The 14th edition of the industry programme at the Zagreb Film Festival (10-16 November) hosted an array of film and audiovisual industry professionals and enthusiasts who took part in various events, most of them running as per tradition. The master classes and workshops served as the backbone of the industry programme once again, while the Industry Youth! Pitching Forum and the Trailer-editing Workshop added some competitive “heat” to proceedings.

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Three master classes were held by the esteemed guests of the 24th Zagreb Film Festival. Bosnian-Croatian filmmaker Una Gunjak, who also served as one of the main competition jury members, held a session on working with children and non-professional actors. Another master class was given by Serbian-Romanian filmmaker Ivana Mladenović on the topic of autofiction. Finally, Greek editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis also led one titled “Splicing into Strange Worlds”, in which he focused on his collaborations with Yorgos Lanthimos and other Greek Weird Wave auteurs.

My First Screenplay was once again the highest-profile workshop among all those at the festival. Under the mentorship of Croatian scriptwriters Antonio Nuić and Jelena Paljan, who were joined by returning guest lecturer Pavel Marek, from the Czech Republic, six screenwriters from Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic were able to work on their debut scripts. See the list of participants below.

In a similar vein, under Marek’s mentorship, four Croatian creative teams consisting of filmmakers, writers and producers were able to develop their short fiction film at the MIDPOINT Intensive Croatia workshop. The teams and projects are also listed below.

Croatian editors and the founders of the Croatian Film Editors Association Vladimir Gojun and Tomislav Pavlic taught another edition of the Movie Trailer-editing Workshop. The winning work was by Dunja Ivezić, and her award is an opportunity to craft the trailer for the upcoming film Whispered Mercy (previously known as Washed and Buried – see the news) by Slovenian filmmaker Martin Turk.

The Industry Youth! training programme, aimed at film students from seven academic institutions in the six ex-Yugoslav countries, once again concluded with a pitching forum. The participants were taught by mentors Inja Korać, Lana Matić, Čedomir Kolar and Bard Ydén, while Kolar, Klasja Habjan and Nikica Zdunić served as the panel members who also gave out the awards, consisting of in-kind services. Nadja Paranos and Adna Dautović’s Fade In, hailing from the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo, won two awards: colour-grading services by Colour Bureau and film-poster design services by klasja&zita. Meanwhile, Jana Golaboska and Simon Gegaj’s Safe was awarded script-consultancy services by Nikica Zdunić. See the complete list of participants below.

The Audition as Networking workshop for actors returned, once again under the tutelage of Katarina Madirazza, while the actors showed off their skills to filmmaker Sophie Vuković, and producers Danijel Pek and Katarina Prpić. The 54+ Workshop, held by Nino Kovačić and aimed at more mature aspiring film critics who are keen to see and comment on films from the Network of Festivals in the Adriatic Region, also returned.

On the other end of the age spectrum, Nika Tilić ran a workshop for children titled My First Digital Picture Book. Sustainability was the focus of two events – the educational programme “Consultations on Sustainable Film Production” and the workshop “Green Practices: Recommendations for Sustainable Festivals”. The Croatian desk of Creative Europe – MEDIA organised a presentation called “What’s Cooking in the New Content Cluster Calls in 2026?”, while the round-table “Small Markets, Big Stories” saw panellists from Croatia and Denmark discuss research findings on the topic of the state of things in small national film industries, with the focus on the aforementioned countries. Finally, under the auspices of the festival itself, producers Vanja Jambrović and Tibor Keser were presented with the Albert Kapović Award by the Croatian Producers Association for their work on Igor Bezinović’s Fiume o morte! [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film].

Here is the list of My First Screenplay workshop participants and projects:

Reservations – Marko Bičanić (Croatia)
In Heat – Jovan Dimoski (Serbia)
Cold Winter – Sara Grgunić (Croatia)
Now and After – Vojtěch Konečný (Czech Republic)
Where the Bees Follow – Emina Sehić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Faceless – Laura Udra (Lithuania)

Here is a list of the Industry Youth! participants and projects:

Love Ain’t on the Market – Dražen Bošnjak, Ivana Brajdić (Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, Croatia)
Fade In – Adna Dautović, Nadja Paranos (Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
I Didn’t Scrimp and Save All My Life Just to Get Ripped Off on a Façade – Mark Džamastagić, Gala Atanasova (Academy of Radio, Theatre, Film and Television in Ljubljana, Slovenia)
The Cat’s Funeral – Yue Marie Feng, Éva Júlia Boros (University of Nova Gorica, School of Arts, Slovenia)
Safe – Jana Golaboska, Simon Gegaj (Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje, North Macedonia)
Welcome Son in Law – Jelena Šarić, Pavle Vujović (Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje, Montenegro)
Ways of Going Home – Vanja Vulin, Mina Adamović (Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, Serbia)

Here is a list of the MIDPOINT Intensive Croatia projects and participants:

Mister Piggy – Luka Galešić, Tea Matanović (Croatia)
Loose Ends – Tara Jović, Matko Burić (Croatia)
Dies Caniculares – Marin Lisjak, Matija Drniković (Croatia)
TTMD – Ivan Sikavica, Inja Korać (Croatia)