The rich festival competition will screen a selection of 87 feature, animated, documentary, experimental and promotional films from recent Croatian productions, of which the authors themselves will introduce each film. The Croatian Film Days competition programme will screen films every day at Cinema Europa from 16:00 until late into the night, and viewers will have the opportunity, all in one place, to discover about what and in what way Croatian filmmakers of all generations think. There will be 30 premieres at the festival.

The short and mid-length competition will feature 14 films, from experienced directors like Ivan Salaj (Resistance Day), Danilo Šerbedžija (Walnut) and Radislav Jovanov Gonzo (Thunder), to debut filmmakers and those presenting their thesis works such as Silva Ćapin (Stories from the White Room), Edin Mahmuljin and Ivan Skorin (…and they’re out), Višnja Vukašinović (Eight Ways to Stop Feeling Lonely), Filip Heraković (Tree Tops) and Vanja Miljak (Istra Bitter). 

The documentary programme will screen 25 films, including the premieres of Festival Tourism by Sunčica Ana Veldić, Dragec by Maja Lesar, What if We Are? by Domagoj Matizović, Cile by Katarina Radetić, Cartoonists by Krešimir Lendić, Krek by Matija Fućek, Something About Life by Nebojša Slijepčević, Extras by Tomislav Mršić, Independent List of Opportunists by Dejan Oblak and Vedran Senjanović, as well as Weekend Off – an omnibus whose authors are anonymous inmates at Lipovica Penitentiary. Of the seven animated films competing at the festival, three will have their premieres: Ghost Town by Marko Dješka, Peter’s Forest by Martina Meštrović, and the Bulgarian-Croatian film Travelling Country, directed by Ivan Bogdanov and Vessela Dantcheva. 

There are a total of 17 works being screened in the experimental film programme, from well-known experimental artists and filmmakers such as Nicole Hewitt, Ana Bilankov, Milan Bukovac (premiere of Symphony) and Željko Kipke (premiere of Le peintre enchenteur), to multimedia artists Željko Vukičević Zhele (premiere of Mute Departures: Stay Awake and Echo) and Goran Škofić (premiere of On the Beach).  Also premiering in this category are Parade, by Arijana Lekić-Fridrih, Epiphany by Dražen Žarković, First Gasp by Miranda Herceg, Almost Nothing by Ana Hušman and Lines by Branko Pašić. 

The promotional film category includes 24 works, commercials and promotional films, as well as 8 music videos which will be screened at Vinyl Bar on April 22nd and sponsored by Croatia Records. 

Of the six works featured in the Fokus programme (non-competition), Best Short Film winner in Venice, Belladonna by Dubravka Turić, will be screened, as well as Split’s Igor Jelinović’s newest film Lula i Bručke. The accompanying programme will feature a series of Croatian works: ’25 Years of Days of Croatian Film will screen a selection of films from the previous 24 festivals, ‘Psychotronic Film’ will screen films by Jakov Sedlar and Zvonimir Maycug, ‘Last Zagreb Post’ will screen three films from TV serials featuring Croatia’s capital directed by Mladen Juran, ‘Early Works from the Academy of Dramatic Arts’ will feature the first films by Darko Rundek, Snježana Tribuson and Branko Schmidt, retrospective of works by Dalibor Barić, and ‘Commercials from Zagreb Film’ will include works by masters of promotional film Milan Blažeković, Borivoj Dovniković, Vladimir Delač, Zlatko Grgić, Nedeljko Dragić, Dušan Vukotić, Aleksandar Marks, Vladimir Jutriš, Branko Ilić, Boris Kolar and Zlatko Pavlinić. The retrospective on Nedeljko Dragić, winner of this year’s Golden Octavian for lifetime achievement, will screen the author’s animated films.

The main festival awards will be handed out by juries in the categories of Best Film (Grand Prix), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor/Actress, Best Editing, Best Music, Best Cinematography, and Best Minority Co-Production. The jury of the 25th Croatian Film Days includes director Hana Jušić, actress Luna Zimić Mijović (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and film critic Silvestar Mileta.

The Croatian Film Days will hand out a series of other awards. The Croatian Society of Film Critics will hand out the Octavian Award in the categories of feature, documentary, animated, experimental and promotional film, as well as the Golden Octavian for Lifetime Achievement, which will this year be awarded to Nedeljko Dragić, a well-renowned member of the Zagreb School of Animation, and the Vladimir Vuković Award for film critique. The Croatian Film Directors’ Guild will award the Jelena Rajković Prize to the best young director. Ethics and human rights, as well as audience prizes are also awarded during the festival. This year the Golden Oil Lamp will again return to the festival and is awarded by the jury of Glas Koncila (Voice of the Ecclesiastical Council). There are also new regulations in place regarding the Octavian Awards and the basis upon which they are awarded, taking into consideration all of the year’s productions which premiere between two editions of Days of Croatian Film (including films that are screened at the festival).

The educational and professional events EDU/PRO DHF bring a round-table discussion on the relationship between music and film entitled ‘Why is the relationship between music and film in Croatia so restrained and cautious?’ and will gather some of Croatia’s leading music video directors, producers, musicians and journalists. There will also be round-tables on the themes of psychotronic films and film festivals, a lecture by producer Roshanak Behesht Nedjad about project development in the beginning phase, as well as two lectures from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre – ‘All you ever wanted to know about registering a film with HAVC (and didn’t dare to ask)’ and ‘What to do when your film is done?’, as well as a film critique workshop under the guidance of Višnja Vukašinović ‘Croatian Film Seeks Critics’, ‘Little Legal Clinic’ co-organized by SPID, and the presentation of the book Dum Spiro Spero written by author and, as of this year, director Pero Kvesić.

The festival is co-financed by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the City of Zagreb, the Croatian Film Directors’ Guild and Creative Desk Europe – MEDIA. For more details please visit the festival’s official website.