Audience Stays at the Arena Through Rain for Fiume o morte!, Bumblebee’s Summer Leading with the Audience, Fiume! Leading with the Critics
Although occasional showers surprised us at the Arena on Saturday night, the large audience was not discouraged and stayed standing to watch Fiume o morte! to the end, finding shelter from the rain under the arches of the Arena and the sound engineers’ tent. We are halfway through Pula Film Festival, and with the abundant programme everyone is excited to see new films and scores from the audience and critics
Conversation with the film crew: Little Trouble Girls
The coming-of-age film Little Trouble Girls, Slovenian director Urška Djukić’s debut feature, received the FIPRESCI Award at Berlin Film Festival, and is a part of the main competition programme at Pula Film Festival, in the Minority Co-productions section. The day after the screening, Ljubo Lasić spoke to producer Jožko Rutar (SPOK Film), editor Vladimir Gojun, director of photography Lev Predan Kowarski, and lead actresses Jara Sofija Ostan and Mina Švajger, who are part of the new programme at Pula Film Festival, First Time on Film. Commenting on the quiet and mystical atmosphere that follows 16-year-old Lucija (Ostan) growing up in Little Trouble Girls, Gojun emphasised that the film uses a lot of silences and subtle signs that reflect the main character’s inner world. The mystical atmosphere is further underlined by the choir of professional singers and conductors from various ensembles, which breaks up the dynamic of a well-established ensemble and creates authenticity. Švajer, who portrays the popular, flirty student Ana-Marija, explained it was important to her to show the duality of her character. “We often see confident, charismatic girls, but they only seem to be like that and are often insecure.” Following its world premiere in Berlin, the film has been screened at a number of European festivals, and is going into distribution to cinemas around the world.
Conversation with the film crew: Peacemaker
The documentary film Peacemaker by Ivan Ramljak is the story of the assassination of the chief of the Osijek Police Department, Josip Reihl Kir, a man who had been doing everything to prevent the Croatian-Serbian war. Following the screening at the Istrian National Theatre, Boško Picula spoke to the producer Nenad Puhovski (Factum), who explained that the film has been made from archive materials with narration from witnesses from Kir’s life and those who witnessed his murder. “Bringing together image and narration resulted in emotion, which is more important to us than laughter or applause, because it shows compassion for what happened,” he said, emphasising the involvement of Kir’s wife, Jadranka Reihl Kir: “She was one of the instrumental people in creating this film.” At Factum, he added, they have been making war and political documentaries about former Yugoslavia for years, with the goal of documenting history and truth, making sure it is not forgotten. “We thought these things need to be talked about, and it was time for some things to come out,” he said. Kir’s murderer is known, he emphasised, and has been convicted for their crimes. The film, however, focuses on the question of why Kir was murdered. “He was a problem for people who wanted the war. And that is solved in one of two ways – you either buy them or you eliminate them.”
Conversation with the film crew: Fiume o morte!
The documentary hit Fiume o morte! by Igor Bezinović about D’Annunzio’s bizarre 16-month occupation of Rijeka, was screened last night at the Arena, with the audience being so impressed that they stayed through the rain to watch the entire film and waited to give the crew a huge applause. Boško Picula spoke to the crew at the Festival Centre the day after the screening. Bezinović said the crew and he were not even aware of what kind of film they had made. “I found motivation in Rijeka and its untold story of fascist occupation of 1919. The key motivational factors were my love for the city and the collectives,” he said. Vanja Jambrović, who produced the film with Tibor Keser (Restart), emphasised that the film is experimental, but still accepted by the audience. Editor Hrvoslava Brkušić spoke about the demanding task of editing the film that combines documentary and live-action elements, and director of photography Gregor Božič added: “The only way to produce this film was through brotherhood camaraderie. It is rare for the director of photography to be – the director of photography, as we needed to reconstruct historical photographs into live-action scenes. This film is the art of the possible,” he said. Jambrović and Keser added that filming was very difficult and demanding, with a lot of risky situations: “We supported each other and we wouldn’t have made it without each other. We also want to thank the authorities of the City of Rijeka for their absolute support and presence.”
High Noon critics’ duel
Film critics and journalists Diana Nenadić and Dragan Jurak – Peacemaker and Fiume o morte!
Fabijan Šovagović Award
Actor Bogdan Diklić won the Fabijan Šovagović Award of the Croatian Filmmakers and Producers Guild for his acting contribution to Croatian film. With director Jasna Nanut, the award was presented by actor and Fabijan Šovagović’s son Filip Šovagović at the Festival Centre.
“I am very pleased and would like to thank Mr. Diklić, in front of my family, for giving us unforgettable film education. All of us loved film because of the gentleman presented with this award today. Thank you, Bogdan!,” said Šovagović.
Receiving the award, Diklić reminisced about his first meeting with Fabijan Šovagović in the 1970s when, as a young man who also wanted to be an actor, he saw him in front of a big bookstore window and asked for his autograph. “He responded: ‘Why would you want that?’,” said Diklić and added: “I kept the pen he used for a long time and I’m sure I still have it somewhere. It is also in the film All That Jack’s. I use it in the film and I wanted to immortalise it in that way.” Nanut asked about his feelings receiving this award at the Festival that is his age. “At a moment when someone is shown great honour, like me in this case, and when I am very, very happy about it, I think the smartest thing to do is keep quiet.”
Monday at the Festival
The fifth day of Pula Film Festival will start at 10 a.m. at the Festival Centre with conversations with the film crews of Praslovan, directed by Slobodna Maksimović (Minority Co-productions), Wondrous Is the Silence of My Master (Minority Co-productions), and My Late Summer (Croatian Film). The day will continue with the High Noon Critics’ Duel, with Višnja Pentić and Iva Rosandić talking about the films Praslovan and My Late Summer. The Marijan Rotar Award will be presented at 12.45 p.m. This year, the Award will be presented to Miodrag Miki Flego, technical coordinator at Pula Film Festival.
The evening at the Arena brings Čejen Černić Čanak’s film from the Main Programme, Sandbag Dam (Croatian Film) at 9.15 p.m., with the new Wes Anderson film, the espionage dark comedy The Phoenician Scheme (PoPular Pula) at 11.05 p.m. In the Main Programme, the drama Dwelling Among the Gods by Vuk Ršumović (Minority Co-productions) will be screened at 4 p.m. at Valli Cinema, and the world premiere of the animated psychological thriller All Operators Are Currently Unavailable (Croatian Film) at 7 p.m. at Istrian National Theatre. The documentary film Blum – Masters of Their Own Destiny by Jasmila Žbanić will be screened in the new Regional Programme at 8 p.m. at Valli Cinema.
PULA PRO
Pula PRO, the intensive programme aimed at film professionals, will start on Monday, and with it this year’s three pitching programmes on each of the three days. The first pitching is Make the Scene – Comedy Edition, which will take place at Valli Cinema at 10 a.m. on Monday. Details about the projects and mentors are available on the official website. Sergio Mimica, Croatian-American director known for his work on TV series (Heroes, Medici, Prison Break) and his work on a number of Steven Spielberg films, will give the talk “Working and succeeding in the most competitive industry in the word” at the Youth Centre (Giardini 2, next to Valli Cinema) at noon.
The full schedule of Pula PRO programmes can be found on the official website of Pula Film Festival.
