This year’s editions of the Youth Film Festival and Four River Film Festival, organized by the Croatian Film Association and Cinema Club Karlovac, co-organized by the Edison Cinema, were closed with the screening of Summer Teeth by director Dražen Žarković on Friday evening, and with the Awards Ceremony on Saturday.
The Grand Prix of the Festival went to the film Hot Teen Couple (dir. Cecilia Solvei Holmfjord Jonassen) from Denmark. The Audience Award went to Ambroz Haračić High School from the island of Mali Lošinj, for the freestyle film Mom.
The Expert Jury, consisting of young Croatian director Svebor Mihael Jelić, Croatian producer and director with a Swedish address Marija Ratković Vidaković and Irish producer Ciarda Tobin, announced the following films as the best of the 29th Youth Film Festival:
The Best Animated Film of the YFF is Vacuum by Photo Cinema Video Club Zaprešić. In the documentary film category the award went to Šoljan in Rovinj from the Zvane Črnje High School in Rovinj. The award for Best Fiction Film went to Conviction produced by Blank_film incubator from Zagreb. The award for Best Film in the Freestyle category was awarded to A Perfect Little Apple Pie by the School of Building and Crafts from Čakovec.
Special mentions were given to the fiction film Bad, from Algebra University in Zagreb, and to the freestyle film Those Who Know, Know, directed by Katja Galunić.
In the international competition of the 17th Four River Film Festival, the awards went to: the animated film The Chihuahua Shake by College of the Canyons from the United States of America. The Best Documentary Film is Call Me Sir by Montessori School IVKO from the Netherlands. The Best Fiction Film award went to the London Film Academy’s Bucket’s List from the United Kingdom. The award for Best Freestyle Film went to In My Nostrils, produced by the Latvian Academy of Culture.
Special mentions were given to the documentary film “Zvezda”: Eclipse by the Faculty of Dramatic Arts from Serbia and the animated film Christmas Lights by the Mid-Pacific Institute from the United States of America.
The Youth Jury, which included young film lovers from Croatia, Italy and Sweden, handed out the following awards:
The award for Best Actor went to Caspar Højst Lunøe, and the award for Best Director went to Luis Kølkjær Hansen, both for the Danish film Deer. The award for the Best Actress went to Sofia Lykke from Denmark for her performance in the film Hot Teen Couple. Marko Vukušić from Zagreb received the award for Best Screenplay for the film Bad. The award for Best Cinematographer went to Antea Šoštarić for her work on the film KKIEV. Finally, the award for Best Editor went to Mladen Simeunović from Serbia for the film “Zvezda”: Eclipse.
The Yellow Flag Award for the film that most successfully condemns violence through its topic and plot, which has been given out for the last 15 years in cooperation with the Croatian Radiotelevision show Kokice, was awarded by Sandra Bosnar, long-time presenter and journalist of the show, to the film Silence by the School of graphics, design and media production from Zagreb.
At the last official evening screening, we saw the Croatian horror comedy Summer Teeth by Dražen Žarković. This exciting zombie story depicts the seemingly idyllic summer atmosphere on the isolated Dalmatian island of Mala Glava. The film had its world premiere at the 71st Pula Film Festival, where it competed for the Big Golden Arena and won an award for visual effects, which Krsto Jaram received for successfully creating an atmosphere of awe and drama. This year’s evening program also included Frka, a summer hit by Svebor Mihael Jelić, as well as the documentary film Snajka: Diary of Expectations directed by Tea Vidović Dalipi.
An impressive 1,569 films were submitted to this year’s editions of the Youth Film Festival and Four River Film Festival, 62 of which were included in the competition program. The number of submitted films confirms the importance and credibility of these Festivals among young filmmakers around the world.
The Karlovac audience watched the award ceremony in person in the Edison cinema, but anyone who wants to watch it online can see the video of it here.
The Festivals are sponsored by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the Croatian Association of Technical Culture, the Ministry of Science and Education, the “Kultura Nova” Foundation, City of Karlovac, Karlovac County, the Tourist Board of the City of Karlovac, the Croatian National Tourist Board, the Technical Culture Community of the Karlovac County and City and Turbing d.o.o.
