This year’s 19^th Zagreb Film Festival will be held 14^th – 21^st November and traditionally its competition program will feature films by new international and domestic authors.

The call for film entries for ZFF’s competition program is now open; the deadline for submissions is 27^th September for the Croatian short film competition – the Checkers program and the international feature and short competitions. The films in all three main competitions enter the running for the Golden Pram Award and other cash prizes.

Film Submission Guidelines and Online Application Form are available on the following link. 

Since its very beginnings, in terms of programming, the Zagreb Film Festival has been focused on presenting and promoting debut films and new authors. Over the years, its main festival program has featured directors the likes of Anton Corbijn, Steve McQueen, Radu Jude, Xavier Dolan, Andrey Zvyagintsev and Sophia Coppola. The Checkers competition has announced and presented to a wider audience up-and-coming directors on the domestic filmmaking scene, who went on to earn recognition not only in the country, but also on the international festival circuit (Matija Kluković, Juraj Lerotić, Hana Jušić, Ivan Sikavica, Sonja Tarokić, Dubravka Turić, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović and others).

Once again this year, in addition to the main competition program, the audience will be able to enjoy several tried and true, as well as some new programs, while the Industry section, devoted to the educational and practical side of filmmaking, will offer a series of workshops, lectures, panel discussions and other content for film professionals, young filmmakers and anyone interested in different aspects of film production.

The workshop My First Film will be held as part of the Industry section for the tenth consecutive year – the applications for which are now open. The workshop is aimed at directors working on the script for their first fiction feature film. The submission deadline is 20^th August, 2021.   

Among submitted applications, six participants will be selected, of which two from Croatia and four from Europe, that is, from EU member states and other MEDIA sub-programme participating countries.

The workshop will take place during the 19^th edition of the Zagreb Film Festival.

The aim of the workshop is to provide assistance to young authors working on the script for their first fiction feature, under the mentorship of two script doctors, Antonio Nuić and Ognjen Sviličić. Through an intense practical program, with an emphasis on working through problem areas in a group, young colleagues will be encouraged to successfully complete their scripts in a relaxed working atmosphere. The best project selected by the mentors will be awarded an additional six-month mentorship after the workshop.

The workshop is free for all participants, while more information on the call for applications can be found here.

The workshop is organised jointly by ZFF and the Croatian Film Directors’ Guild. Throughout the previous nine editions of the workshop, a total of 54 projects from different European countries took part in the workshop, 19 of which were Croatian authors with projects on their way to completion. Three films developed at the workshop, The Frog by Elmir Jukić, The Diary of Diana B. by Dana Budisavljević and The Load by Ognjen Glavonić, have already screened in ZFF program. Of the Croatian projects developed at the workshop, we are currently awaiting the premiere of The Staffroom, by director Sonja Tarokić, while filming has also begun on The Uncle, by directing duo Andrija Mardešić and David Kapac. We wish all the projects in production, post-production or awaiting their first encounter with the audience much luck and look forward to the upcoming submissions for the 10^th edition of the workshop My First Script.

The Festival is supported by the Zagreb City Office for Culture, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Creative Europe MEDIA sub-programme, Kultura Nova Foundation and Zagreb Tourist Board.

The Festival is organized by the Artistic Organization Zagreb Film Festival.