Download Record ZFF 007 - 9 film programs in 6 theatres and 160 screenings

RECORD ZFF 007 – 9 FILM PROGRAMS IN 6 THEATRES AND 160
SCREENINGS
The 7th Zagreb Film Festival takes place from October 18 to 24, 2009 in the Student Centre and
Teatar &TD and in the theatres Europa, Tuškanac, Movieplex and Dokukino Croatia. About fifty films
compete for the Golden Pram – 10 features, 15 shorts and 13 documentaries in the international
competition; the monetary prize is provided by Vipnet, the general sponsor. One out of 12 films in
the Croatian competition Checkers will be awarded by the magazine BUG. Totally, there will be 90
films screened in 9 programs and the record number of screenings, more than 160. Brave
Producers Focus dedicated to producers of debut films and Omnibuses on Cities are new side
programs located in the theatre Tuškanac, while Film as Propaganda questions the use of film for
political propaganda purposes. Side programs The Great 5, film hits from the greatest European
national cinemas, Vip Bibijada, Matinees and My First Movie successfully continue their festival
lives. In Zagreb arrive the Cannes winner of shorts, João Salaviza, British producers Mike Downey
and Sam Taylor, the director of the Locarno winner Urszula Antoniak, the Sarajevo winner Vladmir
Perišić, documentarist Peter Kerekes and many others.
“The seventh ZFF, apart from enlargement in program and number of venues, still remains the same – we
present to the Zagreb audience the best debut films from the last year as well as a number of side
programs for all ages and tastes. The festival will open with incredibly entertaining film 'Machan' by Uberto
Pasolini (producer of the box office hit “Full Mounty”) based on a true story about a group of men who form
a handball team in order to flee Sri Lanka, and film ‘I Killed My Mother’ by talented 20 year old Xavier
Dolan who won as many as three awards in Cannes. The ZFF acquaintance, Radu Jude, (‘The Tube With a
Hat’, 2007) brings an interesting and cheerful film from the new Romanian cinema ‘The Happiest Girl in
the World’ and ‘Nothing Personal’ by Urszula Antoniak, decorated in Locarno with four awards including
the best debut film, is definitely one of the program’s peaks. A great part of the competition is composed of
antiwar films: 'Johnny Mad Dog’ by Jean-Stephanea Sauvairea produced by Mathieu Kassovitz (EFA
winner with ‘La haine’, better known as Nino from ‘Amelie’), tells about the civil war in Liberia by telling
about a band of boys, ’The Blacks’ by Z. Jurić and G. Dević and ‘Ordinary People’ by Vladimir Perišić
with a prominent antiwar edge focus on the war that we all experienced, and finally the Venice winner
‘Lebanon’ by Samuel Maoza. ‘White Lighnin’ by Dominic Murphy is a certain sequel to the last year
program Film@CRO – the film was made in Zagreb at the time of the 5th ZFF”, Boris T. Matić, director of
the festival, singled out the main feature films.
'The documentary list also teems with excellent titles: ‘Cooking History’ by Peter Kerekes explores the
other side of war history – the one that took place in army kitchens. ‘69’ by Nikolaj Viborg tells about the cult
Copenhagen squat in the Youth House, a building where Clara Zetkin announced Women’s day in 1910.
Political activism is the central theme of ‘La vida loca’ about gang in El Salvador, the film which caused its
director to get killed later on, while media activism, copyright and opensource are the subjects of ‘RIP! A
Remix Manifesto’. A special screening will be organized for film ‘Fank-I-lastiš Crnog Zuba’ by Koja from
Disciplina Kitschme”, added Matić. Among the shorts it is definitely worth singling out ‘Ciao Mama’ by
Goran Odvorčić (out of competition) which competed in Cannes with ‘Arena’ by João Salaviza, the Cannes
winner also arriving to the festival. In the Croatian competition Checkers every year there are more and
more films so that this year there will be 12 young directors competing for the Golden Pram.
Two new programs are located in the theatre Tuškanac. The first one, Brave Producers Focus, is
dedicated to producers of debut films and this year we present Mike Dawney and Sam Taylor from the
Great Britain, whose films regularly premier at A class film festivals worldwide. The audience in Tuškanac
will have an opportunity to watch five works from their production, one of which is ‘The Turtle’s Song’ a
fascinating documentary about the life journey of turtles by Emmy awarded Nick Stringer, and Mike Downey
will have a masterclass on producing. The other program, Omnibuses on Cities, inspired by the premiere
of ‘Zagreb Stories’, an omnibus on Zagreb comprising 9 stories, will bring to the theatre Tuškanac an air of
world metropolises – Paris, New York, Tokyo and Montreal – as seen by great directors such as F.F.
Coppola, W. Allen, M. Scorsese, M. Gondry, J.L. Godard and others. The program includes recently made
‘New York, I Love You’, by Fatih Akin, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Shekhar Kapur and other
celebrities of the film world. Entrance to all programs in Tuškanac is free.
“At the seventh ZFF, Europa cinema once again hosts Vip Bibijada popular children program. Every day
from Monday to Saturday at 1 pm our general sponsor Vipnet provides free tickets for all. Good
collaboration with Vipnet is evident not only from additional film program, but also from the fact that we have
had a long and loyal relationship since the first festival. In collaboration with embassies and cultural
institutions, Europa cinema screens European box office hits in the program The Great 5: ‘Somers Town’
by Birtish director Shane Meadows (‘This is England’), Italian ‘Quite Chaos’ with Nanni Moretti (‘The Son’s
Room’) in the leading role, German ‘Cherry Blossoms’, French ‘Let’s Talk About The Rain’ by Agnés
Jaoui and Spanish ‘Camino’. For the first time we will have reruns of the Europa programs in Movieplex:
Vip Bibijada for children and parents will be screened at 6 pm and The Great 5 at 8 pm. In collaboration with
Dokukino Croatia documentaries will have reruns there along with discussions and interviews with guest
documentarists. In such a way we want to offer versatile and accessible program to the Zagreb audience”,
pointed out Hrvoje Laurenta, executive director of the festival.
Matinees – in collaboration with Croatian distributors, continues as an extraordinary successful and visited
program of premier hit films every day at 2 pm in the Student Centre cinema: ‘Police, Adjective’ by
Corneliu Porumboiu comes with two Cannes awards, ‘Julie and Julia’ takes us to the secrets of French
kitchen and the Ken Loach’s latest ‘Looking for Eric’ is also on.
“The fourth edition of the Zagreb film buffs favorite program My Firs Movie focuses on Spanish cinema and
the audience will have an opportunity to see debut films by: Alejandro Amenábar, Julio Medem, Victor
Erice, Luis Garcia Berlango, Juanmo Bajo Ullo. Film as Propaganda is another new program screening
films used as the means of propaganda in order to reach wider masses – here we will watch ‘The
Schoolgirl’s Diary’, Disney’s propaganda animation films, ‘Triumph of the Will’ by Leni Reifenstahl while
Roel Vande Winkle, author of the book ‘Swastika in Film’, is coming to Zagreb to hold a lecture on this
subject”, announced Boris T. Matić.
‘Zagreb Film Festival is an excellent example of a project which, thanks to the strong idea, persistence and
innovativeness of its organizers, becomes ever better year in, year out. Vipnet recognized this enthusiasm
already at its outset and has been the general sponsor of the festival and some side programs for seven
years. Hence, this time we have provided the third edition of special program Vip Bibijada for the youngest
film lovers”, said Andrea Blažičević, brand marketing manager at Vipnet.
“During seven festival days we expect more than 30 thousand viewers, more than 160 premiers and reruns,
around eighty international guests. Besides Masterclass by M. Downey and the lecture of R.V. Winkel on
propaganda film, we are preparing a round table on documentarists – activist, as well as numerous concerts
and parties. You can follow us on www.zagrebfilmfestival.com”, added executive director Laurenta.
Zagreb Film Festival is organized by the artistic organization of the same name. The general sponsor is
Vipnet and the festival is financially supported by Art Council of the City of Zagreb and Croatian Audio
Visual Center.
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ZAGREB FILM FESTIVAL / PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE
---------------------Hrvojka Begović, head of the office / [email protected] / 091 2497 034
Ivana Sansević, head of the public relations office and press service / [email protected] / 091
5287 605
Mia Gvozdić Michl, press center / [email protected] / 091 5968 024