Checkers, the national competition program of short films dedicated to the promotion of young authors who still haven’t made a feature film, will present ten fresh films in its twentieth edition. Among them are works of authors who are well-known to connoisseurs of domestic short films, as well as those of newcomers.

Some authors are known to the audience of Checkers, such as Josip Lukić, the director of Boo-boo Boo hoo hoo (ZFF 2015), Summer Fruits (ZFF 2019 – Special Mention) and Nine Months (ZFF 2020), who, alongside co-director Klara Šovagović, will present the film It’s Not Cold for Mosquitoes, and Rino Barbir who won the Golden Pram for best Croatian film at ZFF 2019 for his directorial debut Snitch, and this year he will present Zof.

Other returners are Jakov Nola (Counter-offensive – ZFF 2017 – Special Mention; Homely – ZFF 2019), who will present his short film Christmas Eve, Bojan Radanović (Before Dark – ZFF 2016 and Letters – ZFF 2019), who arrives at ZFF with the film Fender and Andrija Tomić (Bulky Waste – ZFF 2021), who presents Little Guys.

Ante Storić will participate in Checkers for the first time with Short Story on Trogir, Matej Matijević with Boca de Ferro, Martina Marasović with My Nikola, Ana Šiškov with Dancing on the Grave, and a group of authors with Talk to You Later.

In the same program, out of competition, we will screen the debut short film of actress and screenwriter Lana Barić, Snow White. Lana Barić acted in numerous films, but audiences at ZFF have also had the opportunity to see her screenplay — the multiple award-winning Tereza37, last year’s Croatian Academy Award candidate.

The Checkers program, which has existed from the early beginnings of Zagreb Film Festival, has premiered short films from Croatian authors who are established today. Therefore, Checkers are considered as one of the most significant platforms for the promotion of young talent in Croatia. In its feature films program, the 20th ZFF will present feature films by authors who made their first directorial steps at ZFF and it will be interesting to see Checkers of upcoming authors, and look forward to their future.

The director of the best film will receive the Golden Pram sculpture, as well as a cash prize of 15 000 HRK, provided by the Croatian Film Directors’ Guild and Zagreb Film Festival.