On Saturday, October 29, in SC Gallery, awards were given out for best short films and feature films of this year’s Zagreb Film Festival.

The jury for feature films, made up from actor Zlatko Burić Kićo, producer Annabella Nezri, and director of Alpe Adria Film Festival Nicoletta Romeo, awarded the Golden Pram for best feature film to the Pakistani film Joyland by Saim Sadiq. The jury explained its decision:

For its lucid and anti-rhetorical view of his country, of a family microcosmos through which he explores a patriarchal society with its many limits, especially for women and for the LGBTQIA+ community, where every family member is fully developed and characterised, for his visual style and a strong potential to reach a wide audience, the jury has unanimously decided to give the main award to “Joyland”.

The winner of special mention in the international feature film competition was the Croatian film Safe Place by director Juraj Lerotić.

For its precise framing and minimalistic film language, about a complex and painful family situation, shot with tenderness, subtleness, and sensitivity, and with a remarkable performance of the actors, the jury decided to give a special mention to “Safe Place”.

Director Maria Apchevska, winner of last year’s international short film competition, last year’s Checkers winner Karlo Vorih, and Stefan Ivančić, selector of the Locarno Film Festival decided on the best film of the international short film program and the national program Kockice. The Golden Pram for best international short film goes to the film That’s How the Summer Ended by Slovenian director Matjaž Ivanišin. The jury concluded:

With simple gestures, two strangely yet realistically shaped human bodies move through a summer landscape. As if it were a painting, this film seems to hide all the mysteries of life within its images. For its great narrative economy and mature vision, the jury has decided to award the Golden Pram for Best International Short Film to Matjaž Ivanišin’s “That’s How the Summer Ended”.

Special mention in the international short film competition goes to the Portugese film What Remains by Daniel Soares.

For its poetic visuals and tender approach, a film which confronts us with the inevitable dialectics of life and the uncertainty of what is to come, the special mention goes to “What Remains”.

The Golden Pram in Checkers, the competition program for Croatian short film, goes to the It’s Not Cold for Mosquitoes by Josip Lukić and Klara Šovagović.

For choosing the right distance when talking about loneliness and desperate attempts to connect, conveyed through truthful performances and authentic dialogues the award goes to “It’s Not Cold for Mosquitoes”.

Special mention in the national short film program goes to Zof by Rino Barbir.

For its compelling combination of fiction and non-fiction, depicting an original character whose state of mind and emotions, though not justifiable, connect the audience with the complex nature of human behaviour, the special mention goes to “Zof”.