21st ZagrebDox officially opens

At the opening ceremony, two short documentary films were screened, Red Slide, by Nebojša Slijepčević, and The Loudest Silence, by Aleksandar Reljić, and the audience was greeted by artistic director Nenad Puhovski and executive director Hrvoje Pukšec.

Nenad Puhovski said: “We live in hard and sad times indeed. Hard because of the dangers hovering over the world we once thought we knew. Sad because of the feeling of paralysing helplessness and loneliness many of us feel. Personally, next to explosions, sirens howling, cries and fights spreading across our small, endangered planet, I hear – silence. The silence of intelligence, reason, discourse and – humanity. The world is dominated by bullies, some new ‘gold’ defines the price of human lives and the future of entire nations, tens of thousands of people die on a daily basis on fronts and beyond, and hundreds of thousands of those who thought had fled such fate are stopped on their way to a life they believed was better and safer. Greed, stupidity and primitivism become the main ‘ingredient’ not only of politics, but also of our destinies. I belong to the generation popularly called boomers. We were conceived in the world of post-war optimism so we, probably genetically, absorbed the essential ingredient of human existence – hope. However, is there hope for hope today? This is a question I ask myself on a daily basis, thinking primarily of those with the burden of future on their backs – our children and grandchildren. I sense that we must try, if not to give a meaning, if not to make the world a better place, then at least to understand what is happening. And what is our responsibility in all this. ZagrebDox was born out of one such need. It is probably idealistic, ambitious, unrealistic? Is there a point at all? Only you, our audience, can answer this question… We are here to show you how the finest global filmmakers, of all generations, nationalities and ‘signatures’ perceive the world we live in. The real reality. The reality that can be, instead of one huge problem, broken down into smaller but no less important ones we might be solvable. And to talk after the screenings. And in this talk, this exchange of thoughts and ideas, to try to find –
hope.”

“On a day like this it is very hard to explain what it means to be a producer. You dress nicely, you put on a smile and you start to say hello to everybody you see and also say thank you. I dressed the way I did, the smile is constant, let’s move on to the hellos!” said the executive director and producer of ZagrebDox, Hrvoje Pukšec, at the beginning of his address. “I’m extremely happy to welcome Mr Zdravko Zima, the representative of the President of the Republic of Croatia, as well as Mr Ivan Malenica, the representative of the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament. Good evening Ms Jadranka Žarković, the President’s education advisor. A warm welcome to the Mayor of the City of Zagreb, Mr Tomislav Tomašević and his deputy Luka Korlaet and associates. As a representative of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, I welcome academician Zvonko Kusić. Hello Mr Tihomir Milovac, the representative of the Chair of the City of Zagreb Assembly. Greetings to Vjera Matković, the representative of the Minister of Culture and Media, as well as to excellencies, MPs and the their fellow representatives in the Zagreb City Assembly. Last but not least, greetings to the representatives of the French and Hungarian Institutes and, saving the best for last, to you – our dear and faithful audience who make it easy to be a producer on a day like this. Thank you for your ongoing loyalty, interest and trust! We are here because of you! Thank you to the City of Zagreb, not only for the financial support being provided to ZagrebDox, but also for the institutional support to Factum production organising the festival. Thank to Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Kultura nova foundation, Croatian Filmmakers and Producers Association and the City of Zagreb Tourist Board. Without your support this festival would not be possible! For the way the festival looks and works big thank you to all our many sponsors and partners. Of course, an immense debt of gratitude to all the filmmakers for their brilliant films and the jury members with exciting work awaiting. Thank you everyone in the production department and our amazing volunteers. Hopefully I said hello and thank you to everyone! And finally: discover the novelties of this year’s ZagrebDox, like Audio Dox, join us for the discursive events at Dokukino KIC and may Kaptol Boutique cinemas be your second home in the week to come. Enjoy the documentaries and don’t forget to vote for your favourites starting from tomorrow. Forget about pen and paper – and prepare you smartphones! I give the floor to Mr Tomislav Tomašević, Mayor of the City of Zagreb, to open the 21st ZagrebDox!”

The mayor of the City of Zagreb Tomislav Tomašević greeted the guests and organisers, expressing his pleasure at attending the opening of the 21 st ZagrebDox. “I had the honour of celebrating last year’s important anniversary with you, and in the meantime, a lot of good things have happened for Croatian film, so I would like to take this opportunity to greet Nebojša Slijepčević and congratulate him on his numerous awards. We are very proud of ZagrebDox, it is incredible what you have achieved with your efforts in more than two decades, this year’s programme looks great, over a hundred films in eight days, and we are honoured that we as the City can support the festival. ZagrebDox is one of the largest festivals not only in Zagreb, but also one of the largest documentary film festivals in Europe. I have been following ZagrebDox since the very beginning and I believe that documentaries are unusually important, and that, as Prof. Puhovski said, they contribute to understanding the world around us, and without understanding there is no change or dialogue, which is what we especially needed today.” Thanking the entire ZagrebDox team, as well as the numerous volunteers, Mayor Tomašević declared the 21 st ZagrebDox open.