The 13th edition of the Industry programme at the Zagreb Film Festival (4-10 November) hosted a plethora of film and audiovisual industry professionals who took part in various events, some of them traditional, others entirely new. The workshops, master classes, round-tables, Industry Youth! pitching forum and the Annual International Small Cinemas Conference certainly grabbed the attention of Croatian film professionals.

The three-day conference was held for the first time at Zagreb Film Festival Industry, organised by the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO). It was aimed at small (national) cinemas and explored their experiences finding their way in the ever-changing landscape, and it featured a number of presentations and round-tables on the topic of current challenges in film production, distribution and consumption. The conference is also part of the CresCine European research project.

The Zagreb Film Festival’s longest-running workshop, My First Script, held another successful iteration. Organised since the launch of the Industry programme, the workshop has become a platform for the development of numerous successful Croatian, regional and international films. In co-operation with the Croatian Film Directors’ and Producers’ Association, and under the experienced guidance of screenwriters and filmmakers Antonio Nuić and Pjer Žalica, with a guest appearance by Pavel Marek, film writers from Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia and Turkey developed and polished their debut feature scripts (see the list of the projects and participants below).

The Film Trailer Editing Workshop has also become a staple of the Zagreb Film Festival Industry tradition, taking place for the third time. Jointly organised by the festival, the Croatian Film Editors’ Association, and the Croatian Film Directors’ and Producers’ Association, it was mentored by award-winning Croatian editors Vladimir Gojun and Tomislav Pavlic. It also boasted a competition, which was won by Ema Pantar, who will have the chance to edit the trailer for the upcoming film Honey Bunny, directed by Igor Jelinović, as an award. The prize is sponsored by production company Eclectica, the firm staging Honey Bunny.

Once again this year, the workshop programme did not overlook the inclusion of different generations in its activities. Nika Tilić came back to hold the My First Video Game workshop in co-operation with HUB385, aimed at younger audiences, while Nino Kovačić held a film criticism workshop for more mature attendees, an event organised in co-operation with the Network of Festivals in the Adriatic Region. The network, along with the festival, Creative Europe – MEDIA Desk Croatia and the Eventful agency, also organised the Film Festival Sustainability Workshop, where participants learned how environmental, social and economic components could be integrated into various aspects of festival organisation, including venue selection, waste reduction, and fostering sustainability awareness among visitors and guests.

Among the many workshops, the audience was able to attend Audition as Networking, a two-day event led by actress Katarina Madirazza, intended for actors who wish to gain a better understanding of the audition process, while also doing some networking. The participants presented their skills to film director Filip Heraković, casting director Sanja Drakulić (Duart), and producers Matija Drniković and Tamara Babun (Wolfgang & Dolly). For the first time, the Zagreb Film Festival hosted the MIDPOINT Intensive Croatia workshop, under the mentorship of renowned script consultant Pavel Marek, aimed at the creative development of screenplays, and backed by the MIDPOINT Institute and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. This four-day workshop was closed to the public and was open only for the participants – teams of scriptwriters, directors and producers.

The master classes held by established film professionals piqued the public’s interest the most, as occurs every year. Icelandic filmmaker Rúnar Rúnarsson (whose newest film, When the Light Breaks [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]) and Czech script expert Pavel Marek (who also wrote a couple of episodes of the popular animated series Pat & Mat [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]) shared their knowledge with the crowd.

The head of Creative Europe – MEDIA Desk Croatia, Martina Petrović, held a presentation on applying for calls for project development, in which she shared comprehensive information and guidance on the funding opportunities available under the MEDIA programme, with the aim of facilitating practical understanding and troubleshooting common issues that arise during the application process.

Finally, for the ninth year running, students from six film academies from the region of the former Yugoslavia gathered to take part in Industry Youth! in order to develop their short-film projects through a series of workshops and finally presented them to an international panel at a pitching session open to the public. Two projects went home with awards: Aylan (University of Nova Gorica School of Arts), directed by Mete Arkin and produced by Vukašin Panić, won colour-grading services sponsored by Color Bureau, while the project Filly (Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb), produced by Klara Vlahovski and directed by Kruno Trninić, won poster design by the studio P3R0/Pero Vojković.

The full list of My First Script projects and participants is as follows:

Andor, Liza and the Boy Who Didn’t Want to Have Sex – Zsigmond Kungl (Hungary)
Folka – Ivan Veljača (Croatia)
My Happy Family – Alkim Özmen (Turkey)
History of Illness – David Gašo (Croatia)
Business Secretary – Lara Simona (Slovenia)
Carbon Cowboys – Markus Laitinen (Finland)

The full list of Industry Youth! projects and participants is below:

Filly – Klara Vlahovski
Producer: Kruno Trninić (Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, Croatia)

As I Observe – Lara Šifrer
Producer: Gala Atanasova (Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana, Slovenia)

In Uterus – Zoja Perović
Producer: Edna Krasnić (Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Vera, the Eternal One – Tamara Tomašević
Producer: Adem Tutić (Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, Serbia)

Once I Was Looking for My Horse Until I Realized I Was Riding It – Matija Jovanović
Producer: Ana Ćulum (Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje, Montenegro)

Aylan – Mate Arkin
Producer: Vukašin Panić (University of Nova Gorica School of Arts, Slovenia)

The list of MIDPOINT Intensive Croatia projects and participants is as follows:

The Repatriate – Andrej Korovljev, Marijana Veljović (Croatia)
Frances McDormand – Lana Barić, Iva Jurlina (Croatia)
Cherries – Leon Lučev, Olja Runjić, Ana Marija Marinov (Croatia)
The Pack – Lucija Ćeškić, Saša Poštić (Croatia)