Saturday brings great films and the award ceremony

We will remember Friday at the 21 st ZagrebDox by Igor Mirković, Peter Mettler, Israelis, Sicilians, Parisians, Ukrainians, Kurds, Azeri film buffs and migrants ‘pushed back’ from our borders, as well as reruns of the greatest documentary hits. But the most exciting Saturday of the festival has arrived – we will find out who takes the Big and who the Small Stamps in the International and Regional Competitions and to whom the remaining festival honours go at the Awards Ceremony at 6:15 pm (theatre 5), ‘squeezed’ between the screenings of the traditionally richest film day. Controversy, youth and the environment are the dominant themes of the works that are only being shown today, but a rich selection of reruns also allows for immersion in all the segments of ZagrebDox 2025.

 

As early as 11:30 am, you can see the biography of the great film and jazz composer Michel Legrand (theatre 3) interpreted by David Hertzog Dessites or the trio Reign (dir. David Graudenz), The Other Side of the Mountain (dir. Yumeng He) and Yet Another One (dir. Karla Jelić) (theatre 1), among which the work of the young Croatian author on sexual harassment at the Academy of Dramatic Art is particularly noteworthy, but it is also worth taking a look at ‘model-making from the model’s point of view’ and the clash of urbanisation and family nostalgia in contemporary China from the first two titles.

 

Viktor Kossakovsky’s monumental Architecton (12 pm, theatre 2) has landed in Zagreb after a tour of the world’s most prestigious festivals with a story about a landscape architect and the wondrous scenes of ancient and modern ruins – a stunning poetry of rocks and stones that connects distant cultures, as well as those visitors to ZagrebDox who have already seen it and unanimously praised it.

 

Stefan Malešević also managed to garner sympathy for his Soil and Wings (1 pm, theatre 4, Regional Competition), especially thanks to the anthological final scene of the film about the Bektashi, a mystical Islamic dervish community in North Macedonia where neither women’s equality nor alcohol are taboo. Through a thoughtful use of the medium, Malešević managed to make a film that, despite its unquestionable anthropological and ethnological value, is best characterised by the faithful transmission of the protagonist’s universalist worldview. Those not interested in Macedonia may find Sicily more appealing in Camilla Iannetti’s The Golden Age (1 pm, theatre 4, Regional Competition), an empathetic portrait of a single mother student and her female lineage, which, to be fair, is largely set in England.

 

Goran Dević’s new film Pavilion 6, about the direct and metaphorical meanings of Covid reflected in personal experience (1:30 pm, theatre 1, Regional Competition), can also be seen this Saturday, as can Franko Dujmić’s attractively designed, nostalgia-soaked musical journey through the vinyl tracks of Yugoslav funk (1:30 pm, theatre 3).

 

Two Teen Dox titles are being screened today for the first and only time: Oleksiy Yeroshenko’s
Lessons of Happiness depicts the efforts of a Ukrainian teacher to create a joyful and curious
environment for her fifth-graders despite Russian attacks on the previously peaceful city, while
Nicole Medvecka’s Who If Not Us shows the unconquered Ukrainian youth who, despite exile
and occupation, harbour hopes for a brighter future and dedicate themselves to various forms of
creative work. Both are scheduled at 2 pm in theatre 2.

 

At 3 pm, the humorous film Wishing on a Star (theatre 4, Regional Competition) by Peter Kerekes gathers followers of the Italian astrologer on birthday trips ‘written in the stars’. In theatre 5, you can also see A Want in Her, about three decades of turbulent family history by Irish artist Myrid Carten, within which the character of an unstable alcoholic mother stands out in particular.

 

At 3:30 pm (theatre 1), fans of political documentaries will not miss the new film by the famous and controversial Oliver Stone about Brazilian President Luiz Inácio da Silva, known as Lula. The informative and unfiltered portrait of the rise, fall and unprecedented political comeback ‘from prison to the top’ of the Brazilian leader is also relevant for a broader understanding of contemporary global politics. Those who are more concerned about the environment than politicians will choose I am the River, the River is Me by Petr Lom at the same time in theatre 3 – a New Zealand story about the significance of the Whanganui for the Maori worldview and identity, which has been awarded a number of world festival awards. A five-day canoe trip down the sacred river organically connects travellers from different backgrounds in reflection and inspiration.

 

The controversial, but often humorous film about the Evangelical Woman of God (dir. Maja Prettner) will be shown at 4 pm (theatre 2) with a Q&A with the author. At the centre of this superbly edited work, a favourite of the Slovenian domestic audience, is a free-spirited and courageous clergywoman who, by violating church norms, becomes an outsider, while simultaneously dealing with childhood trauma and fractured family relationships.

 

The category of Controversial Dox also includes Portrait of a Confused Father (5 pm, theatre 4) by the esteemed Norwegian director Gunnar Hall Jensen, known for his uncompromisingly personal stories, such as this one about twenty years filmed complex relationship with his son whose tragic ending leaves the author tormented by unanswered questions. The raw and painful film about love, loss and a father’s desperate struggle to reach his son will remind viewers of last year’s Croatian documentary hit Our Children. The superbly filmed Wind Has No Tail by Ivan Vlasov and Nikita Stashkevich about the education of a nomadic girl from the Siberian peninsula can be seen simultaneously in theatre 5.

 

The Falling Sky at 5:30 pm in theatre 1, in another ecological film dedicated to the indigenous Brazilian people of the Yanomami, whose shaman fights with rituals and critical statements to preserve the fascinating metaphysical theatre of the forest world. In Regional Competition, Lesia Diak’s Dad’s Lullaby is being rerun in theatre 3, this time with a conversation with the author about the film in which she herself unexpectedly became the protagonist of the story of a Ukrainian veteran, his family and the enormous emotional cost of war.

 

At 6 pm, also with a Q&A with the author Areeb Zuaiter, Yalla Parkour (International Competition, theatre 2) will be rerun, the winning film of the New York Festival about a parkourist from Gaza who remembers happier times, but now thinks about leaving the ruins of his home.

 

The spectacular, emancipatory and often humorous festival hit Shahid by Narges Kalhor (7 pm, theatre 4) also belongs to International Competition, in which the desire to change his last name leads him into a partly theatrical, richly staged showdown with tradition. Alternatively, in theatre 5, you can see another controversial work – Loss Adjustment, dedicated to the characterful Mexican accident investigator and the director Miguel Calderón himself, a duo who, in a certain change of profession, are seeking a break from human ‘vultureism’ and the falseness of the art world.

 

Also controversial is Michael Premo’s Homegrown (7:30 pm, theatre 1), about a trio of American extremist right-wing activists from the Proud Boys group, with whom the director manages to establish close contact and ultimately even joins them in the attack on the Capitol. Those who are looking for lighter themes can also take a look at the latest from the Chinese ‘love industry’ – Mistress Dispeller (dir. Elizabeth Lo, theatre 3, International Competition).

 

At 8 pm in theatre 2, We Are Inside tells the story of Lebanese author Farah Kassem’s return to her sick father, with whom she has difficulty finding a common language, so she tries to get closer to him by joining his club of fans of classical Arabic poetry. In the midst of civil war and her father’s deteriorating health, poetry becomes their last line of communication.

 

At 9 pm in theatre 4, Songs of Slow Burning Earth (dir. Olha Zhurba, International Competition), an impressively filmed and soundtracked, poetic and poignant diary of the war in Ukraine – one of those artistic documents that will far outlast the tragic events it portrays. For a no less difficult topic of pushback, but also a display of the nobility of the border population, also at 9 pm, take a look at theatre 5, where The Landscape and the Fury by Nicole Vögele is scheduled.

 

The last Saturday’s slot at 9:30 pm is reserved for two more new films. The musical documentary Born to be Wild – The Story of Steppenwolf (dir. Oliver Schwehm, theatre 1) takes us from Germany destroyed by the Second World War to the working streets of Toronto and Los Angeles in the 60s in search of two emigrants from the rock group made famous by the song from the movie Easy Rider. Victoria Verseau’s beautifully filmed and rarely seen Trans Memoria (theatre 3) brings, in the same time slot, the memories of three friends about gender transitioning, which reflect more universal questions about femininity and identity, but also great personal losses, sacrifices and insecurities.

 

If you haven’t already, make sure to listen to the latest from Audio Dox’s offering – the British Am I Home? – Life in a Dementia Village by Olivia Humphreys and Lara Bullens, dedicated to a nursing home in Warwick designed in a way that makes it easier for residents to cope with the condition. And much more broadly, this documentary is dedicated to the ethical labyrinth of dementia care and the abyss that separates our world from the one inhabited by its victims.

 

The schedule of Sunday’s award-winning films The Best of Fest will be announced today at 8 pm.