Wednesday, 30 September 2026 at 6 pm
For the second time, the Dokumetar Association is organising the “Dokumentarni.days” event, which aims to contribute to increasing the visibility of Croatian documentary filmmaking to the public and the media. This year's programme will take place over two days, 29 and 30 September, at Dokukino in Zagreb, and will consist of three discursive panels, the seventh annual Dokumetar Award ceremony, and a screening of the winning film followed by a conversation with its author.
The third panel, “From Idea to Ideology”, is scheduled for 30 September at 6 pm, and will, among other things, discuss contemporary Croatian society, which is characterised by ideological discord and division over the interpretation of the past, a division that is also reflected in film production and reception. Different social positions react differently to the topics of twentieth-century wars and political systems, but they have one thing in common: each considers itself not intoxicated by ideology, but rather grounded in a sophisticated analytical process, if not common sense.
How has Croatian cinema depicted the historical upheavals of the twentieth century in recent years, particularly those of the 1990s? Filmmakers turn to archival material, the testimonies of historical witnesses, and generative artificial intelligence in image production. Films are not officially banned, but their screening is sometimes blocked by mechanisms of collective pressure or by festival, film-programme and critical neglect.
The discussion will examine what makes a particular film controversial, the context in which it acquires such a label, and whether there is a general audience interested in historical documentary film – or whether there are ideological social islands that systematically do not watch films from the ‘other side’. Taking into account the film industry at a European and global level, the discussion touches on festivals as ideological lenses through which society and its cultural content are reflected, where the choice of visual and verbal communication by the festival itself carries as much significance as the curated film and discursive programme.
‘Dokumentarni.days’ is organised by the Dokumetar association in collaboration with Restart, as part of Dokukino at the Zagreb KIC. The project is co-financed by the City of Zagreb, while institutional support for the association is provided by the City of Zagreb, the ‘Kultura nova’ Foundation and the HAVC.