Liburnia Film Festival (LFF) is the first documentary film festival in Croatia and the only festival screening only the latest in Croatian documentaries. It takes place in the open air in late August. This year LFF will be held, for the 21st time, from August 22nd to August 26th, 2023 at Vila Antonio and The Open Air Theatre in Opatija. LFF is organized by Association Liburnia Film Festival from Rijeka. Co-organiser of the festival is Restart from Zagreb, partner of the festival is Festival Opatija. Festival friends are Association Filmaktiv from Rijeka, Institute of documentary film (IDF) from Prague, Balkan Documentary Centre and Balkan Documentary Distribution Network.
During five days of the festival, numerous audience will enjoy 20 documentaries, selected for the main competition. Special program consists of the films made by Restart label production and of the program Regionale. Films are selected by Oliver Sertić since 2007, and the awards are decided by a jury and the audience.
Festival has a competition character since the beginning (jury awards, audience awards and special mentions), while in 2013 industry awards were introduced for the first time in Croatia – for best director, best cinematographer, best editor and sound editing, in the attempt to point out the value of individual members of documentary film crews.
LFF awards
- Best Film
A cash prize of €1,000 shared between the director and producer. - Audience Award
A cash prize of €1,000 shared between the director and producer. - Best Director
A cash prize of €700 and direct entry into the Ex Oriente Film workshop with the director’s next project. In collaboration with the Institute of Documentary Film in Prague. - Best Cinematographer
Equipment voucher awarded by Audio Video Consulting – AVC Group. - Best Editor
A video projector awarded by ACER Croatia. - Best Sound Design
Equipment voucher awarded by Audio Video Consulting – AVC Group. - Best Regional Film*
A cash prize of €700 shared between the director and producer, direct entry for the director into the BDC Discoveries workshop with their next project, plus a 50% discount on the participation fee. In collaboration with the Balkan Documentary Center in Sofia. - “Dragan Rubeša” critic’s award
In collaboration with Art-kino.
* Regional films are made by the authors or producers form Primorsko-goranska, Istarska and Ličko-senjska County.
All winning films receive unique sculptures and plaques. The awards are designed by Saša Jantolek.
Education
Ever since its 3rd Edition, Liburnia Film Festival organizes free education program – Documentary Film Workshop in cooperation with Filmaktiv from Rijeka, and Fade In and Restart from Zagreb. From 2021 the festival introduced the rough cut workshop.
Accompanying Events by LFF Association
To spread a story about good Croatian documentaries across the country, winning films from the previous edition of the festival takes a tour trough Croatian cities, in a program called “Liburnia sails.”
Also, during the summer, city of Rijeka becomes a playground for hidden screenings, a program called “Cinema by chance”.
