The official program of the 19th Zagreb Film Festival ended with the screening of Academy Award Winner Danis Tanović’s comedy Not So Friendly Neighborhood Affair. The film features an impressive cast lead by Branko Đurić, Izudin Bajrović, Anja Matković, and Goran Navojec and was presented to the audience by a part of the cast and the director.

This year’s ZFF laureates were announced before the screening at the award ceremony in SC Gallery. The jury for feature films, consisting of actress and activist Katia Pascariu, Ivan Ikić, director of last year’s winner Oasis, and acclaimed cinematographer Vanja Černul, awarded the Golden Pram for best feature film to the Austrian-German film Great Freedom by Sebastian Meise. The film masterfully intertwines the personal, sensual, and political through a portrait of an unusual relationship between two men who meet in prison. The winner of special mention in the international feature film competition is the Croatian film The Staffroom by director Sonja Tarokić, which was described by the jury as a metaphor for the society at large and one woman’s struggle to disrupt it.

The best film in the international short film program and Croatian program Checkers were decided by director Sara Grgurić, Slovenian director Rok Biček and Ivan Bakrač, director and selector of the Herceg Novi Film Festival. The Golden Pram for best film in the international short film competition was won by the Macedonian-Russian film North Pole by Maria Apchevska, while the special mention in the same category went to the Ukrainian film Dad’s Sneakers by director Olha Zhurba. The Golden Pram for Checkers, the competition program for Croatian short film, went to the Fall of Our Summer by Karlo Vorih, while the special mention went to Everything Ahead by Mate Ugrin.

KinoKino, whose 6th edition was held within the Zagreb Film Festival, also awarded its prizes. The professional jury for the KinoKino festival consisting of actress Iva Babić, director Saša Ban and Dubravka Zima, professor and expert in children’s literature, awarded the Norwegian film Sisters – The Summer When We Found Our Superpowers by Silja Salmonsen and Arild Østin Ommundsen. The children’s jury of KinoKino awarded its prize to the German film Mission Ulja Funk directed by Barbara Kronenberg, and the special mention went to the Finnish film Any Day Now.

ZFF director Boris T. Matić commented on this year’s festival: “Although the festival was held for the second year running during the pandemic, we are happy that, unlike last year when we were completely online, we were able to be with audiences in cinemas! Despite all the adversities, the attendance was excellent, and the positive reactions from the audiences and critics alike were above our expectations. Also, this year’s Industry program once again gathered a large number of professionals and gave the audience a variety of content.”

The festival program continues Sunday, November 21, when the audience will have the opportunity to see three films from the main competition program in SC Cinema, including Hive which opened this year’s festival. Tuškanac Cinema will reprise all the films from the Great 5 program, and &TD Theatre will show Amira (Together Again) and The Fourteenth Day (The Network of Festivals in the Adriatic Region). Urania will reprise the awarded films Sisters – The Summer We Found Our Superpowers and Mission Ulja Funk and thus close the festival.

Sunday is also the last chance to see films in online programs of ZFF – PLUS, Icebreakers, LUX, and Festivals In The Spotlight – which are available on the kinoeuropa.hr platform. Films from The Network of Festivals in the Adriatic Region can also be seen online on the ondemand.kinomeetingpoint.ba platform, and films from the Checkers program are available at croatian.film.

The organizers thanked the Zagreb City Office for Culture, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Creative Europe Media subprogram, DHFR, Zagreb Tourist Board, the European Parliament, and all other sponsors and media sponsors.