Zagreb is a pleasant little town, and its documentary festival is one of the cultural attractions that bring the Croatian capital to life. Being part of the FIPRESCI jury means we get to see the films in the regional competition. It’s a unique opportunity to see films produced in a part of the world that we don’t always have the chance to discover. I was very impressed to see the extent to which political issues are present in the preoccupations of today’s filmmakers. Between the revolt of young Serbian students in Aleksandar Reljić’s short film The Loudest Silence (Najglasnija tišina), the anxieties of a Serbian soldier sent off to war in Nikola Ilić’s Exit Through The Cuckoo’s Nest (Izlaz kroz ludaru) , and those of a veteran who finds it hard to return to civilian life, who would like to be a loving father, but who can’t seem to escape the nightmare of death in Lesia Diak’s Dad’s Lullaby (Tatina uspavanka).
All subjects are political, you might say, but some are even more so than others! The struggle of Zagreb citizens to defend a green space, against the corruption of the authorities in Red Slide (Crveni tobogan) by Nebojša Slijepčević, or the Croatian nationalist propaganda that revives the region’s antagonisms in Field Trip (Terenska nastava) by Jozo Schmuch. And then there’s the working conditions of the labor pool that the Balkans represent for the countries of the North, be it Germany, Austria or neighboring Italy in Renata Lučić’s A Year of Endless Days (Godina prođe, dan nikako). Another issue is religion. The Belgian filmmaker Manuel Poutte introduced us to the Bektachi community in his documentary back in 2017.
With Stefan Malešević’s Soil and Wings (Toprak ve Kanatlar), we discover the religion lived out on a daily basis by the Albanian community. The film that our FIPRESCI jury chose to award a prize to, Clara Trischler’s Night Of The Coyotes, stands out from the crowd in that it doesn’t deal with a regional subject. It takes place in Mexico, on the border with the United States. When you read the synopsis, you fear the worst: ‘Experiencing the reality of illegal immigrants trying to cross the U.S. border illegally’. Especially as it takes place in a local water park! You’d think the imagination would be fertile when it comes to attracting customers! But we’re quickly surprised, as soon as we meet the participants and hear their motivations. This film won us over with the originality of its subject and treatment.
Dimitra Bouras
© FIPRESCI 2025