Inviting filmmakers to a pitch: SCREENPLAY OF A BLOCKBUSTER

Pula Film Festival has launched the “Screenplay of a Blockbuster” programme that aims to support projects in various phases of development up to going into production with emphasis on the projects successfully combining authorial and commercial sensibilities.

The “Screenplay of a Blockbuster” will be held during Pula Film Festival and is intended for the professional film community invited to submit for the pitch their projects of feature films of all types and genres that are in the phase of screenplay or project development. Eligible projects are majority Croatian productions provided that they have not received funds from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre or other film funds. Projects can be submitted by screenwriters, directors, or producers. At the pitch at Pula Film Festival, the applicants will present their film projects to a three-member jury, and the best project will receive a cash prize in the amount of 10,000 EUR provided by Blitz distribution company and Croatian Audiovisual Centre.

“Some of the most watched Croatian films, such as Martin in the Clouds, One Song a Day Keeps Mischief Away, How the War Started on My Island, What Is a Man Without a Moustache successfully combined the authorial and commercial sensibilities. At the same time, film festivals are increasingly encouraging authorial sensibility in genre film to create films equally attractive to festival, niche, and wider audiences. Pula Film Festival has therefore started a programme for developing screenplays and projects that successfully combine authorial and commercial sensibilities, calling into question the separation into ‘genre’ and ‘art’ film”, said Pula Film Festival artistic director Danijel Pek.

Applications are open from 6 to 30 June 2023 via the online form on the Pula Film Festival website.

Applications must include biographies of directors, screenwriters, and producers (if part of the project), project synopsis and treatment, two scenes from the screenplay, author’s vision and the way in which the project combines authorial and commercial sensibilities, draft of distribution strategy, and additional material relevant to the project.