Saturday at Cinehill brings titles about ecological disaster, family secrets, political corruption, and the families we choose. Audiences can also look forward to a conversation with Maverick Award laureate Edward Berger, the book launch of a monograph on Montenegrin cinema, the closing ceremony, and final dance out.
The day begins at 10:00 with the usual morning workout session by the lake, while the first screening follows at 10:30 at Cinema Mak with Stealing Land by Žiga Virc, in which an innocent children’s game triggers a much larger dispute between adults, escalating into a series of absurd conflicts and uncomfortable admissions.
At 11:00 the film program continues on two screens. Cinema Bauer will feature the family film The Crystal Planet by Arsen Anton Ostojić, inspired by a story by Dušan Vukotić, blending coming-of-age, ecological awareness, and resistance to corporate greed with a wealth of humour.
Cinema Golik simultaneously hosts a repeat screening of Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, a flick that draws on tropes spanning the entire history of the horror genre.
At 11:45 at Cinema Mak, jury member Damjan Kozole’s documentary OHO Film follows the Slovenian avant-garde art collective OHO, whose work left a key mark on Yugoslavia’s cultural landscape of the late 1960s and went on to influence a great many subsequent artists.
The program for the youngest audience continues at 13:00 in Rakov Jarak, with an eco-film drawing workshop, where children will explore film and environmental themes by drawing on wooden boards, guided by illustrator Yellow Yuri.
Meanwhile at Cinema Bauer, in the Greenland program, director Lin Alluna’s documentary Twice Colonized tells the story of Inuit lawyer and activist Aaju Peter and her struggle for the rights of indigenous peoples oppressed by Danish and Canadian colonial policy.
At 13:30 at Cinema Mak, the Young4Film program, in which young selectors choose films for younger audiences, continues with the screening of The Water (El agua) by Elena López Riera, a drama about superstition and gender interwoven with elements of magic realism.
At 14:00, Cinema Golik holds a repeat screening of Flies by Fernando Eimbcke, in which solitary Olga strikes up an unexpected friendship with her lodger’s son.
A reprise screening of Hen by György Pálfi follows at 15:00 at Cinema Bauer in which the eponymous hen escapes from an industrial farm, and, in her efforts to protect her eggs, finds herself entangled in a people-smuggling network. Screening alongside it will be Monika Herceg’s documentary short Joso.
At Cinema Mak, the fourth block of shorts in the CineCorto competition begins at 15:30.
Still in Rakov Jarak, at 16:00 stop by the book launch of the monograph A Sovereign Gaze: Two Decades of Montenegrin Cinema (Suvereni pogled: Dvije decenije crnogorske kinematografije), where you’ll be able to learn more about the films, filmmakers, and sociopolitical circumstances that have shaped the contemporary cinema of neighbouring Montenegro.
An hour later, at 17:00, Maverick Award laureate Edward Berger joins selector Jurica Pavičić in Rakov Jarak, for a conversation about his professional journey, working on ever-larger productions, and the reasons why his body of work spans such a variety of genres and production systems.
At the same time, in honour of Zijah Sokolović, Cinema Golik features The Pavilion directed by Dino Mustafić.
Then at 18:00, the program continues on two screens. Dust by Anke Blondé, alongside jury member Aldo Iuliano’s short Penalty is on schedule at Cinema Bauer. In Dust, entrepreneurs Luc and Geert discover that the media are about to expose their network of shell companies and so begins their final day of freedom, wealth, and social standing.
Also at 18:00, at Cinema Lič, there is a reprise showing of this year’s Cannes Grand Prix winner, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur.
The Montenegrin program at 18:30 at Cinema Mak continues with Otter by Srđan Vuletić and the short The Cow by Pavo Marinković. After her father’s death, the timid protagonist of Otter finds herself hemmed in by patriarchal expectations, but when she gets closer to the boy she likes, she must decide whether to defy the community that is trying to keep her in a predetermined role.
The evening gathering around the bonfire starts at 20:30 in Rakov Jarak, offering an opportunity for guests and other festival goers to meet, exchange recommendations, and compare just how many films it’s realistically possible to squeeze into a single day.
Award-winning designer Slavimir Futro will hold his performance Can Creativity Be Taught? at 21:00 at Cinema Picnic.
Meanwhile, the festival’s awards and closing ceremony starts at 21:00 at Damside Theatre, honouring the best films from this year’s programme, followed by a reprise screening of Teona Strugar Mitevska’s Mother – a punk-spirited biography of Mother Teresa.
The final feature screening at Cinema Bauer starts at 21:30. My Tennis Maestro by Andrea Di Stefano follows 13-year-old Felice, who heads off to the nationals, after years of training under his strict father, now accompanied by his chaotic new coach Raul. Their bumpy journey along the way gradually deepens into an unlikely friendship.
The closing party begins at 23:30 with the electronic duo Cura i dečko, known for their hybrid of rave, house, and electro, before the decks are handed over to the Rijeka-Delnice DJ Collective Greenlight.
