In the main program, from Tuesday, November 10, from 6 PM until Wednesday, November 11, 6 PM, don’t miss the unforgettable love story Gaza Mon Amour and the bittersweet homage to Bollywood and growing up under Soviet occupation, The Orphanage. Together Again program brings us a new film by Romanian director Radu Jude, Uppercase Print and Mater by Jure Pavlović, a story about a tyrant mother who wants to turn her daughter into a copy of herself. All films are shown on the www.kinoeuropa.hr platform, except films from the Checkers program which can be seen at www.croatian.film.

 The competition program for feature films from Tuesday to Wednesday brings us two films whose directors belong to cinematographers of countries which are not on our radar often, and what binds them together is they put political and historical topics into the context of humour and fantasy. The current Palestinian frontrunner for the Academy Award, Gaza Mon Amour, directed by brothers Tarzan and Arab Nasser, is a playful depiction of modern life under occupation which reveals how a repressive state can destroy even the most beautiful love story. Lead roles in this satire about love and suppressed passion were given to stars of popular shows, Salim Daw (Fauda) and Hiam Abas (Succession). The Orphanage, by Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat, is a bittersweet story about growing up in Afghanistan under Soviet occupation at the end of 1980s and told by combining Bollywood fantasy, folklore and, at times, painful realism. The film premiered at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.

On the croatian.film platform we’ll see a film from the domestic short film competition program, Checkers, Nine Months by Josip Lukić, who already made two appearances at Checkers, Boo-boo Boo hoo hoo (ZFF 2015) and Summer Fruits (ZFF 2019 – Special Mention). In the international short film competition we have three films: All Dogs Die by Icelandic director Ninna Pálmadóttir, filmed in Croatian coproduction, and which premiered at the International Film Festival in Reykjavík; Dustin by French director Naïla Guiguet which premiered at Cannes, and The Shift by Portuguese director Laura Carreira premiered in Venice.

In the Together Again program, which presents new films by renowned directors, do not miss films directed by one of the most significant European directors of today, Radu Jude, and Jure Pavlović, a Croatian director who won the European Film Academy award for his short film debut, Picnic. Uppercase Print is an exciting hybrid of documentary and fiction which takes the audience deep in the archives of Ceauşescu’s regime. The film, directed by the two-time winner of ZFF, Radu Jude, explores the bizarre case from 1981 when the huge intelligence machine of secret services was put into motion over a few anti-communist graffiti which were drawn by a 16-year-old pupil. Mater (Pula 2020 – best debutant award, best actress, and camera) is Jure Pavlović’s first feature film about an anxious, tyrannical relationship between the mother (Neva Rošić) and daughter (Daria Lorenzi Flatz), and at the same time a portrait of a small-town life, where people think they’re helping, but often they’re doing the opposite.

Italian film The Best Years by Gabrielle Muccino, the director of Seven pounds (2008) and The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), both starring Will Smith, is shown in The Great 5 program. It’s a saga about four friends and their relationship, told over 40 years. Their stories, hope, successes, and failures intertwine in touching and fun stories about friendship and love, creating a rich tapestry of Italy and different eras of its modern history.

In the free program, Festivals in the Spotlight, do not miss five short films made in SEE Factory, a project made to promote new talent on the international stage. Also, we have three feature films chosen by the programmer of the Film Festival Herceg Novi: Ajvar by director Ana Marija Rossi, You Have the Night, a well-received debut by Ivan Salatić which premiered in Venice, and Mamonga by Stefan Malešević which premiered in Karlovy Vary.

In KinoKino, the children’s program, from Tuesday to Wednesday we’ll have the Dutch film Jackie & Oopjen by Annemarie van de Mond, a fun adventure of Jackie and Oopjen, the character from the famous Rembrandt painting, who came to life in order to find her long lost sister.

Industry, a program for professionals and all the interested parties, will focus on co-productions on Tuesday in two events open for public which will be live at www.zff.hr: a masterclass by Thierry Baujard, Games Without Borders: European Co-productions (from 5 PM) and the panel Croatia as a Player in European Co-Productions (from 6.30 PM).