Once again, this year ZFF’s training and networking program under the umbrella name of Industry features a series of lectures, workshops and panels intended for film professionals, up-and-coming filmmakers and everyone in tune with recent developments and trends on the global audiovisual scene.

During the eight days of the festival (12-19 November), all the important aspects in the film production circle will be covered – from project development, screenwriting, funding and coproduction possibilities, to packing and pitching the project, post-production, to distribution. As before, Industry is organising a series of speeches by top professionals coming from all four corners of the world.

ZFF is hosting the British screenwriter and director James Watkins, the director of McMafia, a TV serial shot last summer in Croatia, and an episode of Netflix’s popular show Black Mirror. In his speech McMafia: Idea Brought to Life (12/11) Watkins will describe the making of BBC’s series premiering early in 2018 – from script writing, project packing, directing episodes, filming in Croatia, working with a Croatian crew on Croatian locations, to promotion.

Industry is also hosting Spencer Hunt, a creative talent and strategist specialising in contemporary forms of interactive entertainment and one of the key people with Skydance Media, a studio developing VR games owned by Paramount Studio. At his masterclass AR/VR: Searching Future Stories (13/11) Hunt will explain how AI changes the way we perceive the world and to design interactive, diversified story using artificial intelligence components. The masterclass is organised in association with the Croatian Screenwriters and Playwrights Guild – SPID Story + Tech Platform.

In association with the Academy of Dramatic Art and the famous French film school ENS Louis-Lumière, a pioneer in film and photography education, Industry is also organising a lecture by the French producer Stéphan Guénin to the subject of Financial Mechanisms in France and Co-production Possibilities with Southeast Europe (16/11).

Another guest coming to Zagreb is Peter Kerekeš, the Slovakian director known to the local audience for his documentaries Cooking History and Velvet Terrorists. At his lecture Documentary Films – The Hybrid Docu-fiction Genre (18/11), organised in association with Restart, Kerekeš will speak about the key difference between documentary and documental film.

A rich line-up of Industry lectures and panels also includes a presentation of post-production studios from the region, under the title We’ll Fix That in Post – The Art of Image and Sound Design – Post-production in the Region (17/11). Short presentations by seven post-production studios Color Bureau (Croatia), Studio Nazor (Croatia), Vizije (Croatia), Iridium Film (Slovenia), Fabrika (B&H), Living Pictures (Serbia), Teleking (Slovenia) will demonstrate what to expect from studios focusing on the final sound and image design and what are the novelties and interventions they can create.

The program of Industry lectures and masterclasses is open to the public. A detailed schedule will be published on the official festival website 2021.zff.hr in the weeks to come.