20TH FREE ZONE FILM FESTIVAL
FILMS
20. SLOBODNA ZONA
Više informacija o programu festivala biće objavljene uskoro.
FESTIVAL OPENING
ANORA
Anora, a film awarded with the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, is a darkly humorous and touching Cinderella fairy tale for adults.
THE MAN WHO COULD NOT REMAIN SILENT
Tomo Buzov, a native of Croatia’s Kaštel by birth, a Belgrade (Serbia) citizen by place of residence, a retired Yugoslav People’s Army captain, and an ordinary man on the Belgrade-Bar train. But the year is 1993 and fate puts him in front of an eternal dilemma – to speak or remain silent forever. The film by Nebojša Slijepčević won the Palme d’Or for short feature film at the Cannes Film Festival 2024.
INTERNATIONAL SELECTION
TATAMI
Iranian judoka Leyla is traveling to the World Championship in Tbilisi. When it turns out that she could be facing an Israeli judoka, the authorities in Tehran order Leila to fake an injury and withdraw.
MEMORIES OF A BURNING BODY
Ana’s (68), Patricia’s (69), and Majela’s (71) stories, shaped by repression and taboos, form a kaleidoscope of memories, secrets, and longings of entire generations of women.
BYE BYE TIBERIAS
Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass, one of the biggest film stars from the Middle East, returns to her hometown of Deir Hanna in northern Israel—an Arab village in the Jewish state—together with her daughter.
MY FAVOURITE CAKE
Romantic comedy and a political and philosophical film, a story about life, death, love, aging, and loneliness.
TEHACHAPI
French artist JR received exclusive permission to work with a group of the most severe inmates in one of the most violent prisons in California, Tehachapi, not anticipating the effect it would have.
DIARIES FROM LEBANON
Lebanon, 2018. We follow three characters with the common desire to rebuild a broken country. How do you continue to dream when everything around you is falling apart?
REGIONAL SELECTION - BALKAN HORIZONS
HOLY WEEK
Through the story of a Jewish innkeeper in the Romanian countryside at the beginning of the 20th Century, Andrei Cohn’s drama dissects the cycle of violence, racism, and anti-Semitism.
OUR CHILDREN
A personal documentary exploring the director’s family life. Kolbas reflects on his relationships with his three children, each from different life circumstances.
ONE OF THOSE DAYS WHEN HEMME DIES
Contemplative drama that follows Eyüp, who, after going bankrupt, starts working in a tomato field. Oppressive conditions frustrate him, leading to a confrontation with his foreman Hemme. Eyüp decides to kill him but is unwittingly diverted into town, cooling his anger.
WOODS THAT SING
Formed around four main stories, the film combines visually impressive segments with the testimonies of female partisans. It searches for hidden feminine principles, forms, and meanings in the stories that we know, that we think we know, and that we have yet to find out.
WINDLESS
Kaloyan returns to Bulgaria after years abroad to sell his deceased father’s apartment. What starts as a routine task turns into a profound journey of self-discovery, as he confronts past traumas and the fading memories tied to his childhood home.
THREE KILOMERES TO THE END OF THE WORLD
Set in a conservative Danube Delta community, a gay teenager’s journey of self-discovery clashes with the traditional values upheld by his parents and neighbors.
FIRST TWO STEPS
BLOCK PASS
Teenagers Willy and Jojo are inseparable friends whose lives revolve around motorcycle racing. One night, Willy will discover Jojo’s secret, which will turn his life upside down.
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MY DAD
The story of the shared dream of a Czech physicist and his artist daughter to find an effective solution to save the planet and the temptations to find someone who is willing to listen to them.
SIMON OF THE MOUNTAIN
Seeking change, 21-year-old Simon finds purpose by befriending two disabled children who teach him to embrace life’s joys.
STRAY BODIES
A road trip through Europe in questioning the individual’s right to the autonomy and integrity of their body, from abortion, through artificial insemination to euthanasia.
CENT’ANNI
Filming a documentary film about a partner’s victory over a deadly disease turned into a battlefield of unhealed wounds and the director’s painful questioning of what it means to be “together”.
TO OUR FRIENDS
Sara and Pedro, young people from the working-class suburbs of Madrid, love to cause chaos together, but when Sara discovers the magic of the theater one summer, she becomes torn between two very different worlds.
EU ZONE OF CHANGE
VENI VIDI VICI
Social satire about the wealthy Maynard family and its prominent member, Amon, a passionate hunter (not of animals!) who, thanks to his billions, faces no consequences.
NO OTHER LAND
Young Palestinian Bazel Adra has been filming for years as his community in Masafer Yatta is being destroyed by occupation, while unexpectedly forming a friendship with an Israeli journalist who joins him in this struggle.
BLACK BOX DIARIES
A documentary by filmmaker and journalist Shiori Ito follows her years-long efforts to bring her rapist, a powerful journalist, to justice.
GREEN ZONE
AI JUSTICE
Political futuristic thriller about the Spanish government that plans to replace judges with artificial intelligence software, to enhance efficiency and depoliticize the judicial system.
THE SKY ABOVE ZENICA
One of the world’s most polluted cities has united its citizens in a common fight for a viable future. Still, money, power, and politics are as toxic an opponent as pollution.
AS THE TIDE COMES IN
Twenty-seven residents of the tiny Danish island of Mandø are experiencing the effects of climate change through harsh weather conditions. Yet, they stubbornly refuse to build a life anywhere else.
WOMEN LINE
PANDORA’S LEGACY
Gertrud Hennings, who was married to Georg Wilhelm Pabst for over 40 years, wrote diaries about her life, her husband, and their special relationship. These diaries were adapted into this film.
TEACHES OF PEACHES
The queen of provocation, emancipation, and breaking taboos, Merrill Nisker, better known as Peaches, gives us insight into the turbulent life of an extraordinary artist.
BREATHING UNDERWATER
Emma has a perfect life: a loving husband, a great job, and a luxurious home. One night she ends up in hospital, terrified and covered in bruises.
EU TEEN ZONE
ELBOW
Hazal is an angry 17-year-old of Turkish origin, raised in Berlin, where she doesn’t feel fully accepted. Her only bright spot is her friends Elma, Gül, and Ebru, with whom she dances, drinks, smokes weed, and goes to parties.
JULIE KEEPS QUIET
Julie is a star player at an elite tennis academy. When her coach falls under investigation, all of the club’s players are encouraged to speak up, but Julie decides to keep quiet.
LARS IS LOL
At first, Amanda reluctantly agrees to support her new classmate Lars, who has Down syndrome. A touching, funny, and imaginative film about the importance of friendship, diversity, and social inclusion.
SZ JUNIOR / FUTURE IS HERE
ACORDA
A girl wakes up in her nightmare about her unspoken trauma.
ARTISTRY
Artistry explores AI’s impact on music creation, showcasing AI’s speed and precision in composing and mixing.
ESCAPEE
The documentary Escape unfolds the story of Shkurte Krasniqi, who ran away from her home in Vranovac at 17 due to her family discontinuing her education.
GATE
The monotony of a brutalist building, behind whose windows life takes place. One building symbolizes one time, one society, and once was a symbol of the city, yet today…
PLATFORM 7
Platform 7 discusses the transformative impact of Kosovo’s* liberalized visas and migration.
RANDOM
On the way to Brezovica, two skiers reunite. Along the way, they reminisce about the years they spent together, highlighting the overlooked problems that come with the sport.
SECRETS OF VIZELJ
Next to the Vizelj canal, in Borča, works of art by an unknown author appeared out of nowhere.
TRACES
Three individuals share their unique experiences of losing someone close. Despite their different relationships and circumstances, their stories reveal a typical pattern in coping with grief.
USTAH
This short documentary captures moments of artisans at work.
GET UP, SO I CAN GET UP
This film presents the everyday life of city transport, including situations we can run into when we least expect them. It is composed of viral and actual footage and images.
SOUR CHERRIES, RASPBERRIES, APPLES
As life passes for the grandmother, she tells us about her childhood memories. The girl presents her view of growing up, and her mother talks about the passage of life and its end.
WIRES CROSSED
Wires Crossed follows the story of two girls reuniting after a complicated past.
ZONE WITHOUT BORDERS
GHOST TRAIL
Hamid is part of a secret group searching for fugitive leaders of the Syrian regime. The mission takes him to France, where he must confront his former torturer. Based on true events.
MAGA 1909
Two groups of professional and non-professional dancers from Belgrade and Berlin dance the biography of the Serbian choreographer, dancer, journalist, philosopher, Germanist and feminist Marija Maga Magazinović (1882-1968).
WOMAN OF
Adam does his best to be a good husband and father in a small Polish town, but he increasingly feels uncomfortable in his body, which does not reflect his true identity.
SEX
Two married, heterosexual chimney sweeps find themselves in situations that challenge their views on sexuality and gender roles. The first part of the trilogy Sex, Dreams, Love explores desire, identity, and the longing for freedom.
LOVE
Colleagues Marianne and Tor meet on a ferry. While Thor seeks casual encounters with men, Marianne explores the possibility of spontaneous intimacy and breaking social norms. The second part of the trilogy Sex, Dreams, Love explores desire, identity, and the longing for freedom.
MARCHING IN THE DARK
Amidst a suicide crisis among farmers in India, determined to defy the tradition that rejects widows, Sanjivani finds strength and joy in an unexpected community of women like her.
TOXICILY
One of the largest petrochemical complexes in Europe is located in Augusta, Sicily. A place that could have been a small corner of paradise since 1949 has been sacrificed on the altar of capitalism and globalization, with its water, land, and air poisoned.
DREAMERS
Carlos came to the U.S. from Mexico when he was 9 years old. When he turned 18, under American law, he became an ‘undocumented citizen.’ This is the story of 2.5 million young people growing up in a country that still does not recognize them as its own.
IN THE SILENT VALLEY
Cveta, from Slovenia, arrived in Vojvodina in a bread dough trough. Her family began a new life on the slopes of Vršac Hill, in an area that would unusually mark her fate.
SEPTEMBER DAWN
A beautiful day, a boat, a river, a boy, and a girl. What could go wrong? The young man’s prejudices about women turn this romantic outing into a fight for life and death.
A BAND OF DREAMERS AND A JUDGE
The mountains in northern Iran are the site of legends about buried treasures. Various groups of illegal diggers visit them for this reason, and one of these groups was accidentally joined by a filmmaker, who ended up in court.
Ruben Östlund TRIBUTE
INVOLUNTARY
In five unrelated stories, this tragic comedy explores the consequences of putting one’s foot down – or failing to do so.
PLAY
Inspired by true events, Play follows a group of teenagers of Somali origin who, by playing psychological games, manage to rob a smaller group of white boys.
FORCE MAJEURE
Black comedy about a marital crisis in a winter resort that occurs when, due to an avalanche, a husband decides to run as fast as possible and save himself, instead of putting the safety of his wife and their two children first.
THE SQUARE
Palme d’Or award-winning satirical black comedy about the chief art curator of a prestigious Stockholm museum who finds himself amid a professional and personal crisis as he attempts to set up a controversial new exhibit.
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
The satirical black comedy about class inequalities, which won the Palme d’Or and four European Oscars, follows a young couple of model-influencers on a luxury cruise for the super-rich, captained by a Marxist.
KINOKAUCH PRESENTS
THREE MINUTES A LENGHTENING
From a three-minute video shot in 1938, the only record of the life of Jews in Nasielsk, Poland, an hour-long film was skilfully edited in which their faces are revealed, and history stops, for a moment.
LEAVE NO TRACES
In 1983 Poland was shaken by the case of Grzegorz Przemyk, a high school student and victim of the police’s excessive force. The film tells the story of the only witness who, overnight, became an enemy of the state.
HIVE
Based on the true story of a single mother who, after the disappearance of her husband in the Kosovo war, struggles with a cruel patriarchy that doesn’t allow her to work, the film received three awards at Sundance.
SWOON
Sensational story of forbidden love and rivalry between two families who manage amusement parks, based on the true history of the Gröna Lund amusement park in Stockholm.
WOMAN AT WAR
Halla is a guerilla eco-activist from Iceland fighting against energy corporations, but her extreme methods are called into question when she learns that she has been approved to adopt an orphan.
THE MAGNET MAN
A tragicomic story about Lucien, whose body attracts everything made of iron, which leads him into the troupe of colorful artists. However, that magnetism attracts both good and bad, often changing the course of his destiny.
LIBERATION DAY
A testimony of the unique performance of the Slovenian band Laibach in North Korea and the struggle with censorship, before performing their songs in front of an audience exposed to alternative rock for the first time.
FAMILY TIME
A completely ordinary family story told in a way we can all recognize at least some of the atmosphere, from the cousin who likes to drink too much to licking the leftover cake batter directly from the mixing bowl.
TONY, SHELLY AND THE MAGIC LIGHT
Tony is a boy whose body glows since birth. Shelly is his new friend, the owner of a magic lamp. Together they discover what is it that keeps draining the light from their building and their lives.
PRISON 77
A young accountant, who is waiting trial for embezzlement in 1977, joins the fight for the prisoners’ abolition in a conflict that will bring the Spanish system to its knees.
YOU HAVE THE NIGHT
When she loses her job, Sanja realizes that she has nowhere to go but to return to the home she left. The film, set in the suburbs of Europe, deals with people who have come to the edge and need to find the strength for a new beginning.
HONEYLAND
The last female bee-hunter in Europe must save the bees and return to the natural balance in Honeyland when a family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood.
FREE ZONE & CINEPLEXX
I'M STILL HERE
The new film by Walter Salles is the story of the brave Eunice, a mother of five who, after the disappearance of her husband, becomes an activist during the dangerous times of the Brazilian military dictatorship.
THE OUTRUN
Saoirse Ronan stars in this brutally honest Scottish drama about addiction, recovery, and the ability of nature and people to restore life and renew hope.
KNEECAP
Documentary about three Irish hip-hop band members who became unlikely figureheads of a Civil Rights movement to save their mother tongue.