The Zagreb Film Festival will take place this year from 14-22 November, replacing its traditional October dates. The usual venues in the Croatian capital will host the festival, which this year lasts for one more day.

With that in mind, the festival has opened its call for films to be submitted for the festival competition. The application deadline is 15 August for the international competition, and 20 September for the Checkers section competition. The competition, as usual, includes first and second feature and short fiction films. This year’s ZFF competition focuses on fiction films, while documentary films will be shown only in out-of-competition sections. Croatian filmmakers can submit their films of up to 30 minutes' duration for the Checkers competition, by 20 September. The online application form is available on the official festival website.

Since the very beginning, the Zagreb Film Festival has been focused on the presentation and promotion of debut films and new filmmakers. The Checkers competition introduced and acquainted the broader audience with new names on the local film scene, with a systematic promotion of Croatian short films. Other sections include My First Film (with debut films by acknowledged Bosnian and Herzegovinian directors), the Great Five (comprising select works from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain), and Bib for Kids and Bib PLUS (with films for children and young audiences). 

The industry section is organising a series of workshops, lectures, panels and other programmes intended for film professionals, young filmmakers and all the interested participants, covering different aspects of film production. The section also includes the fourth edition of My First Script workshop, organised for filmmakers writing a script for their first feature film. The open call for the workshop is open and closes on 15 July, and information regarding the application procedure can be found here.

What's more, an open call for scholarship for an MFA programme of the prestigious Sarajevo-based film.factory was recently opened. The scholarship covers the entire tuition for a two-year course (amounting to €25,000), and ZFF is awarding it to one applicant from Croatia.