Since the late 1990s, there has been a large increase in the number of film festivals in Croatia. Every year, many Croatian film festivals present hundreds of films that are usually not shown in cinemas. Therefore, it is no surprise that most of them also attract foreign guests and film lovers. In this blog, we bring you five of the best Croatian film festivals.
This film festival has been taking place in Zagreb since 2003, and through the years, it has established itself as one of the biggest and most important film festivals in the region. It is held every year in November, and it focuses on promoting Croatian and foreign independent films. Over the years, its guests have been some of the most important contemporary directors, like Steve McQueen, Xavier Dolan and Taika Waititi. The Golden Pram Award is given to the best films in the festival program.
Ever since 1999, this small film festival is organized in the medieval Istrian town Motovun. The festival usually takes place every year in late July. This small festival takes pride in its simplicity and rejects anything that has to do with glamour and festival red carpets. As their official website says, Motovun wants to be “a place where weary cinematic riders can rest their souls.” Aside from the main program in Motovun, this festival also screens its films in Zagreb before and after the main festival.
The Zagreb festival of documentary films is special in this part of Europe, and it takes place every year in late February/early March since 2005 in the Croatian capital. Its films are split into two groups, one with international and one with regional films. Aside from films in festival competition, this festival also shows films that are part of different retrospectives. The festival awards the best films with the Big and Small Stamp awards, as well as the Audience Award.
Mediterranean Film Festival Split
Since 2008, this film festival shows a string of films from the Mediterranean region that are not usually shown in Croatian cinemas. It is held every year for six days in May or June. During the day, the films are shown in the movie theater “Zlatna vrata”, while the night screenings take place in the open movie theater “Bačvice.” The beautiful city of Split serves as the perfect backdrop for this special film festival which draws in almost 20 thousand visitors every year.
The oldest Croatian film festival has been held since 1954 in Pula, in the great Pula Arena. Throughout its long history, this festival has long shown only Yugoslav and regional films. After the start of the war in 1991, the Pula Film Festival dedicated its program to exclusively Croatian film. However, given the small amount of films produced annually in Croatia, the popularity of the festival soon diminished. Therefore, since 2001, this festival shows both domestic and foreign films. It usually takes place annually in mid July, and it has been visited by many popular foreign actors and directors, like Elizabeth Taylor, Orson Welles and John Malkovich. The Golden Arena Award is given to the festival’s best films.
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