Tabor New Frame Film Festival 2025

Croatian films at the Tabor
New Frame Film Festival

Besides eight films in the Croatian Competition, domestic productions are also represented in the Student Competition. As part of this year’s Tabor New Frame Festival, held on July 4–5 in the magical setting of Veliki Tabor Castle, special attention is given to domestic production, presenting a cross-section of the newest and most interesting works by Croatian filmmakers in the short film format. This year, eight films have been selected for the Croatian Competition, coming from different genre, aesthetic, and authorial positions — from fiction, animation, and experimental works to documentaries. What they share is a strong authorial vision, freshness of approach, and social relevance. Films from the Croatian Competition will be screened on July 4 at 5 PM in the Rustica Cinema Hall.

Among the fiction titles, The summer we left behind, directed by Mia Bujan and Dorotea Ilečić Sever, stands out, in which the vacation of two girls unexpectedly turns into a psychological thriller after an accident. A similar realism, but in a gentler tone, characterizes Greek Apricots by Jan Krevatin, about the quiet connection between two lonely people during a summer night shift at a gas station. No Problem by Marijan Mlinar explores teenage friendship and the limits of trust through a story about sneaker reselling in Zagreb, while the documentary Embroidery by Franka Štrkalj and Jelka Margarita Bogdanić brings an intimate portrait of Mrs. Marija, a craftswoman from the Dolac market who has been making hand-embroidered clothing for decades.

In animation, two works stand out: VŠMŠ by Nele Gluhak, an extremely short but effective animation about a cat trying to take a nap, and Butterfly by Sunčana Brkulj, a Croatian-Danish co-production that, through the story of a community of garden creatures, deals with questions of balance and solidarity.

The experimental segment is represented by Dragon Hunt by Marko Gutić Mižimakov, inspired by the science fiction and queer poetics of Samuel Delany, combining machine learning, performance, and the landscape of the Dalmatian hinterland into a powerful visual experience.

Special attention should be given to Ombre by Giulia Dussich, which will have its world premiere at Tabor. Through mythologically inspired visual narration and symbolism, the film explores themes of death, transformation, and identity in dialogue with nature.

Croatian film is also represented in the International Competition with one minority co-production (The Sea Between Us, dir. Lun Sevnik), but with as many as ten films in the Student Competition, spanning different genres. Blue Weasel by Luka Vukorepa, also having its world premiere, plays with crime-genre conventions, following a crime-scene cleaner drawn into one last — possibly fatal — job. In another world premiere, the animated film Bangs by Dora Kvež portrays, through humorous and absurd aesthetics, a young girl struggling with a pimple that leads her into a surreal bathroom world.

The visually striking animation Beast by Andrea Miletić deals with confronting personal fears and toxic parental relationships. A similar physical-emotional tension appears in Spine by Marta Margetić, a miniature about pain and exhaustion expressed through gesture.

The documentary essay Sea of Tranquility by Sara Gurdulić uses family archives and the sounds of space to question the boundaries between silence and historical forgetting. In Komorebi by Lucija Katarina Šešelj (Croatian premiere), two girls rebuild their friendship during a rural afternoon through a series of subtle gestures and glances.

The dark comedy drama Dog of a Famous Person by Jozo Schmuch tells an unexpected story about the theft of a famous singer’s dog, bringing suppressed family truths to the surface. And Yet Another One by Karla Jelić is one of the festival’s strongest political films: through the testimony of Vida Skerk, a former student of the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art, the film speaks about sexual harassment and the systemic neglect of victims.

In the ambitious film Mago by Dominik Čiček, evoking the atmosphere of a historical western, we follow a young man named Pončo and his donkey on a journey through northern Croatia in the late 19th century. On that journey, one act of helping strangers triggers a chain of events that will change his life. Finally, Spurius by Luka Eterović shapes a genre story about a young man who sees fragments of the future and tries to connect them before tragedy occurs.

These eighteen films confirm that Croatian short film continues to question, experiment, and provoke interest.

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.

MEET THE JURY