The festival has five competition sections, including the national competition section of short films Checkers and Together Again, which presents directors whose first or second films previously screened in the main competition. 

The festival will have a special section of debut films from significant Czech directors, My First Film: Czech Republic.

Zagreb is also screening the three LUX prize finalists in the LUX Film Days. The films are Styx (Germany, Austria) directed by Wolfgang Fischer; The Other Side of Everything (Serbia, France, Qatar) directed by Mila Turajlić and produced by Dribbling Pictures, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, Film Center Serbia, CNC – Cinémas du monde, Doha Film Institute and HBO Europe, and Woman at War (Iceland, France, Ukraine) directed by Benedikt Erlingsson, which is also in the main competition.

The films in the main competition are:

All Alone (Croatia, Netherlands, Serbia, BiH, Montenegro)
Directed by Bobo Jelčić
Produced by Spiritus Movens Production
Coproduced by De Productie, Dart Film, Adriatic Western, Dokument Sarajevo
Supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Film Center Serbia, Film Centre of Montenegro

All Good (Germany)
Directed by Eva Trobisch

Anchor and Hope (Spain, UK)
Directed by Carlos Marques-Marcet

Dear Son (Tunisia, Belgium, France, Qatar)
Directed by Mohamed Ben Attia

Just Like My Son (Italy, Croatia, Belgium)
Directed by Costanza Quatriglio
Produced by Ascent Film (Italy)
Coproduced by Antitalent (Croatia), Caviar Films (Belgium), Rai Cinema (Italy)

Loveling (Brazil, Uruguay)
Directed by Gustavo Pizzi

Manta Ray (Thailand, France, China)
Directed by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng

Old Boys (UK)
Directed by Toby MacDonald

Retablo (Peru, Germany, Norway)
Directed by Álvaro Delgado-Aparicio L.

The Load / Teret (Serbia, France, Croatia, Iran, Qatar)
Directed by Ognjen Glavonić
Produced by Non-Aligned Films
Coproduced by Cinéma Defacto, Kinorama,Three Gardens Film
Supported by Aide aux cinémas du monde — CNC, Eurimages, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Visions Sud Est, Film Center Serbia, Hubert Bals Fund, Doha Film Institute, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina

Wildlife (USA)
Directed by Paul Dano

Woman at War (Iceland, France, Ukraine)
Directed by Benedikt Erlingsson