This year we are celebrating summer under the sign of rubber ducks as we continue to grow as a global festival with plenty of interesting and high-quality film submissions coming from 99 different countries from all around the world: from Singapore and China to the United States of America, Bolivia, Uruguay, Mozambique and almost all European countries.
Members of our selection committee Ana Đordić, professor of Croatian language and philosophy and film teacher, Boško Picula, film critic and Dinka Radonić, cinematographer and director were debating from duck till dawn: from the 1445 films submitted, they had to choose 28 of them for the audience and the jury of the Four River Film Festival. Among them are 10 fiction films, 10 animated, 5 documentaries and 3 freestyle films. Most of the submissions, 183 of them, came from Indian authors.
The official selection of the 13th FRFF is available at:
https://frff.com.hr/competitionfrff2020
The selection committee’s job was not at all easier for the 25th Youth Film Festival. Croatian authors aged 14 to 20 submitted 187 short films and 43 had to be selected as part of the ducktastic competition. The most represented category is the feature film one with 17 films, followed by the freestyle category with 12 films, animated film with 9 films and documentary film with 5 films. The most represented clubs are the Blank Association, FKVK Zaprešić, Cinema Club Karlovac, the Private Art High School from Zagreb and the School of Fine Arts from Split.
The official selection of the 25th YFF is available at:
https://frff.com.hr/competitionyff2020
“I must admit that, given the pandemic crisis this year, we were pleasantly surprised by the number of films submitted. This is a clear indication that the creativity of young people and their love for filmmaking and film in general is not waning, and neither is the need to continue encouraging film production of young authors. Many of the submitted films of all genres dealt with current issues from violence and tolerance to pandemics and lockdown, and choosing the best among so many great films was not easy. However, Dinka, Boško and I are already a well-coordinated team, so the selection went smoothly and I am convinced that we chose the best of the best. On this occasion, I congratulate all young authors whose films have become part of the competition program of the best youth film festival in the cosmos!”, said Ana Đordić, representing the selection committee.
The constantly growing number of submissions (1632 films in total), despite the unfavorable crisis events in the world, testifies to the great interest of young filmmakers for these film events, both in the region and internationally. Seeing these film events as important platforms for work, action, encouragement and further motivation for youth filmmakers is becoming more important and current than ever.
We did not quack up – the 25th Youth Film Festival and the 13th Four River Film Festival will be held September 8 – 12, 2020 in Karlovac, co-organized by the Croatian Film Association and the Karlovac Cinema Club.
