Friday at Cinehill brings us the sci-fi world of Dušan Vukotić, films about Greenland and its identity struggles, a conversation with Rajko Grlić and Goran Marković, and Gorski Kotar cuisine. Keeping things moving between screenings, we’ve prepared a film quiz with Morana Zibar, and a handful of other films to satisfy every taste.
The day begins at 10:00 with a morning workout session by the lake, followed by the CDFG Campus, an industry training program for the new generation of filmmakers, with a showcase of student films made at Zagreb’s VERN University and the Belgrade Academy of Arts – at 10:30 at Cinema Mak.
Cinehill’s cultural reach simultaneously extends beyond the festival’s cinemas, as we host the Cinehill Europe Round Table in Delnice, debating whether cultural programming can help revitalise local communities.
The film program at 11:00 kicks off at two screens simultaneously: at Cinema Bauer, as part of the Little Cinehill children’s program inspired by Dušan Vukotić’s filmmaking, we’re screening his Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy, a science-fiction children’s comedy from 1981. Meanwhile at Cinema Golik, there is a reprise screening of Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur, a politically charged contemporary reworking of Chabrol’s La Femme infidèle.
At 11.30 at Cinema Mak, our international young programmers are presenting the film Hair, Paper, Water by Nicolas Graux and Trương Minh Quý. The film is screened as part of the Young4Film program, a network of European festivals dedicated to including young people into the decision-making processes that shape the landscape of European film festivals and cinemas.
Catch a break from film screenings with quiz master Morana Zibar’s exciting trivia quiz The Forest Knows, taking place in Rakov Jarak at 13:00.
Back at Cinema Bauer, the Greenland program opens with the music documentary Sumé: The Sound of a Revolution by Inuk Silis Høegh, about the progressive rock band that became the soundtrack of Greenland’s 1970s movement for freedom, identity and cultural emancipation, screening alongside Inuk Jørgensen’s short fiction Entropy.
At 13:30, at Cinema Mak, get ready for Slovenian director Žiga Virc’s feature Stealing Land, in which an apparently innocuous children’s game triggers a cascade of political debates and personal scores among the adults involved.
Then at 14:00, if you missed it the first time around, head over to Cinema Golik for the second showing of Clio Barnard’s I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, in which a once-inseparable group of friends must confront the differences between the lives they imagined and the ones they ended up living.
Alternatively, if your appetite craves some politically charged fare, at 15:00 visit Cinema Bauer for a repeat of A Man of His Time by Emmanuel Marre, a fictionalised reckoning with the director’s great-grandfather, who ended up on the wrong side of history.
In the meantime, the third block of shorts in the CineCorto competition awaits you at 15:30 at Cinema Mak.
The discursive program in Rakov Jarak opens at 16:00 with a talk with former Greenlandic MP Aaja Chemnitz hosted by Rada Borić, addressing the political and environmental challenges of life in a country that has become the focus of powerful nations due to its resources and strategic location.
At 17:00, we continue with the book launch of Did You Film This?, the published correspondence between cult directors Rajko Grlić and Goran Marković. Miroljub Vučković joins the authors for a conversation about friendship, cinema, and the sociopolitical landscape they have navigated together.
At the same time, Cinema Golik continues the day with Jasmina by Nedžad Begović, as part of a retrospective program devoted to Zijah Sokolović, marking his lifetime achievement, the Cinehill 50 Years Award.
At 18:00, Cinema Bauer features a reprise of Lila Pinell’s witty feature Shana, the story about Parisian losers and an homage to the cinematic language of Sean Baker, screening alongside Dalija Dozet’s short The Buša Masks.
The Montenegrin program continues at Cinema Mak. The focus on Montenegro at 18:30 features a screening of Black Trumpet by Bojan Stijović, a satire about a celebrated writer who accidentally runs over a pedestrian, during his triumphant return to his home village.
If by now you’re in need of refreshment to cleanse your cinematic pallet, you’re in for a treat! At 18:30, outside Vrelo Cave, the Forest of Flavours offers the region’s most distinctive traditional dishes, organised by the Gorski Kotar Tourist Board.
The evening bonfire at 20:30 takes place in Rakov Jarak and it’s an opportunity to meet festival guests and fellow festival goers. The Maverick Award for outstanding contribution to cinema, an eclectic body of work, and a constant willingness to reinvent oneself, will be presented to laureate Edward Berger at 21:00 at the Damside Theatre, followed by a screening of his drama Jack, the story of a boy who, in the absence of parental care, takes on responsibilities no child should be asked to shoulder.
Alternatively, at 21:30 at Cinema Bauer the day’s film program closes with Our Father by Goran Stanković, inspired by a real-life Serbian scandal involving a monastery commune for the treatment of addiction that relied on violent methods.
After the films, Friday winds down with musical mayhem courtesy of Mario Kovač – theatre director and party-starter whose DJ sets weave together guitar classics, punk, alternative rock, Croatian new wave, and contemporary trap.
