Day one at the 10th ZagrebDox – premieres of films by Irena Škorić and Borut Šeparović

Monday is the first official day of the 10th ZagrebDox and starts with screenings of two films in the international competition, at noon, theatres 2 and 4. The Dutch-Belgian film Ne Me Quitte Pas, directed by Niels van Koevorden and Sabine Lubbe Bakker is a tragicomic ode to failure, located in a village near the Belgian border where Bob, Flemish, and Marcel, Walloon, share loneliness, sense of humour and wish for alcohol.

The focus of the German documentary Song from the Forest (theatre 4) by Michael Obert is on American Louis Sarno who, 25 years ago, following the sounds of a song he heard on the radio, went to the central African rainforests, to the Pygmy tribe of Bayaka. He remained there until this day and now is getting ready to show his son the world he came from. At IDFA Obert won in the best feature documentary category.

The first film in the regional competition is the Bulgarian-Belgian A Life Almost Wonderful, which is scheduled for 1pm, theatre 3. The story about four brothers as different as they can be, connected only by the same last name and hope that life is always beautiful. The film is directed by Svetoslav Draganov, the Bulgarian documentary filmmaker with more than 10 years of experience.

One ZagrebDox novelty is the Docufiction category, definitely something to intrigue the audience. It includes the films blurring the boundaries between documentary and fiction film. A retrospective of films selected by Evgeny Gusyatinskiy and Gerwin Tamsma from the International Rotterdam Film Festival. The first scheduled is Karaoke Girl, a dreamlike portrayal of a Thai sex worker, using both documentary and fiction elements, which really seems like a joint work between the author and the subject; the film is scheduled for 5pm, theatre 3.

The first Teen Dox film scheduled is Stop That Pounding Heart, 4pm, theatre 5, in which young Sara questions adolescence, family and sociall values, gender roles and religion in the rural American South.

Biography Dox at 6pm, theatre 4, opens with the Swiss film Karma Shadub – a portrayal of a father-son relationship, which won a Grand Prix at Visions du Reel 2013. ZagrebDox hosts one of the two directors of the film, Jan Gassman, a guest of the Q&A after the screening.

State of Affairs, i.e. the delicate ecosystem is the subject of the award-winning Canadian film Revolution, in which the author Rob Stewart embarked on a perilous adventure – from the coral reefs of Papua New Guinea and deforestation in Madagascar, to the largest and most destructive environmental project in Alberta, Canada. Revolution is scheduled for 7pm, theatre 3.

The Master of Dox, British director Nick Broomfield in his latest film Sex: My British Job in a real spy-film manner reveals the terrifying reality of British sex trade with the help of reporter Hsiao-Hung Pai. With the help of her false identity as a cleaning lady, we enter behind the scenes of London’s brothels, into the world of illegal prostitution and human trafficking. The film is scheduled for 6pm, theatre 5.

Dox events this year again bring us premieres of Croatian and regional titles and a chance for filmmakers to present themselves to the audience and speak about their films. Day one of the festival is marked by Dox events, since the schedule envisages four of them. At 5pm, theatre 1, there is Foreclosure and a talk with the author Neven Hitrec. Foreclosure deals with a burning issue in Croatia, a family ‘trapped’ in a vicious circle of debts and mortgages.

At 6pm, theatre 2, Damir Čučić, a member of the international jury and author of Mitch – A Diary of a Schizophrenic, will present a retrospective of his films including earlier works, Creatures from the Pictures, The Forgotten, La Strada and City Killer.

At 8pm, theatre 4, the audience can see the premiere of the film debut of stage director Borut Šeparović, who for the first time translated into the film medium the project of his Montažstroj group. Consumed is a story about one of the most sensitive and socially most marginalised groups in contemporary society – the 55+ generation. This film is selected for the Controversial Dox category.

The final Dox event of day one is the much awaited premiere of Irena Škorić’s last film Dear Lastan!, which will for the first time after 40 years of mystery  reveal the best kept secret in Croatian journalism – who was Lastan? Lastan’s real identity is known only to the editorial board of Modra Lasta, but soon (almost) all identities will be revealed.

Blood Brother has won a respectable number of honours in the last months at festivals across the world – including the jury award and audience award at Sundance, audience awards at Hot Docs, Atlanta and Thessaloniki. This shocking tale is a portrayal of a young American Rocky who reached a radical decision: abandoned his family, friends and life and moved to India, to an institution for children with AIDS. The film is scheduled for 9pm, theatre 3.

Immediately afterwards, theatre 3 at 11pm will screen the regional competition entry Velvet Terrorists, which recently won the independent jury award, Tagesspiel Readers’ Prize, for the best film in the international Forum category at the 64th Berlinale.