Programme and Schedule of Jubilee Edition of Pula Film Festival Announced

With 20 Croatian films and Croatian minority co-production competing for Golden Arena awards, a total of 80 films will be screened at Pula Film Festival from 15 to 23 July 2023 in a number of side programmes at the Arena, Istrian National Theatre, Valli Cinema, Ambrela Beach, and Brijuni Islands. The schedule of screenings has been published on the Festival website, and the sale of tickets for individual film evenings at the Arena, as well as sets of tickets, will start online on Tuesday, 27 June

“We wanted to use the side programmes of Pula Film Festival to address the cultural and production context in which Croatian films are made. Therefore, the out of competition, side programmes of the Festival include a selection of productions from countries of a similar cultural sphere, films exploring the relationship of cinema and history, all the way to student films which introduce new names and provide us with a certain look into the future”, said film selector Mario Kozina.

“We will screen almost eighty films at more than 100 screenings, and we want the city to live with the Festival all day long. From 11 a.m., we will start with the best minority co-productions, and excellent films, both premieres and debuts, as well as films by established directors, will be screened at the Istrian National Theatre. The films screened at the Arena will appeal to the wider audience. I would especially like to highlight the screenings of Croatian films at the Istrian National Theatre at 7 p.m., with participation from film crews, so I would like to invite the audience to support them”, said artistic director of Pula Film Festival Danijel Pek.

PoPular Pula in the spectacular setting of the Arena

Ancient amphitheatres used to offer fun for the citizens, and PoPular Pula was designed precisely to remind of the history of the central festival location – the Pula Arena. The second slot in the schedule will see screenings of a varied selection of films, including author’s and regional hits, as well as premieres of restored classics. The spectacular setting of the Arena will be the location for the screening of Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan, the day before it opens in cinemas around the world, as well as the long-awaited satirical comedy Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, and Asteroid City, directed by Wes Anderson. The programme also includes the new comedy by Nanni Moretti, A Brighter Tomorrow, recently screened in competition at Cannes Film Festival, the Serbian blockbuster Indigo Crystal, directed by Luka Mihailović, and the screening of the restored film Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy, directed by Academy Award winner Dušan Vukotić in 1981, which has already built its cult status thanks to its unusual ideas and an excellent soundtrack. PoPular Pula programme

Greater Adria – genre film and current topics

Greater Adria is the international programme of Pula Film Festival named after the continent from the geological past, and will see screenings of films from countries close to Croatia in terms of culture or production, with emphasis on cinema of the Mediterranean and Central and South East Europe. This year’s selection includes six films from Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, and Spain, whose authors cleverly use the conventions of genre film to address the current topics. In that sense, Next to You, the new film by one of the pioneers of Serbian genre film Stevan Filipović, stands out. It is an intriguing combination of film noir, detective film, and paranoid thriller set in the time of the first lockdown in Serbia, bringing back to the big screen the characters from Filipović’s Next to Me (2015), which received an award at Pula Film Festival as well. The programme also includes the Croatian premiere of Wake Me, directed by Marko Šantić, a psychological drama about xenophobia in contemporary society in Slovenia that Šantić wrote with the famous writer Goran Vojnović. Next there are films that will soon go into summer distribution, including two exciting thrillers: Amore, directed by Andrea Di Stefano, with the charismatic Pierfrancesco Favino, and Prison 77, directed by Alberto Rodriguez, with Miguel Herrán, the star of La casa de Papel, and the family drama The Immensity, directed by Emanuele Crialese, with the brilliant Penelope Crúz. Greater Adria programme

Time Machine – how film shaped history

The selection includes newly restored film classics, documentary films about the history of film, but also films that explore how film images have shaped history and the way we remember it. Of these, the film that stands out is the world premiere of the digitally restored film An Event (1969), directed by Vatroslav Mimica. This exciting modernist thriller will be presented to a new generation of audience in its digitally restored edition, and the screening will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vatroslav Mimica, the director who has left an indelible mark on domestic film. We will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of The She-Butterfly (1973), the legendary horror film directed by Đorđe Kadijević, which has scared generations upon generations since its premiere in 1973. The documentary film Ciné-Guerrillas: Scenes from the Labudović Reels (2022), directed by Mila Turajlić, uncovers the exciting story about the importance of the personal cameraman to Josip Broz Tito in the battle for Algerian independence. The Soft Ships (2022), directed by Željko Zorica Šiš, takes the audience into the lively and provocative setting of independent theatre of the 1970s that has given birth to a number of popular playwrights, photographers, actors, including the European film star Zlatko Burić. The documentary film El Shatt – A Blueprint for Utopia, directed by Ivan Ramljak, combines impressive archival images and personal testimonies to tell a striking episode from Croatia’s past. Time Machine schedule

We should also mention that the 70th Pula Film Festival will start with a screening from the Time Machine programme, with Vesna, directed by František Čáp, winner of the 1st Pula Film Festival from 1953, which has been digitally restored last year.

Student programme – what the future of Croatian and regional film will look like

The 18 films from European film academies are a mix of premieres and successfully screened films, of which as many as 13 are Croatian films and just over a half are directed by female directors. This section includes some of the most interesting films produced as part of study programmes at the Academy of Dramatic Art and VERN University in Zagreb, Art Academy in Split, and several other partner academies. Through animation, drama, satire, documentary, or comedy, the young filmmakers paint a tragicomic tapestry of existential issues, the complexity of interpersonal communication, and intergenerational and gender relations. Student programme

At the cinema at Ambrela, Pula Film Festival brings a part of the H15 programme celebrating 15 years of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, and we will see some of the biggest hits of recent years, of which many received awards at Pula Film Festival. A selection of films from the main programme and side programmes of Pula Film Festival will be screed at Brijuni Islands.

Ticket sales

Tickets for evening screenings at the Arena are €5 per evening, and sets of tickets for all evenings at the Arena are €30. From 17 June 2023, tickets can be purchased online here, while in person ticket sales will start on 8 July at Festival info point at Giardini and on 15 July outside the Arena. Screenings at all other festival locations are free. You can find additional information on the official website of Pula Film Festival.

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