23/02/2009

The fifth edition of the biggest documentary film festival in South-Eastern Europe, ZagrebDox, kicks off today and runs through Mar 1. Approximately 50 documentaries from around the world will be screened in international and regional competition, as well as in the side programmes Happy Dox, Social-Capitalism, Controversial Dox, Music Globe and several retrospectives, including contemporary Israeli documentaries and US director Jon Alpert’s films.

ZagrebDox Pro, the professional part of the festival, includes a Pitching Forum of projects to the selection committee and buyers from Western Europe. Fourteen projects have been selected out of over 50 submissions, from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia and Serbia. Tue Steen Muller and Cecilia Lidin from the European Documentary Network will hold a workshop designed to prepare participants for the Pitching Forum.

The top prize, the Grand Seal, will be given to two of 54 films competing in international and regional categories. The Small Seal will go to a filmmaker 30 or under, and the award Movies That Matter to the director whose film best promotes human rights.

The international jury comprises Croatian producer and director Bogdan Zizic, Israeli director David Fisher and Croatian filmologist and director Sasa Vojkovic. Last year’s winner, Casey Cooper Johnson, Bosnian-born producer and distributor Irena Taskovski and Croatian DoP Silvestar Kolbas will serve on the regional jury. Jon Alpert, Tin Gazivoda (director, Croatian Human Rights Centre) and Magdalena Petrovic (producer, Fade In) will award the Movies That Matter prize.