Two animated comedy shorts produced by Vinko Brešan for Zagreb Film will have their world premieres at this festival. The puppet animation short directed and written by Damir Šuša, The Black Smoke of Prediction, follows the hilarious story of a Croatian space force crew preparing for a voyage to a newly discovered paradise planet. Dinko Kumanović’s 2D animated short No Effect portrays the butterfly effect of a painter’s thrilling experience of inspiration.

Also gearing up for its world premiere at SEEfest is director Ivana Marinić Kragić’s crime short Feud. Inspired by a true event, the thriller is a Croatian-Romanian-Serbian co-production between Marinis Media, Set Sail Films and Anchor Films. The director co-wrote the film together with Nikola Kuprešanin, while the film’s producers are Ivana Marinić Kragić, Miloš Ivanović and Ana Maria Pirvan. The short traces the violence that ensues when a young journalist unearths the story of a young man being racketeered by drug dealers while the police turn a blind eye.

The festival will also screen a number of Croatian documentaries. Director and screenwriter Igor Ilić’s film Deep Tones focuses on sound engineer and musician Božo Ilić and his journey of healing the psychological trauma caused to by the Zagreb earthquake in March 2020. This film is again produced by Vinko Brešan for Zagreb Film and it won the Dragan Rubeša Critics’ Award at last year’s Liburnia Film Festival.

The Revenant Project: Persons, Places, Things is a short documentary film directed by Tomislav Žaja in which Dr Jeremy Walton and his international team of scholars explore the remains of the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires in Istanbul, Vienna and Sarajevo through people, places and things. Revenant is a European Research Council-funded research project on post-imperial culture conducted at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka.

The documentary feature Our Children is director and writer Silvestr Kolbas’ autobiographical take on the dilemma of fatherhood and his relationship with his children from different marriages. It was produced by Nenad Puhovski for Factum. The film has received multiple awards and won two Golden Arenas at last year’s Pula Film Festival.

This year’s SEEfest program will also feature three films produced by and created at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. The medium-length documentary Grand Prize directed, written and produced by Anja Koprivšek follows an unconventional young couple: Valentina, a talented vogue dancer on the Croatian scene, and Teo, a beginner searching for his place under the sun. He finds encouragement and inspiration in Valentina, who supports him in his transition. Last year the film received Special Mentions at two festivals – Liburnia and ZagrebDox. The short drama Greek Apricots directed and written by Jan Krevatin, who produced the film together with Josip Gregov, follows Mak and Nada whose shared Macedonian roots bring them together on a quiet summer night. The film has appeared at several festivals, including GoShort in the Netherlands earlier in April.

Also screening at SEEfest will be filmmaker Karla Jelić’s documentary short Yet Another One, produced by the Academy of Dramatic Art. Dora Čaldarović was in charge of cinematography, Nina Karaman did the editing, while Ema Veseljak created the sound design. The film’s producer is Natalie Dech. The film premiered at the recently concluded ZagrebDox, while its screening at SEEfest will mark its international premiere. Telling the story of Vida Skerk, who decides to continue her studies in London following a sexual harassment incident involving a professor at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, the documentary is a faithful rendering of society’s treatment of the victims of sexual violence.

Another animated short featured at SEEfest is The Family Portrait, a stop-motion historical drama of director, writer and animator Lea Vidaković. The film was produced by Draško Ivezić (Adriatic Animation), and co-produced by Jean-François Le Corre (Vivement Lundi!, France) and Nikolina Vučetić Zečević (Biberche production, Serbia). It is set on the eve of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and depicts a quiet Sunday afternoon in an aristocratic family home of Andras and his daughter Zsofia, who are caught off guard by the unexpected arrival of Andras’ brother Zoltan and his large family. The Family Portrait has toured over 50 festivals winning more than 10 awards and special mentions, including the Emile European Animation Award for Best Sound Design and Music (Zoran Maksimović, Miroslav Jovančić).

The SEEfest audience will also have the opportunity to see the animated film Windows from the South created by Eugen Bilankov. The film had its world premiere at Animafest, where it won a Special Mention, and its international premiere at the festival in Annecy. It is a meditation on the end of a nine-year-long romantic relationship. The film’s soundscape is constructed through the use of documentary procedures, while the animation portrays the psychological and emotional spaces of these “breakup” conversations.

SEEfest will also screen the multi-award-winning title (winner of the Golden Palm in Cannes, European Film Award, Cesar Award) The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent by Nebojša Slijepčević, which was nominated for the prestigious Academy Award this year and tells the true story of a man who fought for justice. The film was produced by Croatian company Antitalent, with producers Katarina Prpić and Danijel Pek. The co-producers were Katya Trichkova (Contrast Films, Bulgaria), Noëlle Lévénez (Les Films Norfolk, France), and Boštjan Virc (Studio Virc, Slovenia).

Director and writer Eva Vidan’s fiction short Tiha will also appear on the festival’s programme. The film follows shy fourteen-year-old Deni, who is going through a family and friendship crisis while searching for acceptance. The cast is headed up by Sara Tudor, Suzana Čizmić, Helena Višić, Antea Tolj, Domina Ančić, Mikula Branjov, Leo Murgić and Domagoj Ostoja. The film’s director of photography was Dubravka Kurobasa, with editors Eva Vidan and Adrian Vidan, who also composed the music. Jan Tomić and Niko Gulam created the sound design. The film was produced by Columbia University in co-production with Cinema Klub Split. The producers are Aida Vidan, Eva Vidan, Sylvie Vidan and Morgan Smith.

The entire SEEfest film program is available at this link.