As the 8th RAFF – Rab Film Festival approaches, it’s time to unveil this year’s program under the shared motto: Truth Needs Audience. The RAFF Cinema program will feature screenings of 12 films in competition and 8 films out of competition at the festival’s Cinema Murnau, launched last year. This year’s RAFF brings films from Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Pula… Of the 12 films in RAFF’s main program, as many as 7 are Croatian premieres.
This year’s festival opens with the RAFF Intro program, which also marks the start of the program Partner Country — Kingdom of Belgium —with a screening of the Belgian film Heysel 85, an outstanding football thriller.
The festival brings to Rab audiences stories from around the world, covering a range of topics: from faith and family (Sundays, dir. Alauda Ruiz de Azúa), war stories that become epic cinematic works (Mariinka, dir. Pieter-Jan De Pue, Croatian premiere), football and true crime (Zlatan’s Nose, dir. Nils Toftenow, Croatian premiere), the end of a journalistic era (Vjesnik – Last Edition, dir. Dražen Klarić, Croatian premiere), increasingly intense peer violence (Three Weeks Later, dir. Miroslav Terzić), protest as a civic choice (Everybody to Kenmure Street, dir. Felipe Bustos Sierra, Croatian premiere), thriller stories about stolen identities (Feels Like Home, dir. Gábor Holtai, Croatian premiere), love stories emerging even in migrant tales (Birds of War, dir. Janay Boulos & Abd Alkader Habak, Croatian premiere), a docu-comedy about possibly the worst car ever (Yugo Goes to America, dir. Filip Grujić, Aleksa Borković), family drama and inheritance (Honey Bunny, dir. Igor Jelinović), colonial legacy (Amazomania, dir. Nathan Grossman, Croatian premiere), outstanding musical biopics (Avalanche Man, dir. Slobodanka Radun), gripping underwater stories (The Tigers, dir. Alberto Rodríguez, Croatian premiere), syndicalists on seemingly impossible missions (The Thing To Be Done, dir. Srđan Kovačević), and the collapse of an entire life (Minotaur, dir. Andreï Zviaguintcev). This year’s RAFF partner country is the Kingdom of Belgium. The jury consists of director Vinko Brešan, FIPADOC festival director Anne Georget, and actor Luka Peroš.
In addition to the film program, RAFF offers the RAFF Talk program, this year focusing on journalism in the arts and the acting profession. Rab audiences will have the opportunity to engage with Dražen Klarić, Silvana Menđušić, Zoran Kesić, Goran Navojec, Luka Peroš, Tena Perišin, Marko Stričević, Igor Mirković, and many others. The talks are once again moderated by RAFF’s regular collaborator, esteemed foreign affairs journalist Elizabeta Gojan, who will host her guests in her Bishop Sacrifice show.
Once again, RAFF presents an outstanding educational program for students (RAFF Generation), where, among others, journalist Barbara Štrbac, Đelo Hadžiselimović, renowned Danish film critic Tue Steen Müller, and Belgian producer/distributor Thierry Detaille (also mentors in the RAFF Residency program for directors and producers, run in partnership with ZagrebDox), and FIPADOC director Anne Georget will share their experiences. The educational program for elementary school children – RAFF Junior – also continues this year, featuring two children’s films (the fiction Pixie and the animated Crystal Planet). The music program at Festival Square Pjaceta will offer exciting RAFF Beat concerts, notably Elvis Stanić AIRes Collective Band. The film and music programs at Festival Square Pjaceta are free for our audience. Stay tuned for updates and the full program schedule.
Once again, RAFF wouldn’t be possible without the support of its co-organisers, partners, sponsors, and above all, friends, such as RAFF’s general sponsor Valamar Riviera and Imperial Riviera. For the eighth year in a row, this strong partnership continues to host RAFF guests:
“We are proud to have supported the Rab Film Festival – RAFF as its main sponsor since its first edition in 2019. RAFF has become an important part of Rab’s cultural identity, enriching the island’s tourist offering with its high-quality film program, concerts, and accompanying events, and attracting both local and international visitors. We are especially pleased that this year, once again, we can host artists, jury members, and many festival guests in our hotels Imperial Heritage Hotel and Arba Resort, Valamar Collection, and together contribute to another successful edition of RAFF,” said Marin Lazarić, Director of Development at Imperial Riviera, a member of the Valamar Group.
RAFF has also enjoyed continuous support from the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and the Kvarner Tourist Board, who have recognised the added value RAFF brings to Rab and its contribution to the region’s cultural and tourist offer.
Special friendship and support also comes from Hotel International, a loyal sponsor since the festival’s very beginning.
Leading this year’s circle of sponsors are Mobis.hr, Fiat Croatia, and printing house Vivatip, with the support of local sponsors Retro, Vellum and Vellum Arba, Trapp Security, and Dundovo, as well as partners Slobodan Novak City Library and Roll Sound.
We have successfully brought the festival from what could have been a crisis seventh year to its eighth, thanks to the City of Rab and the Rab Public Open University as co-organisers – partners we could hardly have imagined at the festival’s inception. Together we have faced and overcome every challenge, gradually building the brand of our festival. Today, thanks to them and all our supporters, we can confidently say that RAFF has become a true Rab festival and a flagship of the island, both as a cultural value and a tourist attraction.
