Tabor New Frame Film Festival 2025
Opening of Tabor
New Frame Film Festival
Veliki Tabor once again becomes the center of short film! Today, July 4, marks the beginning of the Tabor New Frame Film Festival, a new chapter of the international short film festival that has been bringing together audiences and filmmakers for more than two decades in this unique medieval castle. On the first day of the festival, visitors can expect a rich film and accompanying program, rounded off with the official opening ceremony and a concert by Darko Rundek.
The festival opens its doors at 10 AM with screenings from the Student Competition, which will present works by young filmmakers from Croatia and abroad through two competition blocks. As part of the Croatian Competition, eight films by promising local filmmakers will be shown, while the central evening program is reserved for the International Competition, featuring diverse forms and strong authorial voices from around the world, including the films The Wayfarer, She Stays, It Shouldn’t Rain Tomorrow, Son, Ruzname, Ascended, The Hunters, Red, You Can’t See It From Here, Trees Painted in Tar, The Sea Between Us, and others.
In addition to the competition program, the discursive-entertainment program also begins at 10 AM. Young visitors will have the opportunity to step into the world of film themselves through the workshop Frame It Yourself: A Shot from the Legend. Under the guidance of film educator Marina Buhin, participants will use their mobile phone cameras to learn the basics of film language, explore the legends of Veliki Tabor, and shoot and edit their own fiction, documentary, or experimental stories, which will then be analyzed together.
At 6:30 PM, the festival enters the space of dialogue with the panel Green Initiatives: Can Tabor New Frame Film Become a Green Film Festival, opening the topic of sustainability in cultural events—from festival organization and film production methods to the role of the audience in environmental protection. Participants in the discussion include Member of the European Parliament and former mayor of Pregrada Marko Vešligaj, Desinić municipal councilor Krunoslav Kučiš, Zagreb Film Festival representative Iva Jurlina, and permaculturist Sanda Hržić.
The evening program will culminate at 8 PM with a musical performance by Darko Rundek as an introduction to the official opening of the Festival.
The festival runs until Saturday, July 5, and admission to all events is free. Free transportation from Zagreb is organized for visitors, as well as camping under the stars next to the castle for everyone who wants to fully enjoy the festival atmosphere and the beauty of Veliki Tabor.
TNFF 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
TNFF 2026
Young Filmmakers from Desinić and Pregrada Explore Veliki Tabor and Create Their Own Films
TNFF 2025
Grand Prix of the Tabor New Frame Film Festival awarded to the Portuguese-French film “The Hunters” by David Pinheiro Vicente
TNFF 2025
Final day of TNFF marked by the Melusine awards for the best films
PROGRAM
SCHEDULE
JURY
TEAM
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.
PROGRAM
SCHEDULE
JURY
TEAM
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.
2026
International Competition
2026
Croatian Competition
2026
Student Competition
MEET THE JURY
2025
Lev Slivnik
Slovenia
Lev Slivnik is originally from Ljubljana and is currently based in Amsterdam, where he earned a Master’s degree in Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image from the University of Amsterdam. He works in the field of film programming and curation, with a primary focus on film festivals. Lev currently serves as a Program Producer at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and as a Pre-Selector for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. He is also the co-organizer of Working Progress, a monthly work-in-progress screening series at Filmhuis Cavia in Amsterdam, which offers filmmakers the opportunity to receive audience feedback on their unfinished films. Previously, he was part of the pre-selection teams for Giornate degli Autori (Venice Days) and Lago Film Fest, and in 2023, he served on the Selection Panel for the LUX Audience Award.
Mário Macedo
Portugal
Mário Macedo (1989) was born and raised in a small town in the north of Portugal. His films have been selected for several festivals, such as Cannes Film Festival, Cairo IFF, Doclisboa IFF, Sarajevo Film Festival, Mostra São Paulo IFF, Clermont-Ferrand IFF and was awarded the Grand Prix and the European Film Academy Award at Curtas Vila do Conde 2024, the Best Director award at Curtas Vila do Conde 2021 and also got the National Grand Prix at FEST New Directors/New Films 2017. He published with Lebop (PT) and Editions Loco (FR), together with Olhar de Ulisses, his first photobook ‘Running Away Into You’, that premiered at Rencontre d'Arles in 2024.
Maruška Aras
Croatia
Maruška Aras is an actress born in 1996 in Zadar. She completed a five-year acting program at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, where she currently lives. Maruška works as an external associate – assistant in the acting course at the Academy in the class of Borna Baletić. In addition, she occasionally leads drama workshops and film workshops for children and youth. Since graduating in 2019, she has performed in productions at the Croatian National Theatre in Varaždin, Split, and Zagreb, as well as at Teatar &TD, Teatro Verrdi, Eurokaz, Žar ptica, and others. Alongside productions in which she is engaged as an actress, she also collaborates with Teatro Verrdi on her own projects, developing her authorial expression. She played the lead role in the award-winning film Nun of Your Business directed by Ivana Kragić, and has taken on other roles in collaboration with various Croatian directors such as Tomislav Šoban, Nikica Zdunić, Vanja Juranić, Mate Ugrin, and others.
Abhishek Verma
India
Abhishek Verma is an animation filmmaker, screenwriter and design educator. He has been directing and producing independent animation films since 2014: Chasni – The Sugar Syrup (2014); Lukka Chuppi – Hide and Seek (2018); Manhole (2021), Into the Manhole VR experience (2024). His film Maacher Jhol (Fish Curry) from 2017, won the prestigious Indian National Film Award and the Annecy Award at the Annecy International Film Festival. He was honoured with an award at the Académie des César in 2019. His upcoming animation films are Kitchen - The World Within (a 2D animation short film) and a 2D animation feature film, Marita-Jeevita (Purity-Impurity), based on the notion of caste in India. He is presently a faculty member at the School of Design, IIT Bombay, India.
Sabina Krešić
Croatia
Sabina Krešić is a producer with many years of experience working in the cultural sector. Since 2016, she has been professionally engaged in film production as the lead producer at Fade In, a production company based in Zagreb. Her films have been screened and awarded at numerous renowned international festivals, including Sheffield Doc/Fest, DocLisboa, Trieste Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights, True/False, Motovun Film Festival, DokuFest, FIPADOC, Liburnia Film Festival, and ZagrebDox. One of her most acclaimed recent projects is the documentary Factory to the Workers by Srđan Kovačević, considered one of the most awarded and critically praised Croatian documentaries in recent years. While she primarily collaborates with Croatian directors, she also works internationally, having co-produced with partners in Italy, Belgium, Slovenia, Spain, Serbia, Turkey, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her main focus is on documentary films and series, although she has also produced a fiction feature film – Full Speed Ahead (Punim plućima, dir. Radislav Jovanov Gonzo), which won two Golden Arenas at the Pula Film Festival in 2022. In 2023, she launched her own production company, Rastika, and co-founded the Mezzanine Collective, a studio dedicated to film production and image post-production.
Mladen Stanić
Croatia
Mladen Stanić is a film director and screenwriter from Split, Croatia. He graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb with a Master's degree in Film Directing. He is currently developing his debut feature-length project. His short films have won awards at domestic and international film festivals. The most famous among them are: A Small Detail (2017), White Room (2018), Ark (2024) etc.
