Tabor New Frame Film Festival 2026

Social inequalities, political realities, and identities: The international competition of the Tabor New Frame Film Festival presents films by a generation growing up in crisis

From 2 to 4 July, Veliki Tabor Castle once again becomes one of the most exciting global and regional hubs of the contemporary short film scene. According to the selection of artistic director and curator Dalibor Jakus, 63 short films of all genres from as many as 30 countries will be screened across three competition categories – international, Croatian, and student – including four world premieres, two international premieres, and 31 Croatian premieres.

The international competition program of the Tabor New Frame Film Festival presents 29 films, featuring both festival-acclaimed titles and a large number of Croatian premieres. The program includes fiction, documentary, animated, and experimental works by filmmakers who, through personal stories and innovative cinematic approaches, explore themes of identity, belonging, family relationships, collective memory, ecosystem-related issues and social inequalities, as well as contemporary political realities.

Among the most anticipated titles is the Dutch–Palestinian drama Last Shot by director Parham Rahimzadeh, screened in the Tiger Short Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film follows Musa, who, after the death of his brother - a Palestinian war photojournalist in Gaza - takes possession of his camera and the last undeveloped roll of film. Through an intimate story of loss and memory, the film simultaneously questions the power of photography and the responsibility of bearing witness in times of war.

The theme of history and its invisible consequences is addressed in the French film In the Mud by director Andy Buron, set on the battlefields of the First World War, where a young soldier remains trapped between life and death. Historical memory, though from a very different perspective, is also explored in the Portuguese film Maria Henriqueta Was Here by Nuno Pimentel, which uses cinematic reconstruction to restore a voice to a nearly forgotten woman from Portuguese history.

This is complemented by Blondi by Jack Salvadori, an experimental darkly comic historical drama shot from the perspective of Hitler’s German Shepherd. The film premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and attracted additional attention because its screenplay was written by cult British director Peter Greenaway. Through a grotesque and surreal canine perspective, the film dissects the absurdity of power, propaganda, and the collapse of the Third Reich.

Family relationships and intergenerational conflicts are at the heart of several exceptionally powerful works. Screened at the Venice Film Festival, Kràlik (The Rabbit) by director Alessandro Marchiori Rocca delivers a dark and suggestive story of a father who believes that one day his own son will kill him. Meanwhile, the Swiss film The Gods by Anas Sareen, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, follows two brothers whose relationship begins to unravel after their father’s death. Questions of familial closeness and emotional distance are explored in the Haitian–French film Blue Heart by Samuel Suffren, set within the complex social context of contemporary Haiti. The film was screened in the Quinzaine des Cinéastes section at the Cannes Film Festival.

Another Cannes title drawing special attention is Loynes, a Belgian–French–North Macedonian–British film by director Dorian Jespers, an unusual historical drama inspired by a real event in 19th-century Liverpool. Through the absurd trial of an unidentified corpse, the film explores the boundaries of justice, identity, and social rituals.

Different perspectives on youth and coming of age are presented in the Colombian film Chilapa Girl by Juana Lotero López, the Spanish–German Cinco (Five) by directing duo Diego Gardo and Víctor Candela, and the Portuguese–Hungarian film Amarelo Banana (Yellow Banana) by director Alexandre Sousa. In these films, the personal crises of young protagonists are refracted through questions of belonging and social expectations. A similar theme is addressed in the Spanish coming-of-age drama Gallina (The Coward) by Fernando Reinaldos, which explores mechanisms of shame, belonging, and identity formation through a child’s perspective.

Contemporary social and political themes are present in a range of films from different parts of the world. The Indian film Aafreen Manzil by Rizwan Hussain, the Austrian Dead Air by Andrej Haring, the French Pentest by Tristan Lhomme and Benjamin Chevallier, and the Chinese film Delay by Wang Han-Xuan all examine the relationship between the individual and norms, institutions, technology, or social change. From Cannes also comes the South African Vultures by Dian Weys, a tense social thriller about a tow-truck driver who, after a traffic accident, enters a brutal struggle for “prey,” exposing a society marked by violence, poverty, and the fight for survival.

The French film As if the Earth Had Swallowed Them Up by Natalia León offers a powerful story of disappearances and collective trauma, while the Canadian Brothers in Arms by François Lalonde explores a group of young men whose friendship begins to fracture over the course of a single weekend under the pressure of questions of consent, toxic masculinity, and group dynamics.

Among the most formally intriguing works is the Portuguese experimental film Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me by Alice dos Reis, which blends autobiography, the history of science, astronomy, and fiction to question the ways society categorizes identities. The Australian–British animated film Trading Cards by Radhaye Jang uses a fantastical journey through time to explore obsessive-compulsive disorder, nostalgia, and the loss of childhood innocence. The film was screened at this year’s Animafest, as was the French God Is Shy by Jocelyn Charles, which won the award in Zagreb for Best First Film Outside an Educational Institution. The film follows a young couple who strike up a conversation with an eccentric elderly fellow passenger on a train, with the situation gradually escalating into pure supernatural fantasy.

Documentary and hybrid forms also occupy an important place in the program. The Dutch film Still by My Side by director Jasper van Leeningen follows people who attempt to preserve the memory of their deceased pets through taxidermy, while the Swiss–Belgian Air Horse One by Lasse Linder follows Legacy, one of the most valuable and celebrated mares in show jumping.

There are also films that explore the boundaries between reality and imagination. The American–Italian Someone to Steal Horses With by Dylan Pailes-Friedman, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, transforms everyday life into a meditation on loneliness and storytelling. The Iranian-French Yo Yo by director Mohammadreza Mayghani uses a desert landscape as a space of inner fears and psychological fractures. The Chinese Souvenir Shop by Yé Wu builds a subtle story of alienation and the search for belonging through an encounter between two strangers in a space of temporariness and transit.

From the region comes the Serbian–Croatian co-production Hysterical Fit of Laughter by Matija Gluščević and Dušan Zorić, a provocative film that explores themes of motherhood and female sexuality in older age. The program also includes the Croatian co-production Birthmark by director George Peter Barbari, created in collaboration between Lebanon, France, and Croatia, which addresses themes of female emancipation, queer identity, and desire within a society where such topics are often taboo.

TABOR

NEW FRAME FILM

After more than two decades of the cult Tabor Film Festival, a new chapter begins. Tabor New Frame Film Festival is an international celebration of short film, spotlighting bold filmmakers under the age of 35. Set in the spectacular surroundings of Veliki Tabor Castle, all film programs, workshops, and concerts are free of charge for all visitors.

TABOR

NEW FRAME FILM

After more than two decades of the cult Tabor Film Festival, a new chapter begins. Tabor New Frame Film Festival is an international celebration of short film, spotlighting bold filmmakers under the age of 35. Set in the spectacular surroundings of Veliki Tabor Castle, all film programs, workshops, and concerts are free of charge for all visitors.

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2026