The Sheffield DocFest will screen only eight titles in the International Competition, including the documentary Pavilion 6 directed by Goran Dević and produced by Hrvoje Osvadić.

“Since being first presented at the Sarajevo Film Festival last year the film has attracted a lot of attention from both festivals and broadcasters. It was very fortuitous that the BBC purchases the screening rights as soon as we launched the distribution, so I’m confident the Pavilion 6 will continue to be in demand and will find an audience at various TV channels and festivals in the coming years”, said the film’s producer Hrvoje Osvadić on the occasion.   

Pavilion 6 was shot at the Zagreb Fair complex during the period of mass vaccination prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Snippets of intimate conversations in the vaccination queue best describe the outline of the film. The camera guides the viewer through the vaccine lines, the vaccination area, and the recovery areas catching snippets of candid conversations between people who came to get their jab, as well as doctors, insurance people and other staff.

“This observational documentary reveals the sense of confoundedness and scepticism that characterised our shared experience of the pandemic. Serving as collective therapy for the post-COVID era, this humorous and human picture of a unique moment in time reveals the threads that bind us and reminds us of our humanity in the midst of unprecedented challenges. There is a world before the pandemic and one after it, while the film is a document of that transition”, says the film synopsis.

Director of photography is Damian Nenadić, Vanja Siruček edited the film, while Ivan Zelić created the sound design. Pavilion 6 has been supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and has participated at the Docu Rough Cut Boutique organized by the Balkan Documentary Institute and CineLink Sarajevo in 2023, scooping up two awards, for Al Jazeera Balkans Best Pitch and the DOK Leipzig Preview Award.

The International Documentary Film Festival, Sheffield DocFest, annually receives more than 25,000 spectators and 3,500 film industry professionals. This year’s 31st festival edition will feature 109 titles from across the globe. As many as 48 films will have their world premieres at the festival, while 14 will be international and 17 European premiere screenings.

More information about Sheffield DocFest, taking place in Sheffield from 12th to 17th June, is available on its official website.