Damian Chazelle is the youngest ever Academy Award winner as Best Director and his latest film, First Man, has just been released. To celebrate the release, Kino Kinoteka, one of Zagreb's best-loved independent cinemas, have produced a five-night showcase that will shine a light on this prodigious talent, who is still only around a half-decade into his career.
The series of events begins on Tuesday 16 October with a screening of the hit 2016 musical 'La La Land', which received an astonishing fourteen Oscar nominations, going on to win six including Chazelle's Best Director. The film stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.
On Wednesday 17 October we get Chazelle's debut film, Whiplash (2014), an incredibly well made and intense character study that focuses on the life and stresses of a student drummer, examining in particular the relationship between him and a bullying teacher. Miles Teller, who plays the student and J. K. Simmons, who plays the teacher, both turn in fantastic performances.
On Thursday 18 October and Saturday 20 October you can see Chazelle's latest film, 'First Man.' The visually thrilling film again stars Ryan Gosling. This time, Gosling plays first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, who is depicted as a determined introvert recovering from the death of his child. In contrast to many science fiction or space exploration movies, this film depicts the realities of the space race at the time and just how close to death many early such astronauts were. In this depiction, Armstrong also seems to be looking externally for answers to problems that he has internalised.
In addition to the Damian Chazelle showcase, this week at Kino Kinoteka sees Croatian band Mnogi Drugi play live and acoustic on Friday 19th October. Before the concert, from 8pm, there's a screen of the 'Till music do us part' directed by Anita Nadj which is about Mnogi Drugi. On Saturday 20th October, a family friendly matinee screening of an animated movie about a goose called Peng called 'Ringe ringe raja'.