Don’t Let It Be Over: Saturday at the 22nd ZagrebDox

Friday’s program brought us three films about music legends, a powerful slate of Teen Dox titles exploring coming of age amid today’s social pressures, two regional films examining the tension between emigrating for a better life and the lingering feeling of not belonging, and several acclaimed festival hits.

On the final day of ZagrebDox — as we await the announcement of the Big and Small Seal Award winners and the Audience Awards — the program begins at 10 AM with four Teen Doxes about navigating an increasingly chaotic world: +10k (Hall 2), No God No Father (Hall 2), Make Money, Find Meaning, Don't Panic (Hall 2), and Memories of a Window (Hall 2). At 11 AM, audiences can revisit the depiction of Japan’s loneliness epidemic in Dear Tomorrow (Hall 5), as well as the chronicle of a young Hungarian rapper’s climb to stardom in Meant to Be (Hall 4). Strong female perspectives take center stage at 11.30 AM in repeat screenings of the short The Men's Land (Hall 3), Welded Together (Hall 1), and A Fox Under a Pink Moon (Hall 3).

At noon, the Masters of Dox section presents the intimate marital portrait Heartbeat (Hall 2) and a divided return to Laos in Back Home (Hall 2). At 1 PM, audiences can revisit the international competitor Walls (Hall 4) and the exhibitions Points of Impasse (Hall 4) and Lost Territories Archive (Hall 5). Also returning are two standout Teen Doxes: Things That Keep Me Up at Night (Hall 5), a polyphonic exploration of contemporary teenage anxieties, and The Wolves Will Return (Hall 5), a feminist story of emancipation from hopeless relationships. At 1.30 PM, viewers can catch the international competitor Silver (Hall 1), examining proto-capitalism among Bolivian miners, and Victor Kossakovsky’s visually stunning Trillion (Hall 3). Questions of political tensions in the region are then explored in Slet 1988 (Hall 2) and Remember my Song (Hall 2). At 3 PM, two biographical documentaries revisit legendary Yugoslav musicians: One Man Avalanche (Hall 4) speaks about drummer Dragoljub Đuričić, and Behind the Smile (Hall 4) offers insights about the life of Vlada Divljan. Also screening are the exhibitions Borderline of Freedom 2016–2021 (Hall 5) and Delta Oscar Mike (Hall 4), as well as the international competitor New Beginnings (Hall 5), following a Native American war veteran reconnecting with former comrades across a divided America.

At 3.30 PM, our rich discourse program continues at Dokukino KIC with the DoXXL Panel No Mercy: The Female Gaze and the Film Industry. Film critic and selector Dina Pokrajac will join director Isa Willinger (No Mercy), jury members Petra Belc Krnjaić, Jamilla van der Hulst, and Maja Prettner, along with film critic Iva Rosandić, to discuss how women conceptualize and interpret cinematic representations of gender, power, inequality, and violence. At the same time at Kaptol Boutique Cinemas, audiences can revisit the festival hit Beneath Which Rivers Flow (Hall 1), the international competitor 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Hall 3) by Academy Award winner Mstyslav Chernov, the short Paleontology Lesson (Hall 3), and the charming Green Dox Climate in Therapy (Hall 1). At 4 p.m., Croatian contenders for the best regional documentary return to the screen: Asparagus Bear (Hall 2) by Ivan Grgur and Greetings from the Secretariat (Hall 2) by Ivan Ramljak, alongside the brief Happy Dox Sanyi the Rooster (Hall 2). The 5 PM slot revisits two regional films about the irreconcilable tension between the promise of a better life abroad and true belonging: This Desirable Device (Hall 4) and Fragments of Belonging (Hall 4), alongside the exhibition Ground Zero of Fast Fashion (Hall 4), which unveils physical evidence of socio-economic inequality. At 5 PM, audiences also have their only opportunity to see Ross McElwee’s Remake (Hall 5), an intimate reflection on his relationship with his late son Adrian.

At 5.30 PM, the excellent Lord, Take Me Soon (Hall 1) returns to the screen, followed by a conversation between director Guillermo F. Flórez and film critic and festival selector Hana Samaržija on the ethical questions surrounding euthanasia and dignified death on one’s own terms. Also screening at that time is the outstanding regional competitor Omama (Hall 1). At 6 PM, No Mercy (Hall 2) is once again available to the audience, followed by a discussion with director Isa Willinger and Dina Pokrajac about women behind and in front of the camera. At 6 PM in Hall 3, the festival hosts its Awards Ceremony, presenting two Big Seals for Best Film in the International and Regional Competitions, two Small Seals for Best Film by a Filmmakers Under 35 and Best Short Film, the Aviteh Audience Award for Best International Film, and the HRT Audience Award for Best Regional Film.

Following the ceremony, at 7 PM, audiences can catch the Teen Dox film Niñxs (Hall 5) and the exhibitions DISPLACEMENT Planinska 7 (Hall 4) and Nature, Chemistry and Society (Hall 5). Also at 7 PM, Sharunas Bartas’ Laguna (Hall 4) offers an intimate meditation on grieving the loss of a family member. At 7.30 PM, viewers can choose between the visually breathtaking portrayal of war’s impact on nature in Divia (Hall 3) and a biographical film about English footballer Kenny Dalglish (Hall 1). As part of the honorary retrospective dedicated to Christian Frei, at 8 PM we can attend his Blame (Hall 2). Following the screening, Frei and film critic and curator Sara Simić will discuss the exploitation of the pandemic to promote extremist ideologies. At 9 PM, audiences can revisit the brief critique of failed government ventures Goats! (Hall 5) and the life story of a far more successful dairywoman in For a Few Chunks of Cheese (Hall 5). At the same time, we may opt for the exhibition Ground Zero of Fast Fashon (Hall 4) or Farida Baqi’s Visual Feminist Manifesto (Hall 4), a chronicle of female dignity at the intersection of external pressures and personal choices.

The 22nd ZagrebDox Film Festival closes at 9.30 PM with the witty humanism of Better Go Mad in the Wild (Hall 1) and, as the festival's founder and creative director Nenad Puhovski promised in his opening remarks, with an incisive critique of Putin’s policies and wartime violence in the harrowing Notes of a True Criminal (Hall 3). We look forward to seeing you again next year. The schedule for Sunday’s Best of Fest Program will be announced today at 8 PM.

The International Documentary Film Festival ZagrebDox runs at Kaptol Boutique Cinemas through April 26, 2026. ZagrebDox is supported by the City of Zagreb, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the Croatian Film Directors’ Guild, and the Zagreb Tourist Board. All updates and information are available at the official website and on the festival’s social media channels.