In the main program on Wednesday, November 11, from 6 PM to Thursday, November 12, 6 PM, do not miss two Venice laureates: Listen, the best debut film, and Oasis by Ivan Ikić, the best European film. A new film by the famous Xavier Dolan, Matthias & Maxime, is in the Together Again program, as is the new black comedy by Pjer Žalica, Focus, Grandma. All the films are available at www.kinoeuropa.hr, except the films from the Checkers program which are available at www.croatian.film.

The feature film competition program from Wednesday to Thursday brings us two films which were successful at the Venice Film Festival. Listen, a directorial debut by actress and director Ana Rocha de Sousa, many compare to Ken Loach’s films, and in Venice it won the Lion of the Future for best debut film. The film revolves around two Portuguese immigrants in the suburb of London who fight to regain custody of their children before they go into the adoption system. Serbian film Oasis by Ivan Ikić, one of the most interesting upcoming regional directors, had its world premiere in Venice where it won the best European film award (Europa Cinemas Label award). Oasis is an unusual love story from a Belgrade home for special needs youth, and at the same time a painfully honest film about the emotional lives of those whose basic needs are cut short by the system. Ikić gave the main roles to wards of the special needs home.

The Together Again program brings us new films by authors already known to the ZFF audience. For the sixth time, we’ll be able to watch Xavier Dolan, winner of the Golden Pram for his feature debut, I Killed My Mother. His latest film, Matthias & Maxime is a wistful and subtle study of love and friendship, a romance built on the awkwardness of manhood. A fight for inheritance, the stumbling block of every Balkan family with any self-esteem, is in focus of Focus, Grandma, a new black comedy by Pjer Žalica. In April 1992, a numerous family comes to Sarajevo from all parts of Yugoslavia to gather around the deathbed of their grandmother (Mira Banjac), but petty squabbles and machinations turn into a merciless war for the family house.

In The Great 5 program we have a small film for big hearts by Scottish director Eva Riley. Perfect 10 is a story about a young gymnast whose childhood is marked by uncertain future, absent parents, and an indifferent society.

On the croatian.film platform, we’ll continue the program of short domestic films, Checkers. We have Bepo by the young director Filip Antonio Lizatović, and Angina Pectoris, a new film by Filip Mojzeš, who introduced himself at last ZFF with the film Elephant’s Graveyard. In the International short film competition, we have the Dutch En Route by Marit Weerheijm.

KinoKino children’s festival continues with Oscar and Lili, Where Nobody Knows Us by Austrian director Arash T. Riahi. It’s a bittersweet odyssey about a brother and sister, refugees from Chechnya, who try to avoid deportation from Austria with their mother, but end up at different foster parents.

Side program Festivals in the Spotlight brings us three feature films. Sofia Film Festival will present Irina by Bulgarian director Nadejda Koseva. Irina, fighting for a family, agrees to be a surrogate mother, but that soon becomes harder than she imagined. From the Herceg Novi Festival we have two regional films – Borders, Raindrops by Vladimir Sudar and Nikola Mijović, and Neverending Past by Andro Martinović.

In the educational Industry program, November 11, at 11 AM, we’ll have a lecture by producers Valerija Richter and Helene Granqvist about preparing and presenting ideas for a TV show, while at 5 PM we have a masterclass lecture by the Romanian master, Radu Jude, about directorial methods in film. Both of the events can be watched live over the festival page, www.2021.zff.hr, and ZFF’s YouTube channel.