How to spend this Friday at ZagrebDox?

At 7pm, theatre 4, the world premiere of the observational documentary Destination Serbistan is scheduled, the latest film by Želimir Žilnik, a ‘dark wave’ master of documentary film, focusing on asylum seekers in Serbia while depicting the broader context of the social problem which became a burning issue only recently in these areas. Before the screening, at the Zagreb film auditorium, 5pm, Žilnik will hold a masterclass, and after the film stay for a Q&A session. Aside from Destination Serbistan, Dox events on Friday feature another two docs: Veruda by Igor Bezinović and Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry by Neven Hitrec. Bezinović’s latest documentary, named after Pula’s neighbourhood Veruda, introduces us to the life story of a 24-year-old who spent one sixth of his life in jails. The film is scheduled for 6pm, theatre 3, and it will be followed by a discussion with Bojan, Bezinović and film crew members. Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry, scheduled for 8pm, theatre 3, is a funny tale of an argument between two fishing clubs – between ‘small’ Brdovec and big ‘Zaprešić’, and the subject of the argument are concessions, heated assemblies, buying votes and other ‘fishermen’s tales’.

The final 11th ZagrebDoXXL event is scheduled for 7pm, theatre 1, and will be dedicated to the film work of the international jury chair Vinko Brešan. Short films Our Stock Exchange and The Corridor and feature film Radio 101’s Independence Day will walk us through the circumstances in Croatia in the last three decades and remind us of some Croatian ‘stumbling blocks’: judiciary (The Corridor), high unemployment in the late 1980s (Our Stock Exchange) and (lack of) media freedom (Radio 101’s Independence Day). Brešan will be interviewed about the first two films by Diana Nenadić, the programmer of Croatian Musical Documentary retrospective and Vinko Brešan Author’s Night.

Politics and society are also in the focus of other two film recommendations for Friday. The firt one is Serbian Lawyer by Aleksandar Nikolić, scheduled for 8pm, theatre 5. The screening will be attended by the film’s protagonist, moral and other doubt-ridden Marko Sladojević, a member of the legal team that defended Radovan Karadžić before ICTY. He is sharing his interesting Hague experiences at a Q&A session. At 10pm, theatre 3, we meet the new Greek prime minister and president of Syriza Alexis Tsipras up close and personal in the documentary of a symbolical title Hope on the Line. Directors Alexandre Papanicolaou and Emilie Yannoukou followed him since the 2012 elections when the popularity of Syriza in Greece soared, to the scandalous termination of the state broadcaster ERT in 2013. They documented Tsipras’s political views and standpoint, but also the strategic guidelines of the Greek leftist coalition.

There is also Cathedrals of Culturein the Masters of Dox section. The omnibus dedicated to fascinating architectural wonders, each of which was selected and directed by a famous director, will be screened in three dimensions. We are introduced to Berlin Philharmonics (Wim Wenders), Salk Institute in California (Robert Redford), St. Petersburg National Library (late Michael Glawogger), Halden Prison in Denmark (Michael Madsen), Oslo Opera House (Margreth Olin) and Pompidou Centre in Paris (Karim Ainouz).