Zagreb Film Festival returns this week for its sixteenth annual occurrence. But this year they're doing this rather differently. The festival has grown significantly in size and stature over the last decade and a half; instead of inhabiting the single venue in which it started off, the Zagreb program will take place in Kino Europa, Tuškanac cinema, the Museum of Contemporary Art, F22 – New Academy Scene and Müller Hall. Not only that, for the first time ever the festival program is being rolled out across the lengths and breadths of the country. Zagreb Film Festival will in 2018 have screenings in 15 different locations outside Zagreb including Velika Gorica, Samobor, Pula, Rijeka, Split, Hvar, Dubrovnik, Varaždin, Ivanec, Koprivnica, Bjelovar, Daruvar, Slatina and Đakovo.
As always, the main competition provides an overview of the most interesting recent debut or second features by directors from all over the world. Croatian short film is represented in the competition section Checkers, and the Industry program engages with professionals. The My First Film side program will screen debut features of acknowledged filmmakers with, this year, a focus on Czech directors, while the new section Cinema at the Cinema presents a tribute to the charm of the venues in which we traditionally would visit in order to watch movies. This latter program will include a screening of the classic Wim Wenders movie Kings Of The Road (pictured).
The festival takes place between 11 and 18 November.