We begin tonight!

The twenty-first ZagrebDox has a new programme section: Audio Dox. It will present some of the most significant radio features from all over Europe, nominated and award-winning at last year’s PRIX EUROPA festival. In his documentary OK, Boomer Daniel Kupšovský explores generational stereotypes and conflicts that have been portrayed in the media for years. He focuses on criticism directed at baby boomers because of environmental and social issues, and on the perception of generations Y and Z as ‘snowflakes’ because of their sensitivity. I'm Carrie Jade Williams! by Ronan Kelly follows the story of a young woman who convinced the public that she was dying, but that there was an experimental treatment in the US that could save her life. A year later, she turned out to be a famous fraud. The film I'm a 'Kweekje' was directed by Nicole Terborg. Nicole always felt an emptiness over the fact that at the age of 13 she suddenly had to leave her parents’ home and move in with her aunt. In her family’s culture, originally from Surinam, this is known as ‘kweekje’ – growing up with non-biological caregivers – but is rarely openly discussed. Agnieszka Czyżewska Jacquemt is the author of the film The Woman and The Monument, a story exposing the hidden interests of political elites and raising key questions about power, courage and human dignity. Lara Bullens, in her work Am I Home? – Life In a Dementia Village, takes us to Warwick, where a unique home for people with dementia is located, designed like a mock English village. Residents can shop, stroll the streets or visit a hair salon, creating the illusion of familiar surroundings. But behind this carefully constructed reality lie ethical questions – is it justified to lie to the ailing for their comfort? Migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina, trying to cross the border with Croatia and enter the EU, face difficult conditions and violent pushbacks from Croatian police, but also death. In her documentary Cause of Death: Border, Barbara Matejčić explores the fates of the missing, speaks to families and activists trying to identify the victims, and points to the responsibility of EU policies for these tragic deaths.

ZagrebDox Pro, a five-day event uniting the analysis of the submitted projects, recommendations and proposals for their further development, includes case studies, group and individual discussions with industry experts, masterclasses, special film screenings and round tables. The lecturers, experts and guests of the ZagrebDox Pro are some of the most important European filmmakers, producers and broadcasters. The best project, by decision of the jury, will be provided with a one-year online mentorship, while two projects, also by decision of the jury, will be given the opportunity to participate in the ZagrebDox Pro residency module, in cooperation with Rab Film Festival in August 2025. A special segment of the ZagrebDox Pro event is dedicated to artificial intelligence, the possibilities it offers us, and the important ethical aspects opened up by the use of these tools in the production of documentary content. Discussions and workshops open to the public will explore issues relevant to the creators of that content, as well as to those watching it. Three masterclasses await us at ZagrebDox. The documentary work of this year’s Big Stamp for Lifetime Achievement winner, the Swiss-Canadian film director Peter Mettler, is unique for its innovation and creation of new art forms. In the masterclass, accompanied by film clips and camera shots, he will discuss the methods and strategies of spontaneous and improvised filmmaking, reconstructing the trajectory of his documentary endeavours – from the trilogy formed by Picture of Light (1994), Gambling, Gods and LSD (2002) and The End of Time (2012) to the recent seven-part diary film Tamo gdje raste trava (2023). Margje de Koning, artistic director of the world’s leading human rights festival Movies that Matter with many years of experience in directing and producing creative and engaging documentaries for Dutch public television, will talk about how film can contribute to changing perspectives at all levels, from the local community to decision-makers. Tomasz Wolski is one of the most prominent Polish documentarians, whose films have won awards at numerous world festivals, and is also known for his collaboration with Sergei Loznitsa. In the masterclass, Wolski will analyse his work method and the process in which he finds a creative way to process a story when there is too little or too much archival material – from re-enactments, to stop-motion animation, to editing thematic sequences.

Two panels at DOXXL also await. The panel Students Blockade – Another World Is Possible?, scheduled to take place at Dokukino KIC on Wednesday, 2 April at 3 p.m., will discuss the student protests in Serbia. What can we learn from Serbian students and their spontaneous collective creativity, self-organisation and media articulation? Why was it them who took to the streets? How will the contradiction between the overwhelming energy generated by the protest and the lack of real political opposition be resolved? The panel will feature Aleksandar Reljić, director of The Loudest Silence, the first documentary film about the student protests in Serbia, as well as the film’s protagonists and students in blockade, joined by participants of the blockade of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb and members of the Students for Palestine initiative.

On Friday, 4 April, starting at 3 p.m., the second DOXXL panel, Audio Dox – Listen to Understand, takes place at Dokukino KIC. Documentary radio feature is a specific radio and art form that seeks to record the time and reality we live in, paying particular attention to the sound and structure of the story. Five outstanding European audio documentarians from this year’s Audio Dox section will talk to Ljubica Letinić, the award-winning radio journalist behind the increasingly popular audiobook project book&zvook, about their audio works that cover diverse but equally relevant topics – from generational stereotypes, through the culture of lies and the mechanics of power, to the past and present of migrants beyond the border regime of ‘Fortress Europe’. Ljubica Letinić will be joined by Agnieszka Czyżewska Jacquemt, Daniel Kupšovský, Barbara Matejčić, Liam O’Brien and Nicole Terborg.

The masterclass under the title PUBLIKUM - Connecting your audiovisual project with audiences through AI-backed anthropology will be held on Wednesday, 2 April at 4:30 p.m. at Dokukino KIC. Discover how AI-assisted anthropology can transform storytelling with Niels Alberg, a co-founder of Will & Agency and PUBLIKUM. Learn how filmmakers and cultural professionals can achieve deep emotions among their audiences – regardless of market predictions – and thus drive creative decisions from development to distribution. This masterclass brings a fresh perspective on audience engagement, creating a balance between artistic vision and real emotional impact; perfect for those who want to connect with their audience in a deeper way. Travelling Dox masterclass: Artificial Intelligence in audiovisual production - from concept to practice is the title of the masterclass that plunges directly into the world of artificial intelligence in audiovisual production, combining theoretical foundations with real-life case studies based on the impressive portfolio of the renowned Spanish production company Artefacto. Questioning AI in global documentary filmmaking was prepared by ZagrebDox in cooperation with MEDIA Desk Croatia and eight other desks in Europe.

The panel discussion on artificial intelligence and documentary cinema, Framing the Future: AI, Truth, and the Ethics of Documentary, scheduled to take place on Thursday, 3 April at 5 p.m. in Dokukino KIC, will certainly be interesting. How to preserve artistic integrity in the age of machine-produced content? This panel will provide insights useful to filmmakers, researchers and film industry professionals. Nadežda Čačinović, Marko Zelenović, Marko Porobija and Tomislav Fiket participate, with an opening speech by Nenad Puhovski and moderation by Robert Tomić Zuber.