The international competition will include four Croatian films. They are: Yet Another Departure by Renata Poljak, Imbued Life by Ivana Bosnjak and Thomas Johnson, September 3, 2015 by Sara Jurinčić and In the Name of the Republic of Croatia by Goran Dević.

The children and youth competition will include Wings for a Crocodile by Ivana Guljašević Kuman and Snail the Painter by Manuela Vladić-Maštruko.

Yet Another Departure is a documentary film about Vis, the flagship of the ex-Yugoslav navy, which was sunk in 2016 so that it would be a tourist attraction for divers. Renata Poljak wrote, directed and produced the film. The editor is Damir Čučić, the cinematographer is Boris Poljak, and the costume designer is Sonja Obradović. Music is by Silvio Belušić, Alen Sinkauz and Nenad Sinkauz. Yet Another Departure is produced by Udruga REA, and Bonobostudio is the distributor. The film will have its world premiere in Oberhausen.

The animated film Imbued Life will also have its world premiere at this year’s Oberhausen Festival. The film is about a young woman’s connection to the life force of nature. She uses her talents as a taxidermist to ‘restore’ animals to their natural habitats. But the real search for answers only starts when she finds undeveloped rolls of film in each animal. Ivana Bošnjak and Thomas Johnson wrote, directed, designed, animated and created the puppets for the film. The cinematographer is Ivan Slipčević, the editor is Iva Kraljević, music and sound is by Andrea Martignoni, voiceover is by Rakan Rushaidat, and the producer is Vanja Andrijević (Bonobostudio). Imbued Life will have its Croatian premiere at this year’s Animafest, and will, after Oberhausen, go on to compete at the prestigious Annecy International Animation Festival.

Sara Jurinčić’s short documentary September 3, 2015, was made during Restart’s School of Documentary Film in 2017. The film is a collage of newspaper clippings highlighting news published on the date in the film’s title. Sara Jurinčić wrote, directed, shot and edited the film, while Anita Bastašić is the film’s producer. Sound is by Igor Zelić. The film premiered at the Liburnia Film Festival last year. It won Best Film at the Croatian Film Review, and won an award at the 14th 25 FPS Festival.

The mid-length documentary film In the Name of the Republic of Croatia by Goran Dević, which premiered at this year’s ZagrebDox, highlights the absurdity of the Croatian judicial system through the example of political activist Marko Francišković. The film is produced by Petneasta Umjetnost, and the producer is Hrvoje Osvadić.

All of the above mentioned films were made with support from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.

Wings for a Crocodile is an animated film by Ivana Guljašević Kuman. It is written by Bruno Kuman. The film tells the story of a crocodile who is sad because he doesn’t have wings like that of a dragon. One night, his friends decide to make him his own pair of wings. Animation is by Bruno Kuman and Ivana Guljašević Kuman who was also responsible for design and background, while she also worked with Bruno and Ana Kuman on editing and sound design. The film is produced by Bruno Kuman and Igubuka. Wings for a Crocodile premiered at last year’s Animafest, and has since screened at a number of Croatian and international festivals in Belgium, Chicago and New York.

Snail the Painter is a simple story starring snails who introduce children to colours. The snails crawl through splats of colour leaving trails behind, which intersect and create new colours. Animation is by Darko Vidačković, Iva Božić and Lucija Bužančić. Besides writing the script, Manuela Vladić-Maštruko also directed, edited and designed the film. Sound is by Vjeran Šalamon, and music is by Šimun Matišić. The film is produced by Vinko Brešan and Zagreb Film. This year it competed at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

The 64th Oberhausen International Short Film Festival will screen 139 films from 44 countries in five competition categories. The festival received 7616 applications from 127 countries which is the largest number of applications to date.

Since its founding, the festival has been a catalyst of change, presenting contemporary development, unveiling new talents and trends, is a forum for often heated discussions and one of the most important short film institutions in the world.

For more on the festival, please visit the official website.