20th Anniversary Edition of ZagrebDox Announced

The media conference announcing the twentieth edition of ZagrebDox, the International Documentary Film Festival, took place in a truly festive atmosphere. No wonder, because from the ambitious idea of Nenad Puhovski, this festival in Zagreb has quickly become one of the most important film festivals in the world focusing its interest on documentary films. The 20th ZagrebDox will take place from 14 to 21 April in the Kaptol Boutique Cinema, and after a short introduction by Nenad Puhovski, the founder, head programmer and director of the festival, the first surprise in a series followed, on a typically springtime afternoon in Kaptol Boutique Cinema’s WOW bar. Nenad Puhovski announced a change in the ZagrebDox management.  

“In the ZagrebDox team, we have agreed that from now on we will split the managerial position into two - the executive director, taken over by my colleague Hrvoje Pukšec, and the artistic director, still me. This division, common at most contemporary film festivals, will make better and more efficient management of the festival and coping with future festival challenges possible,” said Nenad Puhovski.  

The collaboration between Puhovski and Pukšec in recent years has resulted in ZagrebDox entering the prestigious list of world festivals that decide on nominations for the annual award of the European Film Academy, the audience that had drifted away from theatres during the pandemic has returned, and finally: a new production team has been created which managed to achieve all that.   “ZagrebDox is a cultural event which is full of potential and which has not nearly been exhausted in these twenty years of its existence,” said the new executive director of the festival. “Thanks to Mr. Puhovski for his trust, but also thanks to all the colleagues without whom such a large and significant festival could not be organised. A lot of challenges await us in the future, many of which we will set high for ourselves because we don’t know any other way.” In the continuation of his address, Hrvoje Pukšec thanked all sponsors and patrons, especially Atlantic’s Barcaffe, without whose “rivers of ingested coffee” the festival could never be possible. In a relaxed and cheerful tone, the executive director presented the artistic director on   behalf of the production team with a remarkably nice gift – a denim shirt with the ZagrebDox logo.  

Next, Dina Pokrajac, a member of the selection committee and head of DoXXL and special events, addressed the audience. After last year’s big success with the return of this panel, which with its expert guests expanded, thematically deepened and gave additional value to the screenings themselves, the decision was made to go in the same direction this year as well. “As part of the participatory documentary platform ZagrebDoXXL, five panels will take place on various relevant topics: from the abuse of deepfake technology to the erosion of labour rights, from the consequences of sexual violence and trauma as the key to healing to finding a just political solution for Palestine. Documentary films are known for opening up topics that society is not yet ready to face or is not sufficiently familiar with and contribute to a collective perspective of social issues. Therefore, they have an important role as the conscience and corrective of society, but also as a kind of forecaster of social changes. From the hundred or so films at ZagrebDox, it was difficult to choose only five that will serve as an introduction to more extensive discussions, but we were guided by the aforementioned criteria when making the selection,” said Dina Pokrajac.  

The novelty of this year’s ZagrebDox is also in the orientation of its Pro segment intended for film professionals. At this year’s edition, ZagrebDox Pro focuses on in-depth research of documentary serials. From the way of thinking about ideas, building interest in the audiovisual ecosystem, possible approaches to production, all the way to distribution and promotion models. Judging by the number of entries, but also the variety of projects, it seems that even film professionals are in for a memorable edition!   Producer Vanda Volić said more about this year’s segment intended for film professionals: “ZagrebDox Pro educational and development workshop this year focuses on documentary serials, as the first among similar training programmes in this part of Europe that deals with this format. The goal of this segment is to help the authors of selected documentary series in their development, but also to bring closer the possibility of presenting them to television, producers, financiers and distributors. Mentors as well as various lecturers and colleagues help them in this through the ZagrebDox Pro workshop, which is why we are extremely pleased that we managed to bring together in these roles the most important personalities from the world of documentary serials, professionals from the BBC, Al Jazeera, HBO and of HRT as well as prominent filmmakers from Croatia and abroad.”  

The specialty of ZagrebDox, or rather its media addresses, is the traditional presentation of the film programme, which is always inspired by the man without whom there would be no ZagrebDox, Nenad Puhovski. Completely in line with this year’s festival visuals, it seems that ZagrebDox this year has done what everyone always wants, but rarely succeeds. Show the best of the best. Show the best that contemporary world documentary has to offer. “Unlike previous years when we presented the programme here by its sections, this year our festival ‘harvest’ was so good – winners of Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, Tribeca, Sarajevo, IDFA, CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, Leipzig, Visions du Réel, Locarno, Sheffield, Jihlava, Barcelona, Prizren, Thessaloniki – that we decided to limit ourselves to only them,” concluded Nenad Puhovski.  

The one hundred and two films that this year’s ZagrebDox will offer to its loyal audience over the course of eight days are certainly the best possible choice in this election-time festival! The non-working Wednesday allowed the organisers to include additional screenings in the schedule, therefore one of the festival’s possible slogans is: from the polling station to the auditorium! And the winners of Berlinale, Cannes, DOK Leipzig, Ji.hlava, Rotterdam, Sarajevo, Sundance, Tribeca, Venice will be waiting for them there.  

ZagrebDox takes place with the support of the City of Zagreb, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Kultura nova Foundation, Croatian Film Directors Guild and the City of Zagreb Tourist Board.