‘Blind Dates’ Wins Best Feature at 12th Zagreb Film Festival

Blind Dates, by Georgian director Levan Koguashvili, has won the Golden Pram for Best Feature Film at the 12th Zagreb Film Festival (ZFF) on Saturday…

Koguashvili’s film is about Sandro, a forty-something teacher, who still lives with his parents who constantly meddle in his private life. He shows little interest in the blind dates his friend Iva pressures him to go on. On an outing to the Black Sea, he falls in love with a hairdresser, but when her husband is released from jail early, Sandro’s predicament takes on absurd dimensions.

The ZFF Feature Film Jury, composed of producer Čedomir Kolar, film director Konstantin Bojanov and director of photography and filmmaker César Charlone, gave the Golden Pram to Blind Dates because of “its simplicity, originality, reliance on excellent scriptwriting, moving performance by the actors and humanity of all the characters”.

Special Mention for Feature Film went to Difret by Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, and Of Horses And Men by Benedikt Erlingsson. Golden Pram for Best Short Film went to Andrei Creţulescu for his film Kowalski. Best Documentary Film went to Matjaž Ivanišin for Karpotrotter. Special Mention of the jury in the same category went to Tiha K. Gudac for her film Naked Island.

Golden Pram for Best Croatian Film in the Checkers programme went to Sonja Tarokić’s On Shaky Ground. Special Mention went to Tin Žanić for his Manjača. HT Audience Award for Best Feature Film went to Nobody’s Child, directed by Vuk Ršumović.