The Adventures of Gloria Scott – Murder in the Cathedral, directed and edited by Matija Pisačić and Tvrtko Rašpolić had its world premiere at last year’s Animafest Zagreb, premiering internationally in competition at Annecy. Since then, the film has toured numerous festivals and events across the world, winning several awards. It also boasts the 2020 Oktavijan Award for Best Animated Film presented by the Croatian Film Critics Society.  

The Adventures of Gloria Scott – Murder in the Cathedral is based on the story by Mima Simić, who also co-wrote the script alongside Jasna Jasna Žmak and Matija Pisačić. The film’s producer is Dijana Mlađenović (of Kinematograf), with Darko Lungulov (of Papa Films) as co-producer. The film’s creation was supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Film Center Serbia and Creative Europe MEDIA sub-programme.  

Glorija Scott is scheduled to screen in the category of Animated Film in the Official Competition, while the section is Oscar-qualifying, which means the winner enters the running for an Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Animated Short.

Besides Gloria Scott, Tirana IFF audience will be able to catch two more Croatian titles – Marko Šantić’s Marko and Sanja Milardović’s I’m Not Telling You Anything, Just Sayin’, both fiction shorts.

At Tirana, Marko is screening in the Generations programme. The Croatian audience had a chance to see it at the Motovun Film Festival, international audiences at LA Shorts in the United States, while it is soon scheduled to appear at a festival in Russia. The Jaka produkcija production (Jure Bušić), done in co-production with houses from Serbia (Filmart), France (Hippocampe Productions) and Slovenia (Invida), was created with the support from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Film Center Serbia and the City of Rijeka.  

I’m Not Telling You Anything, Just Sayin’ directed by Sanja Milardović is presented in the programme Divergent Minds. The Castor Multimedia production had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Signes de Nuit in Paris, where it won a special jury mention. It also won a Special Recognition at the Zagreb Film Festival, screening in the Checkers programme, while it recently won the title of Best Croatian Fiction Film at Betina Film Festival. So far, Sanja Milardović’s film has toured the US (ShortFest), Montpellier (CINÉMED), Sydney (Flickerfest) and Sofia (Sofia International Film Festival). The film’s producer is Matej Merlić, while the project was supported by the City of Rijeka and HAVC.

This year’s 19th Tirana IFF is held 24th – 30th September and is scheduled to screen about 200 cinematic titles. The festival is the first and only international film festival in Albania, with more details about its programme available here.