The PLUS section films were judged by jury composed of high schoolers from Zagreb: Kiša Bizović Grgas, Jan Kožić, Eva Magdić Govedarica, Tamara Ramadi and Dominik Rački. Their award went to the Belgian-French film Vincent and the End of the World by Christophe Van Rompaey. “Usually the letter F is a bad mark, but we decided to flip the coin and highlight the three Fs in the winning film: fascinating storyline, fantastic photography and fabulous performances. The winning film also displayed emotional intelligence in dealing with a difficult social issue in a funny and unique way. It proves that even in the hardest of moments we need to remain hopeful.”

Vincent and the End of the World

The Together Again section was judged by a jury composed of representatives of professional associations: Tamara Babun, producer (HRUP); Čejen Černić, director (DHFR) and Damir Markovina, actor and screenwriter (HDFD). The Golden Bicycle went to the film Loveless by the Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev. “For an unmistakable and painful diagnosis of the cancerous effect of capitalism on a contemporary family’s possibilities of survival, as well as the dissection of destructive selfishness as the driving force of the film and its masterful execution.” The same film also won the Rijeka Audience Award, thus making Zvyagintsev – the two times winner of the main festival award (for The Return and The Banishment – the most awarded director in the history of ZFF. The same jury gave the special mention to the film The Basics of Killing by Jan Cvitkovič.

Bez ljubavi

The short film category and the Checkers section were judged by: Saša Ban, director and last year’s Checkers winner; Cătălin Cristuțiu, editor and Alejo Franzetti, director and programmer of Berlinale Shorts. The Golden Pram for best short film went to the Hungarian film Student Union by György Mór Kárpáti. “Student Union is a story about a society that lost the power of empathy. It shows us that the inability to understand and help each other sometimes means to have the courage of standing against the people who surround us. That is why empathy is really a power that not many of us have.” The special mention in the short film category went to the American-British film British by the Grace of God by Sean Dunn.

Student Union

The Golden Pram for best short Croatian film in the Checkers section went to Matija Vukšić and Cleaning Lady. “A sober, intense piece, of Chekhovian mood, enigmatic, executed with efficiency and without any waste of means. The thin balance between responsibility, motherhood and law is filtered through the crisp lens of minimal cinema.” The special mention in the same category went to the film Counter-offensive by Jakov Nola.

Cleaning Lady

The feature film jury consisting of Lana Barić, actress; Peter Brosens, director and Peter Rommel, producer, gave the Golden Pram for best feature film to Men Don’t Cry by Alen Drljević, a co-production between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Germany. “A powerful, brave and relevant film exhibiting tremendous acting and directing skills, Men Don’t Cry evokes the necessity of communication to heal, but also to avoid hatred and conflicts. And, yes, men should cry (once in a while).” The special mention went to the French film Montparnasse Bienvenue by Léonor Serraille.

Men Don’t Cry

During these nine days, from early morning to late in the evening, Zagreb was under a large cinematic heat wave. At five locations across the city over 100 films were screened: 33 of them competed for the Golden Pram: 13 debut or second films from all over the world, 10 short international fiction films and 10 Croatian short films in the Checkers section.

The 15^th ZFF also presented awards to the best participants in the INDUSTRY section. The best script at the My First Script workshop is the Hungarian Impromptu, pitched by the screenwriter Horváth János Antal. Thanks to British Council, János will get a chance to spend a seven-day residency in London and further develop his project. The best pitch award at the Industry Youth! Pitching Forum went to two projects: Planet by Nikica Zdunić and Tajana Bakota (ADU) and Šafarikova 19 by Lana Pavkov and Milš Vučković (FDU Belgrade). Both projects won services from post-production studios.