Selected from the Programme: Magnificence of Nature

A series of films in various sections of the 18th ZagrebDox will have just such an effect on viewers: through travels to different corners of the Earth and peering into worlds and lives that – in parallel with human influence – are born but also disappear, the films we single out all pay tribute to the magnificence of nature.  

In the international competition, such is the film Naya by director Sebastian Mulder, in which Naya from the title is a wolf who escaped from East Germany to Belgium. There she made the headlines, as the first wolf in Belgium in a hundred years. This short documentary, a voyeuristic collage of scenes from the wild and from surveillance cameras, impressively explores the relationship between humans and wildlife. The visual material consists exclusively of photographs available on the internet and recordings that director Mulder received from biologists. The seemingly simple story of wolves raises far more complex questions about the future of our world.  

In the regional competition, we watch Places We’ll Breathe by Croatian director Davor Sanvincenti, an audiovisual essay that advocates imagination through a travelogue of constructed and anonymous landscapes. The director underlines: If he cannot live according to its nature, the plant dies; and so it is with man. Stories that intertwine between the visual, the aural and the expressed speak of loss, search, presence, vigilance, responsibility, anticipation and freedom.    

From the State of Affairs section, we single out Jennifer Peedom’s River, a film that does not fit into the usual framework of film or documentary in terms of form or genre. This is an orchestral concert film, an exceptional film experience, an ode to the world of nature and a retelling of history of both rivers and human civilisation. River takes us on a journey through space and time, across six continents, relying on amazing photography, including satellite imagery, and showing rivers from 39 countries from never-before-seen perspectives.  

The Road Dox section brings Holgut, directed by Liesbeth De Ceulaer, who takes us to northern Siberia. The ice is melting and the wildlife seems to be gone. Three Yakutians go to the wilderness on various assignments. Villager Roman and city boy Kijm hunt a rare deer, while scientist Semyon searches for a usable mammoth cell that he needs in order to clone an extinct animal. And while the three men are getting closer to the goal, both the frozen land they are walking on and the reality itself are melting into another state.    

Check out the entire 18th ZagrebDox programme of the HERE.