In addition to the competition featuring the most interesting debuts from all over the world, the 15^th edition of Zagreb Film Festival, taking place this year between 11 and 19 November, will present to Zagreb’s audience a series of new and hot titles, current hits in the film world, in its side programs. ZFF brings them in association with the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC Croatia).

One of the most popular and longest of ZFF’s side sections – The Great 5 – this autumn brings a selections of the most exciting titles from five largest European cinemas – France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom and Spain – to the big screens of the Tuškanac Cinema and Museum of Contemporary Art. They include household names British director Sally Potter, opposite the probably most exciting European director today, Luca Guadagnini, the director of The Bigger Splash.

His latest film Call Me by Your Name is a sort of sequel to this trilogy of longing (I Am Love, A Bigger Splash), written by the iconic screenwriter and director James Ivory, known for his award-winning adaptations of many literary classics (A Room with a View, Remains of the Day). For his masterful portrayal of agony and ecstasy of juvenile love, critics already place him among the masters of sensuality like Pedro Almodóvar or François Ozon, and call his latest title a brilliant contribution to queer film.

The Party by British director Sally Potter is a quick-witted political comedy starring Kristin Scott Thomas, opposite an entire array of famous actors and actresses like Emily Mortimer, Timothy Spall, Patricia Clarkson or German actor Bruno Ganz.

An irresistibly naughty social satire cloaked in tragedy, The Party follows Janet the politician who has just been promoted. The party she throws at home, after the initial euphoria, grows into a shock and open conflict, and the film turns into a hilarious tragedy. The director herself describes it as a political statement about the ‘broken’ post-Brexit England. Party premiered at this year’s Berlinale and won the Guild Film Prize.

This year’s Spanish representative in the selection is the furious thriller May God Save us by Rodrigo Sorogoyen. In the wake of Fincher’s classis Seven and HBO’s serial True Detective, the film speaks about men incapable of controlling their behaviour and their victims. This film premiered at the prestigious San Sebastian Film Festival and with it the director successfully continues his study of masculinity, begun in his acclaimed debut, Stockholm.