What is your jury experience like this year?

This year’s jury experience is very interesting. After the first screening, I realized that I needed to switch my brain from professional film, which I watch most often, to this one. It is really quite interesting to watch how kids in Croatia and abroad make films. What makes me a little sad is that the films are very serious. I have a feeling that filmmakers think if films are serious they’re smart too, and if they’re having fun they don’t think they’re important or deep enough. That is why I was especially delighted by a few witty films that are products of smart ideas. Somehow it seems to me that the whole jury is leaning towards those films while choosing the winners.

What do you pay the most attention to while watching these films?

It is important for us to know in what production conditions the films were made and how old the filmmakers are. We pay attention to how much the filmmakers know about the language of film and how much they know about film in general. Even though my colleagues and I are different and deal with different aspects of film, we still agree on really good films.

You are involved in festivals and animated films, what do you think about the animated films of our filmmakers?

I organize an animated film festival, one of the biggest animated film festivals in the world, and I actually look at this festival not only as part of the jury, but I also look at the organization, which I am really impressed with. I really like the amount of young people and volunteers at this festival.

Animated films are not easy to make, they are always expensive and demanding. The good side of animation over the last two years has been that when no one else could work, animators could. They don’t need a big crew or complex organization, so you can actually see the quality here. The animated films at the Four River Film Festival are really good.

What’s so special about animated films that fiction and documentary films don’t have?

What is actually the charm of animated film is that there are no boundaries to it. What the author can imagine and what they manage to make is unlimited, anything can be done, they can completely let their imagination run free. There are limitations to fiction and documentary film, and the most fantastic parts are mostly animated, in the form of special effects. This is the advantage of animation over other types of films.

LEMONY QUESTION – If you had to come up with an animated character of a lemon, what would you call it and what would make it special?

I don’t know what its name would be yet, but it would be special because it would be sweet.