ZagrebDox

I think documentaries are the greatest way to educate an entire generation that doesn't often look back to learn anything about the history that provided a safe haven for so many of us today.

- Steven Spielberg

Ever since the beginning of time, humans have been obsessed with time. Hard to grasp, impossible to understand, time is always working against us. We forget. Things get forgotten. Stories are told and never heard again. Realizing that, we started to write. While you can't battle Father Time with a pen, you do get to trick it. You simply write things down. There's nothing that time can do about that. But that wasn't enough. We still haven't won the battle. We invented clay tablets, we invented papyrus, we invented print and we invented the Internet. Somewhere along the way documentaries came and changed everything. Finally, for the first time in history, we were able to retell stories. Over and over and over again. We were able to portray emotions, tell stories and retell history. We were able to save ideas from being forgotten and if Victor Hugo was right when he said that "nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come", then we have created the most powerful weapon. We stopped time.

Image credit: ZagrebDox

The biggest manifestation in South East Europe where we celebrate that weapon is in Zagreb and its name is ZagrebDox. Established in 2005, it took less than ten years for ZagrebDox to gain prominence as the biggest documentary film festival in the region. Countless of documentaries, presentations, and workshops all add up to the experience that is ZagrebDox - a place to gather, exchange ideas, learn from history and influence future. The screenings can be divided into two different categories - international and regional. In the international categories, the best films from all over the world are shown. That enables ZagrebDox to stay fresh and updated with latest and most celebrated documentaries of the year. On the other hand, as much as ZagrebDox gives space to ideas from all over the world, it serves as a special platform for regional documentaries, screening the best documentaries filmed in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Italy, Hungary, Kosovo, Albania, Austria, Romania, and Montenegro. It is this extreme love for regional stories that really sets ZagrebDox apart from other festivals. If you really want to hear all those stories told and untold, ZagrebDox is a great place to start. In just a week, it will make you feel as if you are a part of the community and you will start to see your surroundings with different eyes, regardless of your age and whereabouts. 

Image credit: ZagrebDox

More than 160 stories, some known, some never revealed before will be told from February 21st till February 28th, 2016 at the Cineplexx cinema in Kaptol Center. The soundest name of this year's festival is, without a doubt, the Oscar and BAFTA nominated Cartel Land. My love, don't cross that river, a touching Korean story about a couple who have lived together for 76 years in a 200-year-old riverside house and The Wolfpack, a story about seven siblings who were confined in their apartment for 14 years, are the two flicks that will most definitely draw a lot of people willing to see what the fuss is all about. No matter which documentary you opt for, you will make a good decision. There is a special place for all those who don't turn their back to stories. It is up to you to decide which adventure you're up to. My advice, of course, is going to be - opt for regional documentaries. A rich cultural heritage and social dynamics of this society simply require to be told in tone and sound.

Every story deserves to be told, at least once, and ZagrebDox is just like your fondest childhood memory of your grandparents telling you stories. Its stories will become a part of you, I promise.

 Image credit: ZagrebDox

Header Image credit: ZagrebDox

Author: Marko Pačar