one you could not even begin to imagine..

…The free Winter Card will allow you to use ninety discounts, from 10 to 50 %, for cinemas, theatre shows, restaurants, Wellness centers, boutiques, souvenir shops, rent-a-car agencies, etc..”

Sounds good  – almost irresistible :-) 

Read the whole article here

More about Unique Dubrovnik Film :

http://www.find-croatia.com/blog/film-prize-for-film-unique-dubrovnik/

http://www.find-croatia.com/forum/index.php/topic,457.0.html

Built on the tradition of the Zagreb School of Animation, Animafest, the festival oriented towards auteur film, has made a reputation of being one of the most significant events in the domain of animated film.

Approved by ASIFA (International Animated Film Association) and founded by the City of Zagreb and the production studio Zagreb Film the first World Festival of Animated Film was held in June 1972, headed by Želimir Matko, the festival’s first director and its driving force who was working tirelessly for the festival until he died in 1977.

Since that time, the festival has hosted many renowned makers of animated film, gaining an international reputation mainly thanks to its long-standing managing director Margit Buba Antauer. In 2005, Animafest introduced the programme of animated feature film.

Since then this biennale festival has turned into an annual event – each odd-numbered year is devoted to feature film and even-numbered one to short film.

By decision of the Festival Council, made in 2007, Animafest is under a new art and organisation leadership that aims at continuing the festival tradition by developing programmes that would enable authors and professionals a more active participation at the festival.

With new initiatives, such as the founding of Pitching Forum and Animafest fund, as well as the regional festival market, Animafest aspires to become an active participant in encouraging the production and distribution of animated film.

The Festival takes place between 13th and 17th of November in Zagreb.

More info at : http://www.izumitelj.com/ + Festival Program

The program features 11 contemporary films, a program of shorts from the influential ‘Zagreb school of animation’ and 13 favourites from the golden age of Yugoslav cinema—a politically non-conformist period of filmmaking in the 1960s and ‘70s that incorporated many of European cinema’s most progressive techniques while advancing several of its own, especially through animation.

Three directors will be coming to the Walter Reade Theater for the series, Krsto Papic, has been making films for nearly half a century, building his reputation on provocative political dramas and comedies including Handcuffs (1970), the first Croatian horror film Izbavitelj (1976) and the series feature A Village Performance of Hamlet (1974) — a jet-black satire on Yugoslavia’s post-war government starring Rade Serbedzija (The Saint, Snatch) and nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.

The other attendees include Dejan Sorak, who graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Art in 1978 and has worked in television, theater and radio drama while directing seven feature films, including the highly acclaimed Two Players from the Bench (2005), a buddy movie that revolves around the criminal war tribunals in The Hauge.

Ognjen Svilicic, a 1997 graduate of the Academy of Dramatic Art, has since become one of Croatia’s most active directors and screenwriters; his films Sorry for Kung Fu (2004) and the father-son story Armin (2007), which is featured in the series, won awards at several international film festivals. Armin is the Croatian nominee for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award®.

Both Sorak and Svilicic represent a bold new generation of filmmakers whose self-critical outlook, balanced by a penchant and talent for black comedy, revived a national film industry that had almost become extinct. This contemporary period began in the mid-1990s when, despite economic struggles and government censure, a film movement calling itself Young Croatian Film showcased a body of young directors, cameramen, editors and actors, mostly educated at the Zagreb Academy of the Performing Arts.

Vinko Bresan struck the loudest chord with How the War Started on My Island (1996), a highlight of Beyond Boundaries and a darkly comic look at Croatia’s war for independence. The film attracted more than 300,000 people to the nation’s theaters while reigniting national and international respect for the country’s filmmaking.

Since then, thanks to renewed support for film production that arrived as Franjo Tudman’s regime came to an end, Croatian cinema has flourished. It is frequently represented at international film festivals, winning several awards, while Croatia’s national festival held at Pula has opened its doors to European competition.

Beyond Boundaries includes five Grand Golden Arena (best film) award winners from Pula: How the War Started on My Island, Fine Dead Girls (2002), Here (2003), What Iva Recorded on October 21, 2003 (2005) and All for Free (2006). Visually and technically sophisticated, these films often turn seemingly lighthearted situations into meaningful debates on the lingering effects of war and partisan conflict on society.

“Where Croatia has succeeded most,” wrote film scholar Jurica Pavicic in the Central Europe Review in 2000, “is not with the ‘ordinary feature film,’ as during the four post-World War II decades, but rather, as a strong source of experimental and alternative cinema.”

Yet, such a tremendous and sudden overflow of talent could not be possible without a strong national tradition. Beyond Boundaries offers audiences the chance to compare Croatia’s current cinema with 13 titles from the 1950s and ‘60s, a period often referred to as the golden age of Yugoslav cinema.

In Croatia, the relative leniency of Tito’s government towards filmmakers, the outpouring of cultural expression that followed the death of Stalin in 1953 and the influence of new filmmaking styles came together to create an inventive, socially conscious cinema influenced by the country’s traditions in folk art and experiences in partisan struggle.

Classics of the era include such series films as Nikola Tanhofer’s political allegory built around an impending roadway collision H-8 (1958), Branko Bauer’s attack on the local consolidation of workers unions in Face to Face (1963), Ante Babaja’s marvelous blend of technology and artistic tradition in The Birch Tree (1967), Lordan Zefranovic’s courageous recreation of Croatia’s wartime experience Occupation in 26 Pictures (1978) and Branko Belan’s influential though deeply cynical Koncert (1954), in which a piano and the stories of its various players codify the social and political changes in the first half of the 20th century.

Finally, Light Drawings, a program of 11 animated shorts curated by Croatian film scholar Mato Kukuljica, pays tribute to the highly-influential “Zagreb school of animation.” This group of Croatian animators came to define the cutting edge of international animation while their novel approaches continue to influence film artists today. The most famous member, Vatroslav Mimica — who would go on to direct several live-action features including Monday or Tuesday (1966) — is represented in Light Drawings by The Loner (1958) and The Inspector is Back! (1959). Also included are two titles by “father of Croatian animated film” Dusan Vukotic: Concerto for a Sub-machine Gun (1958) and the 1961 short The Substitute, which won the Academy Award® for Best Short Subject Cartoon. Three other Zagreb animations received Oscar® nominations, including Zdenko Gasparovic’s Satiemania (1978). “An extraordinary crossroads between east and west, north and south, Croatia was for many years the entry point for new waves and modes of filmmaking while part of the former Yugoslavia,” says Richard Peña, program director at the Film Society. “Today, Croatia’s long-standing tradition of innovation has helped a vibrant, critical cinema emerge, making Croatian films popular not only at home but increasingly with international audiences.” The event is organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic Croatia, Film Society of Lincoln Centre and Consulate General of the Republic of Croatia New York.

This international festival of long feature, short feature and documentary films, established in 2003, will present works ranging from students’ film to those that are winners of film festivals of a similar conception.

11 feature films, 15 short feature films and 12 to 14 documentaries, internationally selected, will compete for the Golden Pram Festival Award.

Recent Croatian titles will be screened in our Checkered Program and one film will win our VIP Audience Award. Along with our new program entitled ‘Vip Bib for Kids’, dedicated to the youngest audience, we’re preparing a special feature program dealing with elections and we’re carrying on with last year’s hits: ‘My First Film’, ‘Club100′ and ‘Matinees’.

As in previous years, the primary selection of the fifth Zagreb Film Festival brings screenings of some forty debuts, first or second author films and, along with side screenings, we’ll show you more than 60 titles from all over the world.

Duration: 21st – 27th October
Venues: Student Centre, Cinema Europe / Zagreb, Croatia

Program of 5th Zagreb Film Festival:

• Official selection – 11 feature films, 15 short feature films and 12 to 14 documentaries will compete for the Golden Pram Festival Award in the main competition round. Along with Golden Pram Awards, winners will be awarded monetary prizes: 5.000 EUR for the best feature film and 1.500 EUR each for the best short and documentary. One film will be awarded Vip Audience Award in the amount of 1.000 EUR. All awards in the international competition are provided by ZFF general sponsor – Vipnet. Domestic feature program Checkered, organized in association with BUG magazine, features recent Croatian titles and the best among them will be awarded 2.000 EUR.
• Vip Bib for Kids – This feature program for children aims at bringing the festival closer to its youngest audience, future film lovers and movie theatre goers, but to young authors as well. In cooperation with Croatian Film Association, at the beginning of each screening we’ll show a few short films by elementary and high school pupils.
• Elections – Announcing Croatian parliamentary elections, ZFF is showing a controversial selection of documentaries and feature films portraying political and state elections.
• Matinees – In cooperation with Croatian film distributors we’ll carry on with the extremely successful screenings of blockbuster premieres. This program, launched in 2004 with the intention of reviving the cult SC matinees of the eighties of the last century, screened blockbusters ‘Babel’, ‘Road to Guantanamo’ and ‘Perfume’ to crowded audiences  of SC and Europe movie theatres, while ‘Borat’ had its European premiere right here, at ZFF. This year get ready for Michael Moore’s documentary ‘Sicko’ and Cannes Film Festival laureate, Romanian feature film ’4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days’ by Cristian Mungiu.
• Club 100 – This is a sequel of last year’s European film program, seen by no less than 100.000 theatre goers in their home countries since last year’s ZFF. This year you’d be able to see European hit films from Iceland, Hungary, Belgium, Switzerland and Finland, screened at Cinema Europe. The program is a result of cooperation with embassies of these countries in Croatia.
• My First Film In Memoriam – This program showing debut films by famous filmmakers pays tribute to late film directors Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni and to Croatian directors Ante Peterlić and Zoran Tadić.

Film programs at ZFF are accompanied by numerous side events, book promotions, culture and film projects presentations, concerts and parties. Our Flash Film Award, short flash animation contest, lives on as well.

For more info, please visit: ZAGREB FILM FESTIVAL , SC – Savska 25, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia: http://www.zagrebfilmfestival.com/

For the first time the British public will be able to see films which have been awarded prizes and recognition at major film festivals throughout the world and which reflect changes in Croatian society during the last decade.

The famous Zagreb School of Animation has enjoyed a revival with a new generation of film makers and we are happy to present a small selection of recent animated films and some artists’ experimental films.

Closer Croatia runs from Thursday 11 to Sunday 14 October at the Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, Hammersmith, London W6 9RL. Read more about Croatia

Festival Review from Empire Magazine  – Croatian cinema took its time to come to terms with the realities of production without state subsidy. But, as the Riverside Studios’s excellent Closer Croatia selection suggests, the independent industry has finally found its voice and is now capable of reflecting the changes of a turbulent decade with a wit and honesty that has garnered awards and acclaim in festivals around the world… read more

If you happened to be in Dubrovnik next week (from June 29th to July 4th) try to visit Dubrovnik’s Libertas Film Festival – an international festival of independent films.

The festival will feature variety of documentary, feature and short films by various renowned local and international film makers.

The festival program will take place in several Dubrovnik locations – Fort Revelin, Theatre Marin Drzic , Sloboda and Jadran open air cinemas.

More info on Libertas International Film Festival web site: http://www.libertasfilmfestival.com/

We have been privileged to have opportunity to see it at youtube.com – have a look: 

Gabelic’s film was made in independent production, and it has been selected for the Semaine de la Critique (International Critics’ Week) at the same festival. Film Director: Antonio Gabelic, Camera: Dinka Radonic, Editing: Andrija Gvozdic Michl