Two films from the competition program of feature films of the 18^th Zagreb Film Festival, the French film Gagarine by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, and Full Moon from Bosnia and Herzegovina by Nermin Hamzagić are nominated for the European Film Academy award in the category of European Discovery 2020 – Prix FIPRESCI, awarded to the best debut film.

The debut film by the award-winning French directorial duo Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, Gagarine, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Sixteen year old Yuri has lived all his life in Cité Gagarine, a vast brick housing project on the outskirts of Paris. He dreams of becoming an astronaut. When local authorities decide to demolish the building, Yuri and his friends Diana and Houssam he tries to save Gagarine, transforming it into his own spaceship.

Gagarine is a cheerful social drama with elements of magical realism and romance, but also a nostalgic hommage to the housing complex in Paris’ suburbs Ivry-sur-Seine, opened in 1963 by the Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin himself. The images of the complex which for many years embodied the utopia of collective living of Paris’ melting pot, created for this film, are also its last before its demolition. The cast includes brilliant young French actors Alséni Bathily and Lyna Khoudri, and the versatile French actor Denis Lavant (Holy Motors) in one of the supporting roles.

The debut feature film of director Nermin Hamzagić from Bosnia and Herzegovina Full Moon premiered at the Cottbus Film Festival, where he won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, and the lead actor Alban Ukaj won the Award for Outstanding Actor, and was also shown at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

The film takes place on a full moon night when various characters arrive at the police station in Sarajevo and discover their life stories and paint a picture of modern society in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Police inspector Hamza (Alban Ukaj) must return to work, even though he is worried for his wife which he had to leave at the maternity ward. Aware that things are not always as they should be and that wrong people often end behind bars, he will soon have to choose between justice and the system.