Liburnia Film Festival, the festival of Croatian documentary film, this year will be held under the motto 'Watch loudly!' from August 20th to August 24th on the Opatija Summer stage and in Villa Antonio.
Seven Croatian documentaries at the LFF will be premiered, of which five will have world and two Croatian premieres. "In the program there are intriguing and, for our society, important political documentaries, as well as documentaries that will make the audience laugh right. We are especially proud of several new Croatian documentaries, and this year we have not overlooked people such as Igor Bezinović, Vlado Gojun, Vlatka Vorkapić and Sunčica Ana Veldić. Three films made in Croatian co-production are also compiting", announced the executive director of the festival Jelena Androić at a press conference.
In the competition for the seven festival awards there are 18 films, two films from the Restart production will be screened out of the competition and some surprise titles await us in the afternoon projections in Villa Antonio. During five festival days, the jury will decide on prizes for the best film, direction, photography, installation, sound design and the best regional film. The audience will choose their favorite too.
5 world premieres at LFF
The Liburnia Film Festival has been honored to have seven films premiered, of which five are the world premieres. Our audience will first see the deeply intimate film by Vladimir Gojun "Bebe Na Vole" about the famous Croatian indie blueser Adam Semijalac, as well as the very personal "The Cure" by Ane Opalić, in which we follow the author's relationship with her mother. All well-known Istrian author Elvis Lenić is coming with a short film "Meat" in which he asks what meat means to us today, and the filmmaker Bojan Mrđenović is debuting with the movie "The party" in which we can see the way he inquires about his relationship with the public space. Journalist and filmmaker Nika Obučina follows the bureaucratic struggle to retain the apartment of a former factory worker Kamensko in the movie "The Occupant".
Croatian-Dutch production "90 seconds in North Korea" by Ranko Pauković and "Occupied Cinema" by Serbian director Senka Domanović, a film produced in co-production with Croatian Nukleus Film are having their premiers on 16th LFF.
The first is an essayist glimpse of life in the most embedded country of the world while the other is a complex interpersonal relationships during the occupation of Belgrade's Zvezda cinema, where different social groups are trying to draw attention to the criminal privatization of Belgrade's cinemas, during which they meet obstacles they did not expect.
Intriguing themes
In an intriguing animated-documentary Swiss-Croatian-German-Finnish co-production "Chriss the Swiss", director Anja Kofmel explores the death of her cousin, a 26-year-old Swiss journalist Christian Würtenberg, who was killed in Slavonia at the end of 1991 as a member of controversial First International platoon. Jadranka Cicvarić Šiftar's and Senad Zemunović's film "Josipa, I love you" is an extremely psychological journey of the main protagonist in which the director himself unexpectedly enters. Last year's LFF jury member, multiple award-winning producer with two LFF awards, Igor Bezinović, is back in the LFF program with his new short film "The Lovetts" in which he reveals the background of a couple that makes money by having sex in front of web cams. Very original experimental documentary "Ghost in the Machine" will be presented to us by the Leon Rizmaul.
It will be funny, too
Boris Mitić's humoristic "In Praise of Nothing" (Serbia, Croatia, France) is a satirical documentary parabola whose documentaries have been photographed by 62 photo directors from all over the world, composed by Pascal Comelade and Tiger Lilllies, and the voice of Nothing, in verse, was recorded by Iggy Pop. "OUR DAILY WATER" is a Mediterranean comedy made by famous director Vlatka Vorkapić about the captain and the crew members of the water carrier that supplies precious liquid to the Croatian islands.
The LFF public of well-known Sunčica Ana Veldić ("White Trash", "Hux Flux") in an auto-ironic manners, "Drama is Overrated'', is being conducted through the problems of student directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb.
Five films of ADU students in the competition
In addition to Sunčica, four more students of the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art this year produced great films. After the Grand Prix Day of the Croatian Film for his film „Momsy“, Josip Lukić is coming on the LFF. In his deeply intimate and brave film he uncompromisingly examines his own mother about issues of sex, faith and deeply hidden family secrets. Hidden family intrigue was recorded by Renata Lučić in the film ''As far as our feet take us'' while Lovro Mrđen in "Patrol Uranus" deals with the not-so-simple everyday life of a leader of children's mountains scouting tour. Arijana Lekić-Fridrih has spent months with Jadranka Kosor in her own political campaign after her expulsion from HDZ in the film "Begin again".
Award-winning Restart Documentaries in Out-of-Competition Program
Traditionaly, on the last day of the LFF, two films, produced by the co-organizer of the festival - Restart production company from Zagreb, will be shown out of the competition. Two films created at the Restart School of Documentary Film will also be shown.
"Days of Madness" by Damian Nenadić, the winner of a special award at the ZagrebDox regional competition, was recently included in the Critic's Week competition of the Locarno Film Festival. Film shows the journey of two mentally diversified and unfairly rejected people who are learning to accept their diversity during rehab. ''Srbenka'', film made by famous Nebojša Slijepčević (''Gangster loves you'', ''Men film''…) is the winner of the important Doc Alliance prize - the award of the seven most important European documentary festivals. Theatrical performance "Aleksandra Zec" was followed by numerous political controversies, as well as personal coping with actors with this important political theme.
Education, speech programs and more movies
This year's LFF team prepares several educational programs, such as Restart's Film Initiative for the Youngest, Film Actors' Workshops for Young and Case Studies of Successful Croatian Documentaries, and in the backround film program, the film by Saša Stanić and Marina Banićević - "Viva Ludež: The conversation with the Feral Three'' is highlighted. " A detailed accompanying film and music program will be released soon.
Join us!
LFF is looking for volunteers who want to contribute to the realization of this year's festival by their efforts, skills, knowledge, motivation and good mood. The call is open until August 10, 2018.
LFF is organised by the Liburnia Film Festival association from Rijeka. Co-organizer is Restart from Zagreb and partner are Delat Association from Rijeka and Festival Opatija. The project is supported by Croatian Audiovisual Center, Society of Croatian Film Directors, County of Primorje-Gorski kotar, Opatija City and Opatija Tourist Board.
The five-day festival ticket is only 30 kunas, while the daily ticket is only 15 kunas.
