54+
Zagreb Film Festival and Network of the Festivals in the Adriatic Region are inviting all the cinephiles older than 54 to apply for film critics and analysis workshop.
Applicants from Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro will attend Zagreb Film Festival for four days and watch films in Adriatic Audience Award selection. The workshop is structured as a series of screenings, lectures and open discussions, and as a result, written critics will be published on the Network website and other platforms of partner festivals. Mentor of this workshop is film publicist Nino Kovačić.
Apply now!
If you want to participate, please send your biography, motivation letter and short review of one film (one-pager) by October 3rd at nikovacic@gmail.com.
Festival will cover the costs of accommodation and travel up to 150 Euro.
Film reviews
54+ participants about films in competition for Adriatic Audience Award
Haris Dedić
"Sweet Dreams", the second feature film by director Ena Sendijarević, unfolds a compelling narrative about the end of the colonial era in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) presented through the lens of a dysfunctional family's disintegration. The story takes place around 1900, as the colonial status in the Netherlands begins to take shape. Following the golden age of colonialism, critical reflections on colonial practices emerge. The film portrays a group of people aware that the golden age is ending, and who are reluctant to relinquish their privileges.
Goran Miličević
"Black Stone," a mockumentary by Greek director Spiros Jacovides, is a heartwarming comedy and family drama. However, more importantly, it's a critique of ableism and racism, highlighting the natural right to be different. If someone is disabled, why shouldn't they be cantankerous among the healthy? If someone has black skin, why shouldn't they be at ease among whites?
Višnja Bunata Blagović
Is morality at odds with politics, or should they operate in tandem in the process of political decision-making? The Slovak film "Power," directed by Matyas Prikler, positions us right at the heart of this dilemma.
Tatjana Rosić
Ena Sendijarević's "Sweet Dreams" is a costumed historical drama portraying the downfall of the Dutch colonial regime in Indonesia around the year 1900. The film ostensibly focuses on social change (the end of colonialism) and its consequences. It suggests that these consequences are never straightforward, mirroring both the history of the 20th century and the supposedly postcolonial 21st century. The complexity and elusive nature of social change lead the author of "Sweet Dreams" to resort to not realistic or documentary but hallucinatory, fantastic, and dreamlike frames and visual solutions that present the drama of social change more as hallucination than as a historically real action.
Jelena Ratkov Kvočka
Spiros Jacovides' first feature film is about breaking prejudices and liberating individuals, families, and modern society from frustrations. The film is stylistically crafted as a documentary simulation exploring the "vanished spirits of the public sector." Following the investigation of this social phenomenon, specifically the disappearance of the civil servant Panos Dologlou, the cameraman and sound technician end up at Haroula's door.
Oriana Brgić Kolić
The core of the family, along with its suffering and breakdown, remains unchanged from the time of Greek tragedies to today, regardless of historical, cultural, or social contexts.
Aleš Naglas
"Copenhagen Does Not Exist" stirred and heightened my concern for the world we live in. The film is an unsuccessful attempt to break out of the system of familiar life patterns: traditional and experimental lifestyles that vary significantly from the average. From genuine communities where everyone is active to eco-villages, various communes... The range of acceptable ways of living is, in reality, very narrow.