01/04/2025 - We sat down to talk to the executive director of the Croatian festival about the new concept underpinning the gathering’s industry section

(© Samir Cerić Kovačević)

Hrvoje Pukšec, initially a film critic and journalist, built his festival career within the very diverse and vivid Croatian film-festival scene. He was the president of the artistic board of one of the world’s oldest national film festivals, the Pula Film Festival, and the artistic producer of the Zagreb-based Festival of Tolerance. He has also worked for the Zagreb Film Festival, Animafest, the One Take Film Festival, Secret Arts Cinema and, perhaps most notably, the Sarajevo Film Festival. Nevertheless, the position of executive director of the ZagrebDox International Documentary Film Festival is proving to be the most challenging position of his professional endeavours, which now span 25 years.

Cineuropa: You have decided to overhaul the industry section of ZagrebDox, ZagrebDox Pro. How and why?
Hrvoje Pukšec: The reason is quite pragmatic. On the one hand, you have the whole industry of pitching that revolves around ideas and projects that have yet to be made, and on the other hand, you have the situation where, as is always the case with other industries, everything is getting more and more predictable, and almost artificially pre-manufactured. We at ZagrebDox felt it in our own Pro segment as well – we were pioneers of pitching in Croatia 20 years ago, and over time, it has lost its appeal. It has lost its soul, so to speak.

What does the new framework for the industry section entail? What are you trying to achieve with it?
I had quite a few brainstorming meetings with Nenad Puhhovski and Robert Tomić Zuber, and we concluded that we had to replace the art of pitching with the pitching of art. We had to do it differently, in a dedicated and gentle fashion. So, I came up with the naming of the concept: “Slow Pitch”. Once our baby had its name, everything else just flowed from there. We only have eight projects and four mentors. We organise their meetings in Zagreb’s cafes, museums, restaurants, parks and even city streets. They discuss their projects while immersed in the everyday life of a pulsating city during the day, and at night, they go to the festival and enjoy the selection of documentary films that are being screened in five cinemas. In a nutshell, we embraced our size and our idea that some things have to be done properly while relaxed and focused.

Apart from that, the focus of this year’s edition is on AI. How come? Can a film festival really make a splash in such a large ocean?
We live on a reef where each crab, fish and specimen of phytoplankton matters. We are aware of what we can and cannot do. That is, in my opinion, the very basis of sustainability and a functioning ecosystem. We will never be able to challenge the sharks, but we can build our own house, our own home. There is a great Croatian animated film, based on a seminal children’s book called Hedgehog’s Home, which every kid in Croatia knows by heart. In a way, it defines our lives: know yourself, build your home, protect it and cherish it.

And AI? Well, we have to get to know how to use it, we have to know how to approach it, and we have to bear in mind that this is a tool, not a solution. We have to understand it, and at the same time, we have to both embrace it and set the boundaries. Maybe our series of lectures, panels and discussions can shed some more light on it.

When are you expecting to see the fruits of the new industry section in the festival programme and in the realm of Croatian documentary cinema?
It is already bearing fruit! We had over 90 submissions for only six places for this year, so we stretched it to eight projects. This year’s mentors are great professionals and friends of ZagrebDox, and we already have more than a few colleagues eager to become our mentors for next year. We are also regionally connected with the Rab Film Festival and AJB DOC Film Festival, so some of our participants will go to those gatherings and develop their projects further there. For this first year of building the foundations, we are looking pretty good. It’s just like Hedgehog’s Home: we are moving slowly and steadily, but confidently.