As we approach the 7th RAFF—Rab Film Festival, it is time to discover its program under the common motto—truth needs an audience. As part of the RAFF Cinema program, we can expect screenings of 12 films in competition and 14 films out of competition in the brand new festival cinema, Cinema Murnau. This year’s RAFF brings films from Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Sarajevo, Pula…
Of the 12 films in this year’s RAFF program, 8 are Croatian premieres. It brings stories from all over the world to the Rab audience, on various themes – mysteries with French charm (Private Life, dir. Rebecca Zlotowski, Croatian premiere), dealing with family pasts (Tata, dir. Lina Vdovîi & Radu Ciorniciuc, Croatian premiere), propaganda (The Propagandist, dir. Luuk Bouwman, Croatian premiere), thrillers in the film world (Eagles of the Republic, dir. Tarik Saleh, Croatian premiere), dealing with the past (Peacemaker, dir. Ivan Ramljak), migrant stories (To a Land Unknown, dir. Mahdi Fleifel, Croatian premiere), the destruction of the ocean (How Deep Is Your Love, dir. Eleanor Mortimer, Croatian premiere), coping when the south turns south (South wind, dir. Ante Marin), Cold War myths (The Helsinki Effect, dir. Arthur Franck, Croatian premiere), parenting people with disabilities (Deaf, dir. Eva Libertad), buying academic knowledge (Shadow Scholars, dir. Eloïse King, Croatian premiere) premiere), and life-changing random events (It Was Just an Accident, dir. Jafar Panahi). RAFF’s partner country this year is the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
In addition to the main program, RAFF is also opening a new cinema – Cinema Murnau, on the occasion of the centenary of the premiere of the oldest surviving feature film of foreign production in Croatia – The Finances of the Grand Duke, by one of the most famous directors in the history of world cinema, F.W. Murnau. This film, shot on Rab and partly in Split, will be shown publicly for the first time to the people of Rab and their guests, accompanied by the piano of the celebrated Croatian composer and pianist Matej Meštrović. The program in this cinema, free for viewers, brings short films and long-form ones – such as the documentary film Pavilion 6 (dir. Goran Dević) and the biography of Zoran Predin, the documentary film Praslovan (dir. Slobodan Maksimović).
In addition to the film program, the festival also offers the RAFF Talk program, whose focus this year is propaganda and the fight against it. Zoran Kusovac, Nataša Božić, Mila Moralić, Aleksandar Trifunović, Silvana Menđušić, Žarka Radoja and many others will talk about this topic. We are proud to present the series of RAFF Talks by Elizabeta Gojan, who will entertain the ladies in the Queen’s Gambit, and the gentlemen in the Bishop Sacrifice.
This year, RAFF brings a great educational program for students (RAFF Generation), as well as a new educational program for elementary school students, RAFF Junior, as part of which we screen three children’s films, two cartoons and one Croatian feature film (Aisha, Fox and Hare, Bumblee’s Summer). The music program at the Festival Square Pjaceta brings us interesting RAFF Beat concerts, of which we highlight – Kristijan Beluhan Quintet, Maja Posavec & Ivan Kapec – An Evening with Leonard Cohen, and old RAFF friend Zoran Predin Unplugged.
